No, it's not the seven-year itch. Or the 7th-inning stretch.
But in well-cared-for dog years? It's been an amazing career complete with a lifetime of learning I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.
Seven years ago in May of 2003, I had been working as a marketing consultant on behalf of a friend of mine who at the time was an HR strategist and consultant.
I had reached out to Mark Willaman, founder and CEO of HRmarketer.com, inquiring about his marketing software.
After a brief e-mail exchange, which he and I both saved, my friend and client didn't buy, and unfortunately his work and mine dried up.
I felt like a stray who had gone astray. The economy was only just coming back from the dot.com bust and I worried I wouldn't find work.
In July of 2003, Mark hired me as a marketing research specialist.
The rest is history.
Out of everything I've come to know in the greater HR marketplace, I've always had a personal affinity for leadership development, organizational development, employee engagement, executive and business coaching and all related things in between.
In fact, I’ve been a student of leadership development and coaching practices my entire professional life, helping to create employee development and training programs at each of the organizations I worked at previously, including HRmarketer.
But it was when I took part in the The Glowan Consulting Group's (in full disclosure, a client of HRmarketer's) L3 Leadership Learning program in early 2009 that the experience was so profound that I knew without a doubt this was my calling. I felt an immediate and extraordinary connection to Glowan’s leadership development philosophy, its coaching models and its learning programs.
I fell in love. Yes, you can do that with work. Love. Just as I've loved my time with HRmarketer.com and each one of our employees.
So here's the deal -- I’ve joined Glowan as a principal and senior business consultant and will work closely with the Glowan team delivering leadership development, executive and business coaching programs, as well as drive business development activities. We help make leaders of all shapes, sizes and stages better and brighter. Glowan means "to glow" in Old English. I really dig that.
And who knows where else this road will take me...
Although I’ve left my role as president at HRmarketer.com after seven wonderful years, I will continue to serve as a board member/director at HRmarketer. You're hear from me from time to time on this blog, as well as other social media channels.
Plus, I'll continue to be a marketing client and a user of the HRmarketer software -- the features that are coming are amazing. Hey, the Kool Aid tastes pretty good from where I sit. I recommend you take a sip.
I love this space and all the people in it. I thank Mark Willaman for giving a stray a home to stay.
In everything you do, kids, take the lead and make it personal. Know no other way.
(By the way, my second daughter will be born any day now. Is that enough change for you, Kevin?)
Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)
Labels: leadership development, marketing, organizational development, social media
I had reached out to Mark Willaman, founder and CEO of HRmarketer.com, inquiring about his marketing software.
