Uh Oh.

About four months ago, a good friend of mine decided it was time for him to take the next step in his career. He had been in an operational/sales role, but knew his business and found an opportunity to take a directorship with another organization.

On Wednesday, he called and told me he'd been let go. He was tasked to manage a team that had been entrenched and comfortable under old management, and he never got them to buy in to what he was selling. Moreover, the industry he's in is taking a hit this year, and the once-attractive opportunity turned into a miserable fight over table scraps as his staff kicked each others' asses to grab everything they could to pad their quarterly bonuses. He was set up to fail, and, in retrospect, he realizes this.

Here's hoping that this is not foreshadowing. Here's hoping that in coming months you don't get a rambling and tearful opus that dwells significantly on regrets and missed opportunities. Because I'm being set up for something here, and I'm not exactly sure what that something is yet.

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I'm good at my job. No two ways about it. I understand the business I'm in pretty thoroughly, and can discuss and dissect it from any angle you want to throw at me. Operational? Sure, been in the trenches working the transactions for five years. Strategic? Absolutely, there's been no one else shaping the client's goals leading to a 100% increase in our contract over two years. Legal? No question, I can go toe-to-toe with VPs of our suppliers and argue liability language and insurance guidelines, and have taken it on my shoulders to do so. Philosophical?

Yes. Working in the role I have for the past 28 months has enabled me to grow in this gig by leaps and bounds. In one respect, the transactional nature of the procurement program I've been responsible for designing, building and running for my client is really no more than coordinating and controlling information and activity from point A to point Z and doing it well. That being said, the design of the program is naturally influenced by the client's goals and objectives, and those are the things of which I need to be conscious as I'm running the transactions. This client, in particular, has been open and energetic about what they've wanted from me, and we've worked together to develop a common philosophy that boils down to this objective:

To Create A Commodity Procurement Experience Within This Non-Commodity Channel.

When I landed here in March 2006, I had a significant amount of cleanup to do to regain the trust and rebuild the relationships upon which my credibility would be placed. That took a few months, but once the operations were set and running, we were able to bring our discussions around towards building the aforementioned objective, which enabled me to base all my operational design and decision-making around that common goal.

As of February 2008, they had doubled their spending through my desk, which is a clear indicator that my operational, strategic, legal and philosophical understanding and execution had been validated.

I'm enormously proud of what I've been able to accomplish here, especially considering how patient I had to be for my job title and paycheck to catch up to my associates handling the same things on other accounts. I almost walked in early 2007. Really glad I didn't.

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Back in February, my client engaged my company to double-up the spending by allowing our procurement efforts to completely cover North America. This was a long and hard-fought win for my company and a big win for me personally. I've spent the last three-and-a-half months of my life working diligently to add in all the transactions we're finding out in the Gulf Coast, Wichita, Puyallup and everywhere in-between. This represented another effort for which I was trusted with near-total autonomy. Normally, our regional leadership gets deeply involved in these projects, but they've all been tied up on other efforts since our contract was signed.

No problem. We "went live" two weeks ago, and are doing fine. A little messy, a little more disorganized than I'd like, but they're all messy and disorganized. Mine probably a little less so.

That, however, is probably just as much due to the size of this program than any true excellence on my part. See, even with the double-up in business, this account is still one of the three smallest (hell, I think we might be the smallest) my company manages. Of course I'm going to have freedom to operate and experiment and reconstruct and redesign. Hell, what's the risk, really? The amount of money I'm responsible for every year sounds like a lot, but in the wide scope of what we do, it's really not all that much.

Point being, I've been successful here, but on a fairly limited scale. I've made no secret to my leadership that I've wanted more and was willing to move just about anywhere* if and when they asked, but I was pretty sure that getting the contract signed/project launched was effectively locking me into this godforsaken place for another twelve months or so.

I had made my peace with that.

*My non-starter list is essentially New Jersey, SoCal (except San Diego, I think), and Utah. Pretty much anywhere else is acceptable.

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"I need to ask you something, and I need you to have an open mind. Ready?"

My group's VP had asked to talk to me after hours two Wednesdays ago, and I immediately called my boss to ask if there was anything I needed to be aware of - so I knew what was coming next.

