Smart Lemming Diary: First Day of My New Marketing Manager
September 13, 2005
I woke up yesterday morning thinking it was Sunday morning. I looked at my clock, noticing it was 7:30 am. I couldn’t wait to make my coffee, but then it struck me, “Oh MY GOD, it’s Monday! I’m supposed to leave the house by 8:00 am, so I can meet Jonathan at 9:00 am on his first day of work!” I got out of bed, tried to focus, tried to make sure I didn’t fall down the stairs because of the dog’s bed at the top of the stairs.
I made my way to the coffee maker. As I waited for my coffee, I felt fuzzy, as I tried to focus again, checking email in my home office. I darted back upstairs to get my coffee, realizing that I didn’t have time to take a shower and had to leave ASAP. I managed to get out of the house by 8:20 am and called Amanda letting her know that I’d be 15 minutes late and if she could intercept Jonathan for me.
Transitioning, Getting into Work
Jonathan was also late because he ran into traffic. I breathed easier, but was annoyed at myself for not having a schedule for him. Then I remembered that Amanda needed him in Salesforce.com to clean it up and transfer opportunities and accounts from her name to Jamie’s. By the end of the week, we wanted it cleaned up and ready to go. Amanda and I took Jonathan to coffee, and then we came back and tried to be focused on transitioning back to work. Word for the day: “focus.” It was hard to do that today because Amanda and I had tough workloads last week. We needed one more day in our weekend.
He’s Ready for this Opportunity
I really believe that Jonathan was ready for this job. I had a lingering doubt that he might have been just doing it for the salary increase, but I finally believe that he’s managing career. He’s thankful to us for picking with him, accommodating his slow transition to move to our city, allowing him to telecommute from another town. He met with Amanda and immediately started working on Salesforce.com.
I had a one thing on my plate since Tom was traveling. My only commitment was to produce all of our Sales Reference Guide (SRG) with all my sales tools and other documentation. I had created them for the VAR, which I used last Friday, but only created our own version for our direct sales team. The SRG had fifteen tabs work of materials. I’ll have to include five more tabs, once the second VAR kicks into gear. By the end of the day, I had produced all the SRGs (meaning, I had to create labels for the tabs, assemble the notebooks with the labeled tabs, and then print and collate all the documentation).
Mentoring
Jonathan and I had been peers and friends in our former company. He’s much younger than I am, so he occasionally asked me for advice. When I took him to lunch, I could tell he was reeling. He needed to talk. “Can I just catch you up on my family stuff?” He asked. “Of course, I know how close you are to your family.” I said. He proceeded to tell me all that was going on, which was significant. Jonathan was processing romantic life’s circumstances. “Am I weird to be too self-managing and independent?” He said in an uncertain tone. We talked about how to manage a career, while factoring in family and relationships.
I look at Jonathan completely differently than when I left him at my former employer month and months ago. He’s grown more serious and contemplative. He wants to succeed and perform as he finds a way to make it all work. I’m impressed at his level of commitment to his family and career. I can’t wait to see how Jonathan blooms in his job as Marketing Manager. I think he’s up to it and I think he’ll exceed Tom’s expectations.
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here.
