What Do You Do After You’ve Made It? Griff Jones on Work, Faith, and the Second Half of Life

What Happens After Success? Griff Jones on Faith, Business, and a More Intentional Life

Griff Jones had helped build a thriving energy business. Then its parent company, Lehman Brothers, collapsed.

Eagle Energy itself was not bankrupt, but that distinction offered little comfort to employees and customers calling with the same question: What happens now? Griff and his team had roughly 60 to 90 days to find an answer. They found a buyer, kept their commitments to customers, and avoided laying off a single employee.

It was one of the high points of Griff’s business career. But in this conversation with Lloyd on the 100x Podcast, the story does not end with a successful deal. It leads to a harder question: After you’ve learned how to build and protect a business, what will you do with the life and influence it has given you?

The people who showed up

Griff’s earliest lessons in leadership came at home. His parents divorced when he was young. When his mother remarried, his stepfather brought steadiness, faith, and daily attention into the family. He went to Griff’s practices. He made church a priority. He was present.

That example stayed with Griff. Later, at Oklahoma State University, Griff met Mindy, his future wife, when he arrived at freshman English without anything to write with and borrowed one of her pencils. During his senior year, a speech Griff gave about mentoring students caught the attention of energy entrepreneur Chuck Watson. Chuck offered him a career opportunity in Houston and became a mentor and longtime business partner.

Griff can trace much of his life through people who took an interest in him. Their influence also helps explain why mentoring became part of the life he wanted to build.

A career shaped by disruption

Griff joined Natural Gas Clearinghouse as it grew in a changing energy market. He took on greater responsibility as the company expanded and became Dynegy. Then Enron’s bankruptcy shook the industry. With his own company under pressure, Griff faced a choice: stay in a new role or take a package and start something of his own.

He co-founded Eagle Energy in 2003. Lehman Brothers bought the company in 2007, giving it the financial backing to grow rapidly. About a year later, Lehman failed.

Eagle’s team had to act quickly while customers questioned the strength of its parent company. The business was sold to EDF within about 90 days. Griff takes particular pride in two outcomes: no customer default and no employee layoff.

There is a practical lesson in that story about keeping promises under pressure. There is also a personal one. Griff had spent years solving urgent business problems. Once the crisis passed, he had room to consider where his gifts might matter next.

Giving with intention

After leaving EDF in 2010, Griff heard businessman Terry Looper speak about moving from success toward significance. That encounter led to new conversations, reading, and a closer look at his own life.

Griff was already involved in church and giving money away. Yet he realized he had never examined his personal life with the same care he brought to business decisions. He and Mindy began asking which needs they cared about most, which relationships deserved more time, and how they could involve their children in giving.

The change showed up on his calendar. Griff began using Monday mornings for mentoring and ministry conversations while trusted leaders ran their business meetings. At work, the company made space available to ministries, introduced a chaplain service, and gave employees funds to direct to qualified charities. At home, Griff and Mindy established a foundation that brought their children into regular conversations about generosity.

None of those decisions began with a dramatic career exit. Griff looked at the skills, relationships, time, and resources already in his hands and asked how to use them more deliberately.

That is the question this episode leaves with us. Who helped you become who you are? What responsibilities are in front of you now? And what might change if you gave your time the same careful attention you give your work?

Listen to Griff Jones’s conversation on the 100x Podcast for the full story.