People like me…

“People like me are looking for people like me”

I said that during a conference I attended a couple weeks ago when I was describing why I started my own business.

I’ve noticed that many of my friends and old colleagues are starting their own consulting businesses. It seems as though they are searching for something that the FTE (Full Time Employee) roles no longer fulfill. It was a big part of why I finally admitted I was ready to leave the corporate world, full time employment with a 401k and health benefits. Even with all of those “benefits,” I wasn’t getting what I really wanted and needed out of life and work anymore.

After applying three times over almost a decade, I left my job at AOL back in 2013 to finally join Rally Software in Boulder, Colorado. It was my dream job. Ask anyone from AOL that knew me back then and they’ll tell you how much I talked about them and loved their culture and how agile was the future! People that worked at Rally belonged and were valued by their team mates. And they were cultivating belonging with their clients through the principles and practices of agile.

When your colleagues think you’re amazing and tell you so (thank you Christine Hudson – our office master of superlatives), it goes a long way! I still remember one of our Coaches Conferences that we held each year in Boulder where I was asked to share my role and experience at one of our big accounts on the east coast. They were a horrible client for me and I felt like a fraud in front of all of the expert coaches at Rally but when one of them stood up and shared how much they believed I had done and praised me openly, I almost lost it. It took everything I could not to cry right there. We talked privately moments later and I shared how hard it was and how much I felt I did wrong and she quickly replied, “You did your best and I know it! They don’t know what they had with you.”

You’ve probably heard the phrase “It takes a village” and I’d like to see more offices take that to heart. At Rally, we used to call each other our “Tribe” and it was so powerful to know that we had each other’s back even when we didn’t see each other for months while we were on the road. I still talk to so many of my old Rally Tribe members. And, now as a leadership consultant, I’m building new tribes of people that are dedicated to help each other, push each other and stand up for each other. People like you are looking for people like you!

If you’d like to start a tribe of other coaches and managers, you might be interested in this. I have a free 3 month pilot group will be starting in April. We will meet at least twice a month sometimes in person and sometimes over video conference. If you’re interested, send an email to Christen@LILeader.com before 3/23/19 explaining why you would benefit and how you could contribute to the group. I will schedule an introductory call to select 5-9 people from the submissions.