Today, well today and tonight, I had two of the hardest questions ever posed to me. No She did not ask me to Marry her.
The first Hard Questions question was, are you a “Big Picture” guy or a “Details” guy and the only thing I could think of was “Yes.” Ok, sure, not a good answer but it is the truth. Being a field technician for many years for a major shipping company I had to learn about the business impact of what I was doing. If I negatively affected the business, then I not only hurt the delivery drivers but shot the heck out of customer service. At the Universities the last few years as I took on more responsibilities I definitely was a “Yes” guy. As my projects became larger and much more complex (read: expensive), I was the guy not only planning the projects but worrying about the implementation and then sticking my hands all the way up to the shoulder blades in the cabling. So my answer was yes! Now don’t worry I didn’t just say yes, but explained it. So I am “The Big Picture Guy Who Sees the Pixels out of whack.” Sorry blame it on my video background.
Then tonight Hard Questions number two, was even a scarier question posed to me! How do my professional dreams and my skills align? Now this is not a what are you doing in five years’ question, but instead a “you have a magic wand and you could have any job you want” question and how do your skills align with having that job. Wow, shocking was a mild understatement because at first I thought “THEY DON’T!” But as I sat down to diagram what I wanted, yes I did go big, I realized while I might not have every skill required, I have most. So now, addressing the jobs I really want, the proverbial gauntlet has been slapped upside the back of my head and I now understand that I need to begin planning my future to acquire the necessary experience and skills to land that job.
So if you need a Chief Information Officer, drop me a line. I am the big picture guy who has installed the cable and replaced the boards while smoothing the ruffled feathers of the customers.
