Career TPOV #1: It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will

Last August, after a number of years with the same company, I decided to take an incentive package to leave the company. I was blessed to not only have a generous payout but also to have 2-1/2 months before my last day with the company. In the job search journey that started last August and ended just weeks after my last day with that company in mid-November, I learned some things and was reminded of some others about making a change in your career, whether that change is to another company or within the same company. This post is the first in a Teachable Point of View (TPOV) series on those things.

Within a few weeks of making the decision to take the program and leave the place I had worked for 15+ years, I reached out to a co-worker -- a Product Manager who had worked for me a couple years before -- to see what his plans were for the new fiscal year and to see if/how I could help him, only to find out he was leaving. We agreed to have lunch the following Monday.

It was at that lunch, within the first five minutes of our conversation that I got the information that led to my current job as Senior IT Product Manager in the global IT organization of a Big 4 firm. I could simply wrap up this post by pointing out how I got the lead and the help that led to my new job when I thought I would be helping a co-worker. But there is more to this "It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will" point.

A year ago as I considered what to pursue in the job search, I focused a lot of attention on opportunities with much smaller organizations that would have me in roles very different than what I had been doing. The newness and the unknown intrigued me. I was thinking that if I was going to make a change, it was going to be a big change. However, this journey wouldn't play out that way.

Move ahead a month or so. I remember an October 2010 phone conversation with a consultant at Right Management (http://www.right.com/) -- an organization that was very helpful to me in this career transition. As we discussed three opportunities that were in front of me, she made the analogy of of my current company at the time being a green apple and the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity at a Big 4 firm being a red apple then suggested I needed to figure out whether I even liked apples. There was no point in just trading green for red. I was going to have to really think about what I liked to do, what was a good opportunity and fit for me.

Even though I spent a lot of time thinking about, asking about, discussing, praying through and trying to get ready for a role that would be very different and would be with an organization  of a different size and shape, I was drawn to the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity. If you know me, you know that is what I chose and that I started that job with a Big 4 firm at the beginning of 2011.

Fast forward to now, early September 2011, just over a year after I made the decision to take the package and leave the company I had worked at for several years. I enjoy the new role which has forced me to learn a lot -- about the firm, the global IT organization, Global Tax (i.e., my client), the member firms around the globe, etc. -- and has taken me out of my comfort zone. This new role has also given me the opportunity to have more autonomy and to make a larger impact, aspects that had been missing for a while.

Had you asked me a year ago what I would be doing now, my answer wouldn't have matched this. The lead, the help and this opportunity all came from people and places I wouldn't have expected. It doesn't look like I thought it would then. But I am grateful for the opportunity and how it came to me even though it definitely did not come from where I thought it would.

So be open in career moves. Don't think you have it figured out. Look to other places. Listen to people. And watch for something different than what you have pictured now.

Bridge Out

As of a few weeks ago, the Madison Street bridge I often cross on my 5-minute walk from Union Station to the Deloitte Chicago office is closed. So now I have to go south one street and cross at Monroe. I often took that route before the Madison Street bridge was closed. It is basically the same distance. So what is the big deal? (After all, I am blogging about it.)

The big deal is that many people -- if you have walked through the Chicago Loop during rush hour you have an idea how many -- normally take that Madison Street bridge over to Wacker or crossed Madison to head north. Now all those people have no choice but to re-route to one of basically three remaining alternatives (i.e., the afore-mentioned cutover to Monroe Street, going west to Canal Street or going into Union Station and out Adams Street). So everything is slowed down. And there is a lot more foot traffic squeezed into the same area.

So how does this apply to anything other than my now slightly more than 5-minute walk? A preferred and oft-taken option is off the table for a few months. It won't do me or anyone else any good to grumble about it, wish it were still there or whatever. The Madison Street bridge option isn't an option. All of us commuters have to choose from the still available options. There is a very real constraint that we can do nothing about. We have zero control over that. Remember this principle on your projects. Don't be the team member -- or worse yet the team leader -- wasting time and energy talking about an option that is no longer an option, "fighting" a pointless battle you cannot win. Move on. Or else you risk coloring much of the project team and the project itself with negativity.

But remember that many of these constraints are time-boxed. Eventually the Madison Street bridge will be open again. And I for one will move right back to that option as one of my preferred routes.

When a bridge is out, adapt. No whining! But pay attention to the signs for when that new and improved bridge will be ready for traffic again. I recommend flexibility mixed with reality -- both for your projects and for your commute.

Bike Messenger/Project Manager

Would a bike messenger make a good project manager? I don't think so. Let me tell you why.

At the end of a work day last winter, as I was headed to Union Station (http://www.chicagounionstation.com) to catch the train home, I was almost taken out by a bike messenger who ran a red light as I crossed Wacker Drive. After thanking God that there was no collision -- we both would have lost big time -- I thought about an application in project management.

