This goes out to my Pepperdine School of Public Policy readers:
“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005
Today, I start in a new position at Point B, a management consulting firm. This opportunity opened up as I look back and connect the dots.
About a year ago, I joined Hitachi Consulting in their Organization and Transformation Solutions practice in Seattle. I brought along with me my book of experiences. I had experience in performing risk assessments, evaluating programs, and implementing a change management program for an ERP implementation. While at Hitachi Consulting, I had experiences working at a large healthcare organization, a uniform rental services organization, and a consumer products organization. Hitachi Consulting was a large company, 4000 employees globally when I left. It gave me insights into how large companies operate and systems that are needed to run such a company.
Rewind further, I spent nearly four years at IntelliBridge Partners, previously known as Macias Consulting Group. The last year and a half, I spent doing projects in the Seattle/Olympia area. This dot, was my accelerator dot. In that short period of time, I accumulated a large book of work, stretched myself beyond my comfort zone, and pushed myself further than ever before. The company was small, about six in the consulting group and 200+ in the parent company. I gained footing into the company through my previous experiences but also from the first time I came to an interview with a portfolio of work. I had prepared a binder of my past experiences and how they could be applicable to my future projects.
Step back, I worked at the California Bureau of State Audits, my first and only experiencing in working for a public agency. My wife was accepted into UC Davis for a graduate program in BioMedical Engineering. I called up the recruiter that presented while I was at Pepperdine and became a state worker.
Before that, I worked for a boutique consulting firm in Bellevue, WA developing IT strategic plans for cities and counties. I submitted several job applications coming out of graduate school. My resume was originally rejected but a follow up call moved it back onto the interview pile. The rest is history.
Again, looking back, each step opened the door to the next step.
I don’t know where the next dot will be but as Steve said, as long as you believe that the next dot will somehow connect, things will be all right.