Smart Lemming Diary: From Unemployment to Marketing Director in 5 Months
December 31, 2005
2005 is a year to remember. I’ve transformed from unhappy, disgruntled knowledge worker at a toxic technology company to an uncertain, content entrepreneur managing my own little startup, and running my own department as Marketing Director for non-toxic, a healthy technology company.
Lessons Learned from Surviving a Toxic Work Culture: March-April
I’ve learned so much about myself. It pains me to see how unhappy I was in a job that used to love and be attached to. I’m still processing and struggling to let go of this experience. Only time can take care of that, as I try to be mindful of my feelings and thoughts as they come up during my commutes or while I’m at work. I’ve learned that my intuition is rarely wrong. I was able to read the smoke signals and knew I was at risk. I tried to give it my all, giving my former company the best work I could give right up to the end. I maintained my integrity and work ethic in my final days. Do I have any regrets? Nope. I just hate unhappy endings. May through July was spent working on my own startup with my partner, working with developers to get a new website built.
New Marketing Directorship: August to Present
I’ve learned that I have very high standards for my managers and leaders. My current boss is a man whose values and integrity are of the highest standards. It was a different experience having the job come to me, receiving the job offer, and going through the salary negotiations with him during the end of June, early July. Certainly one to remember. I’ve never had a company with a position that was as wonderful fit as the position I eventually accepted.
Poaching Top Performer from Former Employer: Late August to September
Another high point of my work life for 2005 was poaching my Marketing Manager. We’re a great team as a Marketing department, we’re a great team with our Sales team, who we’ve both worked with. I appreciate that my CEO always says, “I was lucky to just add water, and presto! I have an instant Sales and Marketing team that had all worked together before.”
As a Marketing department, we’ve hit the ground running, accomplishing everything in my rolling 90-day plans. 2006 will be an exciting year for me as a manager and as a leader on my CEO’s Management Team.
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. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.
