This past Friday concluded my fifteen-month journey with my employer. As you can imagine change is never easy and saying goodbye to people whom I’ve become fond off was even harder. Then after a week of feeling unsure about my decision of taking a new job, I learned that within two weeks of my departure I would have been unemployed anyway. It appears that between the time I gave notice and last Tuesday a decision had been made to eliminate the entire region that I worked in and thus leaving both myself and another person without a job. Unfortunately, the news as with any other job elimination was not something that had been shared leaving the other individual with terrible uncertainty and myself with incredible gratitude.
The first time I had to make a change in my career I had a mentor tell me that this was part of the evolution of growth and that I would always feel like there was more to do so there would never be a good time to leave. Then he gave me some of the most impactful professional advice I had received to that point. He said all you can do is always leave things better than you found them. I have lived by that motto ever since and I can honestly say that in every position I’ve held I’ve always left things a little better. As I look back to all the many adventures, I’ve lived career wise, more important than the tactical and strategic accomplishments are the relationships I’ve built.
Connections that become relationships
Through out time we encounter many people personally and professionally that become part of our lives. Some remain, others don’t and some just return from time to time. For me these relationships that started as connections have enriched my life and even if they are like seasons that only return for a few months each year, I value them and miss them until the next time they appear. Just like seasons the certainty of their existence is evident and this past month I was reminded of just how important they are in my life. In fact, it is because of these connections that today I am sitting here typing a very different story.
During the week of Christmas and New Year’s my new employer decided to start the entire pre-employment background check process which include asking for references. I’m not talking about providing a few names and phone numbers and let them do the work. I’m talking about full blown ask people to invest their personal time during the holidays to talk about you and why you should be hired. This wasn’t a simple request as it required that they log into their emails, go to the link provided and then respond to all kinds of questions – not something everyone would do, but my connections did.
A few days later when I celebrated my official offer my dear friend (former peer) who shall remain nameless thought that I was being over dramatic when I shared how thoughtful I believed everyone was for doing this for me (remember it was the holidays). In fact he jokingly told me that it wasn’t like they had given me a kidney, (the funny thing is that I truly believe he would give me a kidney if I needed one – that’s just the kind of person he is). The truth is that every single reference responded to my request. I’m not sure what they said as their responses and what they think of me is entirely their business and I would never make them feel uncomfortable by asking for details or telling them what to say, but what I know is that I got to keep my offer – so they must have been good.
In today’s world where we seem to be more connected often times we truly aren’t and as we rely on electronic communication we don’t always know if our emails, texts, or social media posts were received and ignored or lost in the world wide web of information. But when we have true relationships with people none of this makes a difference.
Today I dedicate my post to the many people who started off as supervisors, peers, colleagues and later became mentors and even friends. My same friend that doesn’t believe he did a great thing for me, once told me that we should never speak poorly about people that others don’t know because it could be damaging to their reputation or their career. I could not agree with him more and as I end my post, I am humbled at the many people that stand by me not just during the good times, but in my time of need (they know I would do the same). My sincere gratitude to each of you – you know who you are. I am not only blessed to have you in my life, but I am in your debt, because this past holiday season you ensured I got new job without even knowing I would be needing it.
The Empowered Crossing 
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