THE GLUEOn the NBC show The West Wing, President Bartlet says to the deputy chief of staff, "You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on."For 15 years in the field, I was what you could call the guy. My boss worked off-site, and I had no immediate peer. If I were applying for my old job, I would spend this space writing about my style of empathetic leadership, ownership of processes, and experience with doing physical work with as much mind as body.After earning my degree, my company invited me to take a newly created Implementation Specialist position with the mission to accelerate our timetable through long overdue upgrades and modernizations. With this position, I have warmly embraced my return to the role of being the guy the guy counts on.It is not that I no longer lead and take ownership of processes; rather, it is about having been there and knowing how to complement the needs of others. A glue guy.And now that I have taken my first steps, I want to plan my next ones.CAREER GOALSI have always embraced the role of liaison: the bridge between stakeholders and user experiences with a map of the forest guiding me from tree-to-tree. Whether I am training new employees on their first day or presenting ideas to administration, I always try to be the guy they are counting on -- to not only deliver information, but to anticipate, adapt and empathize with them at every step.This is why I have taken my next steps into business analysis - with recent courses and certifications also in project management and data analysis. It is a whole career made out of the favorite parts of my job.