Sometimes in our efforts to deliver a project on-time, we can get into a bit of a heads-down, blinders-on, singular focus. And while some of that might be needed on a project, it can be dangerous. If project leaders and team members are not regularly looking around and thinking through issues and risks inside and outside the project, the chance for a delay, a negative quality impact, a budget hit, etc. increases. Worse yet, what if more than one project takes the heads-down, not looking around approach? There may be a big collision coming that could impact multiple projects.

Straight-ahead speed is not the only thing needed to deliver a project. Make sure you are looking around, checking the mirrors for others. Keep your eyes up for yellow lights, let alone red lights. And heed them. Have your project team members do the same. Help them to do so. Otherwise you could be the bike messenger -- er, project manager -- speeding for that last delivery of the day, going through a red light and taking yourself and others out, because you assumed everyone would see you and your "obviously the most important of all" delivery coming.

One final point. Whether you are a former bike messenger wanting to move into a project manager position or vice versa, I recommend you think twice before including that experience on your resume.

Take the Spork in the Road

Former New York Yankees and New York Mets player, manager and coach, Yogi Berra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra), is known for his outrageous quotes. Yogi once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." While you struggle through thinking what Yogi might have meant, let's talk about decision making.

A fork in the road usually means a choice between going left or going right. Sometimes the decision is obvious and easy. Sometimes the decision takes more analysis. For those bigger, far-reaching decisions, get appropriate counsel. (As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 24:6, "... in abundance of counselors, there is victory.") Sometimes both left and right are good decisions. Here is the thing. When you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a decision and act on it. Because, as my senior pastor, James MacDonald (http://jamesmacdonald.com/), said in a sermon a while back, "Not making a decision about something you need to make a decision about is making a decision." Analysis paralysis is a decision. It is not a good decision, but it is a decision.


So as you approach a fork in the road, avoid analysis paralysis. Instead think through and discuss the pros and cons of going left versus going right, make a decision and move with appropriate speed down that path. If you get down that path and realize going right would have been better than going left as you did, admit the error, learn from it, course correct and keep moving. Remember no decision is a decision. See there is some bit of wisdom in what Yogi Berra said about taking the fork in the road.


On a somewhat related note, if you ever come to a spork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork) in the road, follow Yogi Berra's advice completely. Take it. Sporks are great. More on that another time.

You Chicago People Say It's Close

As I came off the elevator at 111 S. Wacker with my Jimmy John's #6 and Thinny Chips (isn't that a comical name?), a woman asked me how close Jimmy John's was to the office. I quickly explained it was close and that it was east on Monroe just a couple blocks. Her response was, "You Chicago people say it's close, but it will probably take me 10 minutes." Obviously, Chicago either isn't her home office or she is new to the Chicago area altogether. Either way, it made me think how familiarity can breed quicker, but sometimes sloppier, communication.

You know what happens. We work together long enough that we have a shared lexicon of acronyms and analogies. It works great for us speeding up our communication, because we don't have to stop and explain all that. But what happens when we are talking with and listening to our customers?

Do you know your customer's language? Do you speak your customer's language (for me these days, that means Tax) as best you can even if it isn't your native language (for me, a process guy used to operating in a techie world)? Be careful before taking shortcuts in your communication with customers. Pay attention when new stakeholders join. Remind yourself to step back, explain things and create opportunities for questions. And maybe become "multi-lingual" along the way.

Shamrock Shake Circa 2011

Recently as I walked out of McDonald's with my lunch (you have got to like the Angus Deluxe Snack Wrap for $1.99), I noticed a man in front of me carrying a drink tray with four very green drinks. He was either off to set some sort of Shamrock Shake drinking record or was about to make three co-workers very happy. Here is the thing. These didn't look like your old-time Shamrock Shake. They were topped off with whipped cream, the proverbial maraschino cherry and the clear domed lid found on all foo-foo drinks. This was Shamrock Shake meets McCafe.

Seeing those shakes -- and writing about it now -- makes me want to buy one. I haven't had a Shamrock Shake in years but always enjoyed them partially, I am sure, because of the "available for a limited time" thing. Think of something you enjoyed as a kid -- some type of food or drink, a favorite place or family vacation spot. In many ways, we like to keep those things unchanged in our mind and get a kick out of the nostalgia of an old-time fill-in-the-blank or finding something just like it was back then. But do we really want things to stay exactly the same? At some point, the nostalgic, as-it-always-was feel limits the demand for these things. It's fine to keep the basics the same, but products and services need to improve and diversify.

So as the Shamrock Shake has undergone a makeover, think about a product or service you support or provide. Is it the same as it ever was? Is it time for some improvements, some updating, getting ahead of the curve? Or will you let that product or service be pushed into a smaller and smaller box and further back on the shelf away from view? I trust you will come up with something better than whipped cream and a cherry on top. (The domed lid on the other hand is functional.)

Now off to get a Shamrock Shake while supplies last.