“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them.” —Denis Waitley
You’re not the boss of me.
In the 21st century, companies will thrive because they are agile. We are warping through a period where computational power is doubling, and the rate of technology adoption is moving at an exponential clip. For the most part, it’s why we are going to grow by 65, almost 70 percent this year. There is a very high demand in the market for a company like us to help our Fortune 500 clients take advantage of all of this change and opportunity.
That brings me to each of you.
In the 20th Century typical business setting you had a boss and you followed instructions. If you were competent and showed some initiative, you’d move up the ranks. You could pick a discipline, become an expert, and enjoy the requisite level of seniority. If your heart was in management and leadership, you could add that to your competencies and again move up the ranks, but you always had a boss. Someone you could depend on to tell you what to do.
Well, that is soooo 20th Century. At Tahzoo you are your own boss, you don’t have a boss. You have a small group of people who are here to support you and help you achieve success and your career objectives. You don’t have to be on a specific track or have a singular focus on a discipline… you have agility, you have mobility and you have options. Now back to my original statement, 21st-century employees need to be agile. When I meet some of you, the technical skill you were hired for doesn’t even exist anymore… are there any former flash developers in the house (ahem Dara Keo, VP of Technology)?
We do complexly bespoke consulting to Fortune 500 companies with very difficult, expensive, and unique business problems. Where you started, where you are and where you finish will most assuredly be different.
Considering all of this, in September I implemented “the choose your own career coach” management model. I did this because you don’t need a boss, you need a small group of people, for now; your career coach, your account executive, and your practice lead to support you in reaching your goals and assist you in servicing our clients with acumen and aplomb.
Guess what- it’s hard, it means that you need to develop and manage at least three relationships within the company and as many or more on the client-side. That requires emotional agility, it requires that you have a plan and you work the plan. If you think that you’ll have a boss who will tell you what to do and you can merrily tune out, you’ve missed the point. Each one of you is your own boss, you decide how you’d like your career to progress, the skills you are going to develop, and frankly, you are only limited by your ambition.
Everyone will be receiving feedback from their career coach within the next week or so. Please take the time to talk about your career and your ambitions, develop a plan. Tom Wanat called it a personal learning journey. I like the ring of that…
It’s almost 2020, computing power and the solutions that are a derivative of that are going to double in productivity and effect within 18 months, are you ready for that level of change? Have you thought about what skills you need to be developing to take advantage of the change? Are you learning to be agile in your approach to work and who you manage your career path?
Invest in yourself, leverage your three core relationships, and have a plan. You are your own boss.
Let’s go be great!
Brad