my new job

I haven't posted anything since last spring. 2006 was a busy year. The Rainfall Company experienced a great deal of change in the last three years, culminating last year in the grounding of a new team.

I had the non-unique experience of breast cancer last fall. Early detection and good health insurance: I got rid of the cancer and can move on with my life. I'm more than ever concerned about those who don't have good (or any) health insurance, don't get screened and don't get to move on. Anyway, like any of the proverbial brushes with mortality, this one triggered some questions in me and caused me to rearrange some priorities.

Since 1999 I was President & CEO of OneRain, and starting this year I'm merely CEO. This is very good - the guy who's running the company instead of me is much better at process and at executing according to a system view. These are important to operating a company successfully and probably not my strongest points (colleagues can be heard giggling in the background). Our company has matured. It requires a skilled manager and I'm more of an entrepreneur by temperament.

So what's my new job like? I'm just figuring that out. I have time and energy to spend outside the company that I didn't have before, and I find myself already in exploratory mode. I think I will get more "real" work done - talking to the people working in our domain and finding out what their challenges are, getting ideas for new ways to approach problems in measuring rainfall and its consequences.

I'm excited about spending time with our outside partners. As a small company we rely on close collaborative relationships with other companies to extend our reach without creating inefficiency. Common wisdom has it that small businesses are dramatically more efficient than large businesses. I think that small businesses working with one another in close collaboration can be even more efficient. It also makes life much more interesting.

James and I (James Logan is the guy running the company, our new President and still our COO) organized a company meeting last week to kick off our new year. Comunicating is our theme for this year. It's a huge part of my job to communicate. I am responsible for bringing information back and forth between the outside world and our company. It is my responsibility to communicate our vision, to help it evolve and to keep everyone who is part of this evolution in the loop.

The highest calling of my job to explore the boundaries of what we do as a company. How are we most useful, in what ways can our enterprise make the greatest contribution? What innovations are required to make our clients' working lives better and their missions more successful? Which ones make sense to pursue ourselves now, which ones should we pursue in concert with partners, and which ones are sexy but don't add to the outcome.

Finally, it is also my job to keep a balanced life so I can continue being productive. Skiing, spending time with kids (when they're around!), sharing home and kitchen with friends, performing loyally my Pilates training, riding my motorcycle, flying a helicopter, playing and listening to music, reading, cuddling the dogs, sharing early mornings with my friends at the coffee house - these are the things that keep me sane and healthy. Without them I don't have anywhere near the energy required to do all the things I described above.

Everyone needs to do things that restore energy, it's just the "what" that varies from person to person.

I hope OneRain has an excellent year and serves its clients well. I believe I will, and they are not independent. If I do well in my new job, my joy in working will create success for the company, and the company's success will create satisfaction and joy for me.