My friend, Jason Seiden, years ago introduced me to the idea of thinking of your career (and life) as chapters in the story of our life. I love this metaphor. Every chapter has a purpose and also a beginning and an end.  And, each chapter sets a foundation for the next.

I am turning the page on a great chapter of my career and beginning a new one.

For the past three years, I’ve had the privilege to work for Quantum Workplace. For the first two years, I lead Quantum’s Best Places to Work team that supports nearly 50 programs across the US and collects survey responses from hundreds of thousands of employees each year about their work experience. This year, I lead the Client Success team who ensured that our engagement survey and performance motivation clients were successful in using our tools to make work better every day.

My time with Quantum has been a productive chapter of my career. It allowed me to build upon my practical experience driving employee engagement in corporate America with data and research into what really matters to employees in all types of workplaces. I also got to study up close the role that technology can play in building better workplaces. Overall, this experience reinforced my desire to help make workplaces work better for humans and equipped me with powerful insights and experience to do so more powerfully than ever before.

Last Friday, I closed the chapter with Quantum Workplace. The next chapter begins today.

I’m returning to the world of self-employment. Here’s what’s next for me:

1. A primary focus on growing my speaking business.  While I have continued to speak both individually and as a part of the Talent Anarchy team over the past three years, speaking took a back seat. I am called to do this work. I love it. “Preaching and teaching” about making work more engaging and human are what I do best. It’s time to move this work to the front of the line and invest in it.
2. Use my deep expertise in employee engagement and human resources to support others in doing good work. Some of my most rewarding work over the past few years has been in helping CEO’s and HR executives to make sense of engagement and get them focused on where to put their efforts to make a difference. Another place I do this is through leadership and management training programs that teach how to drive performance through employee engagement.
3. Create provocative and thought leading content. Challenging people to think differently and better about the work of employee engagement and culture building is an area where I have always excelled. I think it’s because I pair the conceptual with the practical so once you see the path forward, you also know what to do next. My intention is to create meaningful and engaging content both independently and in partnership with others.

Making a go of it on your own is hard work. And it’s impossible to do it successfully without the support of others. So, I would humbly ask for your help as I make this transition.

Here’s how you could help:

1. Recommend me for speaking opportunities at your organization or conferences that you may be involved with.
2. When your organization or a colleague’s organization is struggling with issues related to employee engagement, recommend that they have a conversation with me. I can probably help whether it be with a little guidance or some management training.
3. Share my name and content with those who might need someone to help them create compelling content to grow their audience with leaders and HR professionals.
4. If you’d like to stay up on what I’m doing, you can subscribe to my blog.

I appreciate your help. If you’d like to chat or catch up, shoot me back a note and we’ll make it happen.

Have a great week!