As I wrote earlier, I’ve had the chance to reflect upon the last two years. While I tend to focus on what development and growth I should continue to work on, it wouldn’t be balanced if I didn’t consider some successes over the last few years.
Like any organization, being able to focus on a strategy and values is fundamental to one’s success, individual or otherwise.
My strategy going into the launch of JEWAL was on a variety of offerings. Interim leadership, continuous improvement, project management, technology implementations, and data mining, to name a few. As I wrote in part one, I am a firm believer in the “jack of all trades, master of one” approach. While my “jack of all trades” component was defined from the company launch, the “master of one” was not as clear. With my skills and expertise, while I have years of experience in these areas, I readily admit that so do many others. From PMP certifications to LSS MBB to MBA degrees, the competition is vast.
I’ve discovered that my expertise, above everything else, does indeed lie in the area of “learning from data,” aka data mining. I’ve had the chance to learn some new programming languages, such as Python. I’ve been able to brush up on various BI tools, such as Power BI and Tableau. From accessing data to processing it to making data beneficial and insightful to organizations in the form of metrics, KPIs, OKRs, or a Balanced Scorecard. That is where I excel (no pun intended). I say this not only from my reflections but, more importantly, with those organizations I have worked with over the last few years. The Voice of the Customer can never be underestimated, both positively and constructively. I have an innate ability to pull, assimilate, and interpret data to make it meaningful for the business. From there, I can provide direction, goals, implementation plans, and execute on those areas of improvement. I’m happy to say the company name does match a core competency.
Regarding values, it took an experienced entrepreneur who quickly evolved into a mentor to clarify this area for me. He said the key success characteristics of a leader involve humility, hunger, and knowledge, and he saw those in me. I’ve seen those references in additional articles and books (esp. Patrick Lencioni), albeit with slightly different words at times. I believe the humility does originate in part from my East Coast roots. While sometimes my reserved nature can come across as arrogant or cold, once I get the chance to work with people, I think genuine kindness and approachability are observed.
As for the other two characteristics, I think they are self-evident in any role. One has to have a level of expertise and understanding of their field. As importantly, the drive or desire to do something with that knowledge.
I’ve discovered over the last few years, though not necessarily a bad thing, that working in environments where not all of those values are apparent. When they are lacking, or worse yet, some of the fundamental values of trust and integrity aren’t present, it’s not an environment I’m seeking. I’ve quickly learned that I’m more than willing to walk away from those conditions. Life (or business) isn’t worth it.
This 2nd part was a bit longer in writing, in large part due to another transition I am about to undertake. I’ll have the chance to write more about that soon, but in the meantime, I know the last two years have given me additional insight into my strengths, opportunities, and the type of people and companies I want to continue assisting and supporting.
Darren