"I need you in Chicago. As soon as possible. Like, yesterday. But I want to tell you what you're getting into and let you think about it, alright?"

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In 2006 I had been asked to move abruptly to rescue a dying program we were in danger of losing.

I did it.

Now, two years later, I'm being asked again to move abruptly to rescue a dying program we're in danger of losing. This time, though, instead of being tasked to one of the bottom three programs, I'm being asked to rescue our biggest.

Fucking A.

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I talked with the VP for a good half hour about the troubled program and the issues. He asked me what I needed to make the move. I threw out a salary number that basically is double what I was making three-and-a-half years ago. He told me he'd beat it, throw a signing bonus and a one-year retention bonus in there too.

Fucking A.

He then asked me to sleep on it and let him know in the morning. I told him I didn't have to, that I've been looking for this next step for awhile and was only concerned about the timing with my current client.

"Sleep on it, and I need you not to worry about your client. That's your boss' problem now."

I slept on it, but my answer didn't change in the morning.

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Is it scalable?

This is the question that's going to define whether or not I can succeed here. Is it scalable? Can I take the process and policy I've been shaping and building for two years and apply it to 1500 transactions instead of 180?

I believe I can. But can I lead the rest of the team to make that happen?

I've been a lone wolf for awhile, but now I'm going to have to delegate and lead. I have to build six people into subject matter experts and get their operations to all run identically and systematically to Create A Commodity Procurement Experience. Does it matter that I haven't had a team since I managed a waitstaff in college? Can I lead and mentor and build these guys into the experts they need to be?

Christ, I hope so. Because if this thing is going to be scalable, I need them to scale it.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday in the Chicago suburbs, with a little time onsite at the client meeting some of the people I'm responsible for supporting. I had dinner (at Morton's, no less - bone-in ribeye, rare - Fucking A indeed) with the director I'll be reporting to, and locked up the job in those meetings and interviews.

I'll be on the ground there full time by the week of July 21st, I think.

Everyone I talked to had basically the same feedback. "He's got the knowledge and the energy, but he hasn't done it to this scale before."

Nope.

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It'll be four to six months before this story has something that's going to resemble an ending. I've got a lot of little bullshit to fix and a big fucking operational shortcoming to tear down and rebuild. I'm pleased as hell that I was asked to do this, and am not at all freaked out that there's a sincere and not-at-all insignificant potential for failure here. If you're going to claim to be ambitious, this is what you have to do to keep that reputation.

But I can't say I'm not at all worried. Of course I am. Can I lead? Can I mentor? Can I scale my subject-matter expertise? Am I doomed to fall into the same trap as the guy I'm replacing?

I'm not relaxing all that easily this weekend, knowing what's in front of me. I've been told that I have to cancel my vacations (including The Bash - sorry Al) into December (Vegas is still booked, I'm not fucking around with missing two in a row), which makes me a little uptight. I'm apparently moving in three weeks and have nothing accomplished (packing, disconnecting cable, getting out of my lease, etc), which makes me a little uptight.

And most of all, the bad omen of my good friend losing his job for the most plausible reason why I might end up losing mine in a matter of months. That makes me a little uptight.

Just a little though. This is an enormously positive turn of events, and one I very much deserve the opportunity to tackle.

With any luck, I'll see if I can't time my drive out to join y'all for Gentile Summit after all.

Wish me that luck and more, would you?

I Thought This Sounded Fun...

From The DCeiver, by way of Matt Yglesias:

Your instructions are as follows:

1. Take out your iPod (or Zune, I guess...really, who buys a Zune?)
2. Press shuffle songs.
3. Answer the following: a) How many songs before you come to one that would absolutely disqualify you from being President? b) What is that song?
4. Leave your answers.

Four songs in I get "Just a Lil Dude (Who Dat Ovah There)" from RZA featuring Q-Tip. First four lines:

"Bodies in the street, killing over head
Marvel at the sky, as it turn blood red
Peelin' caps back til the white meat show
This is natural, for the little Afro"

I'm guessing lines three and four could be spun into a "Let's Kill Whitey" sort of thing, right?

If that's not enough, song 12 was Ice Cube's "Givin' Up The Nappy Dugout," which should be plenty.

How about yours?

