Date: 2013-02-05 Title: One Week in… Tags: strategy, story

Maybe I’m crazy. I sat in a meeting today where I found out a couple companies will be consulting for HealthTronics. In the end, that’s exactly what I want to do.

But, I walked away from a position where I was the HR/Skills lead for the Policy department in North America, and had a title very similar to that of the person giving the seminar today. He is over a few more people than I was, but our responsibilities are similar. I could have been better, that’s always the case, but I was very good at my job. I’m passionate about software craftsmanship and people development, and that helped me to be a very effective leader.

I’m sure there are plenty of stories out there about a person working in a similar situation as what I had, where they began consulting and doing speeches here and there, building the demand, until they finally had to leave.

While I’ve done that somewhat, I maybe cashed out before I hit my peak demand But, to make it, you have to take risks, and this puts me where I need to be.

The big difference I see between these companies that will be consulting and myself is that I have built my brand as Damon, I haven’t yet built the brand of Penguin Creek. think that’s key, and that is what people expect when they hire me. But at some point, I have to find more people that are passionate about the same things that I am. Otherwise it becomes an intricate facade (read: lie) and I’m just not OK with that.

On my own, I have the ability to pursue lectures, consulting opportunities, and so on. At Accenture, I had those opportunities as well, but to me, for some reason if I were profiting on it outside of Accenture, that would feel wrong. And to me, profiting doesn’t necessarily mean making money, as there is the sweat equity of building a brand.

Maybe I’m the only one who views it that way. Regardless, I now have the freedom and opportunity to follow my folly, and the future is looking great.