What's Up?

I realized this morning that I have grossly neglected this blog over the past six months, which is sad given how much time I currently have available to write. I suppose part of the problem has been finding the energy to write. Not that physical kind of energy, but rather the mental kind. You know! Getting intellectually geared up to write about things that matter; to me, to my family and to my friends. So much happening in the world today. Sometimes it's a challenge to sort out what's really important versus what is merely interesting. So where to start is often a dilemma.

Today, let's start with my departure from my last position. As many folks know, I was the SVP of Sales for a rapidly growing Market Research firm that focused heavily on Customer Intelligence. A wonderful company, filled with amazing people. So why did I leave? Well, the short answer is my particular usefulness had come to an end. I think we all recognized it, but it wasn't until the Board decided they needed a sales executive with substantially more experience growing VC backed firms from $70m to $100M to $150M that we decided to do something about it. Could I have stayed in a different role? Perhaps. But in my experience it is always better to make a hard change when it comes to Sales Leadership. "There Can Only Be One", my favorite line from the movie Highlander, applies to real life as well. The new leader needs to develop his or her team without interference, intended or otherwise. Loyalty to the former leader is hard to shift when that former leader is still hanging about. Plus, frequently the styles of the former and new leader will often differ, sometimes dramatically. So in the interest of the firm, and my equity in the firm, it made sense for me to exit stage right. That was accomplished without rancor or harsh feelings in late Fall and for the past four plus months I have essentially been on a sabbatical, which leads me into the next paragraph.

So what does one do on a sabbatical? Well, at first there was a fair amount of just doing absolutely nothing. Getting up late, staying up late. Enjoying being in the kitchen, cooking, drinking some lovely wine, catching up on my reading, hanging out at Starbucks, etc. Then comes the "OMG", I don't have a job and one starts to polish one's CV, start combing various job sites like "The Ladders", "Six Figure Jobs.com" - plowing through one's contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media sites. Then comes the breakfast meetings, the lunch meetings, the networking events. Eventually, you start blasting the market with your CV, knowing full well the chances of it ever reaching anyone of significance are slim to none. But you do it anyway because you never know when you might hit the lottery.

Of course, you then realize that you did all of these things last time you were in this position and none of it produced anything meaningful then either. Finally, you return to your strength, which is being an independent consultant and suddenly, things fall back into place and opportunities surface because all those years you spent being a Sales Leader did in fact result in meaningful connections and valuable experiences.

I suppose what I'm saying is that from my perspective, the key is to not panic or get overly depressed by the process of landing a new position. I read somewhere that "the key to success is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances." Yes, I have the luxury of having a few dollars saved, which means I can take a bit more time than the average chap in the same situation, but not so many that I can retire, at least not yet. Having two teenagers, one who will turn 14 in April and the other 16 about ten days later ensures that I will be working in some capacity for quite some time to come.

So what have I have been doing during the past four months and eight days? Well, getting healthy has been one major accomplishment. I joined a gym, engaged a personal trainer, and have been working out at least four or five times a week on average. I'm trimmer and I'm certainly stronger than I've been in the past several years. One positive aspect of being an independent consultant is that you have some leverage over your hours.

I've also been trying to help my daughter Ellisa with her homework, especially her English Literature homework. She has weekly writing assignments and while she is a gifted writer, she suffers from an age old malady called procrastination. My role therefore is to be her coach, the person who gets her motivated and eager to write. It doesn't help that her teacher finds Ellisa a bit of an odd duck. I suspect it has something to do with the stories she shared early on that focused on blood and mayhem. I don't think he would have done well with Stephen King!

Finally, I'm still teaching religious education at Holy Spirit. We recently changed formats and I'm still adjusting from having my own group of 6th graders every Sunday morning to an evening format where we have all the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders together. We went from a classroom setting to more of an auditorium environment and I have to admit it is a lot like herding cats at times. Still, many of the local parishes are adapting to this new format in an effort to make the program more flexible for the kids, or at least that is the party line. We'll see if it succeeds by the end of the school term.

I suppose that is all for now folks. Promise I will try to write more often over the coming weeks and months. We have an election headed our way and my creative juices always seem to get flowing during an election year. Next post will be an update on the family and the past year in reflection.

Cheers,

Patrick