Also Amusing

A blog response to The Fat Guy.



Thanks Republicans!

Announcing Winter Gathering Dates

The weekend of December 13 is confirmed. I'm sure the IP is going to be the destination, as per usual.

No, don't look at me as an organizer, but if Farecast is to be believed, y'all best be buying your tickets before they spike.

(I'll hopefully get back to blogging when things calm down for me a little. I also tend to blog less when I'm happy, so there you go.)

Italian Spiderman, Episode One

Chock full of the motherfucking awesome:

Blind Fealty To Israel Means The Only Good Palestinian Democratic Elections Are The Ones That Elevate Candidates Who Like To Roll Over And Have Their Belly Scratched

I went back and forth a little with The Fat Guy in his comments about why you can't simply say "Hamas is a terrorist organization," as they have the majority of democratically elected representatives on the Palestinian council. You can disagree with them, you can call their violent acts out for the abhorrent terrorist attacks they are, but you can't simply say they're an illegitimate organization that we won't talk to - unless, of course, your aim is not for Israeli/Palestinian peace, but instead for the full subjugation of the Palestinian people to Israeli demands.

What, exactly, is wrong with this position:

Here is the crucial part of our exchange:

I asked: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

[Obama] answered: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Are we interested in peace, or are we interested in cleansing the Palestinians out of Israel? Frankly, I don't really give a shit either way, as long as we're honest about why we're supporting what we're supporting, and have an honest discussion about the consequences. That being said, if it's peace we're trying to foment, and if we really are a country who is genuinely interested in promoting democracy in the Middle East, we need to talk to Hamas. Period. They're the brokers who can stop the violence, and they're the democratically elected voices of the people.

Unless, of course, by "promoting democracy in the Middle East" we really mean "installing illegitimate lapdog governments who will bend to American whim." Then, I suppose, whatever our little Imperialist hearts desire is probably the Good and Noble choice to make. Because, you know, promoting democracy tends to generally be defined as allowing the will of the people to speak, whether or not you like what they have to say.

Just be honest. Our partnership with Israel is too valuable for some reason to allow the people of the Middle East to speak for themselves, right? Forget negotiating, just throw some razor wire around their territory, fortify the checkpoints and squeeze the shit out of them until they capitulate. Is that the plan for peace?

Tell me what's wrong with the quote above.

Update

Just joined Twitter - no promises.

My username is Gamblingblues.

A Comprehensive List Of Things From My Youth For Which I Am Nostalgic, That Hollywood Has Not Yet Appropriated Into A Major Motion Picture

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Mary Lou Retton
Nerf Footballs
The Pass, Dribble & Shoot Competition
M.A.S.K.
Sledge Hammer!
You Can't Do That On Television
Spaghetti Night
The YMCA Pool
Dairy Treat Soft Serve Cones
The Commodore 64
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
My Fifth Grade Crush Courtney
My Kindergarten Crush Tori
Building Forts Out Of Pillows And Blankets
The Bubba Baker Lions Years
Eric Hipple
Wiffle Ball
That One Time I Won That Nickelodeon Contest
Happy Meals
Posing For Every Picture In My Batting Stance
Fraggle Rock

I can't wait for SPAGHETTI NIGHT: THE MOVIE in the fall of 2010.

Insert Your Democratic Candidate For The House Here

Special election last night in Mississippi for a House seat, with two challengers running in a district that voted Bush in 2004 by a 25 point margin. Here's one of the Republican ads that ran attacking Dem candidate Travis Childers, which might serve as a preview of what you'll be seeing in September and October all over your TV in the run up to the election:



Childers won last night by eight, despite his obvious white black nationalist politics (if what this ad implies is true, which I'm sure it is).

Happy Mothers(-ILF) Day

My favorite clip of my favorite recent TV Mom



From the underrated "Grounded for Life," it's Megyn Price ladies and gentlemen...

From Last Night's SNL

More Jazz

I've got a post up over at Pauly's Coventry blog featuring a zip file of jazz music for your enjoyment.

There's some overlap to what I've posted here before, but a few new tracks to be sure. Always happy to hear if you've enjoyed the music, and let me know if there's anything I can pull and post for you (more tracks by a specific artist, for instance).