'Work With Me': Dan Harris Works at Von Strasser Vineyard in Napa Valley

Nov. 12, 2010 — -- Our day starts at dawn to the sound of birds singing. The tractor starts to roll through the vineyards and men are working at the vines.

This place -- in the middle of California's Napa Valley -- is the office of Mark Skinner, a man who has undergone a rather radical career change and attitude adjustment.

We were intrigued when we first received his essay. He got emotional when he read it back to me.

"This winery has made me a better father, husband and person," he read then. "Life is not always about money."

Skinner used to be a hotshot high tech executive.

"I was pretty intense," he said. "I was considered to be the meanest man by some in telecom."

It made him mean, but it made his wife -- who he met in college -- miserable. She used to work in telecom, too, and found herself frequently weeping before work.

"I quit without even having another job," she said. "I couldn't work there anymore. I was miserable. ... I wasn't the person I wanted to be, as mom or a wife."

And then a cancer scare for Lisa -- melanoma.

"She says, 'It's the bad one,'" he said. "They did a biopsy. After that, it was pretty intense."

The experience caused him to make a shift.

"I just [re-prioritized] my life," he said, adding he realized it just wasn't all about money.

The Skinners decided to slow down. They both took big pay cuts, making half of what they used to, and moved their two sons -- Scott, 17, and Nick, 20 -- to the small town of Calistoga, Calif. They haven't looked back.

Before the transformation, Mark Skinner would come home extremely grumpy because he hated firing people, Scott said. That has changed.

Mark's new gig at the small Von Strasser winery started as an entry level job. He's now the general manager.

"These people have become my family and my friends. And I really mean that," Mark Skinner said.