Career Arc

My career is a search for opportunities to use my talents to help make a difference in people’s lives. My resume does not adequately make that connection. Much of what I enjoy writing involves connecting the dots between related but nonlinear ideas, so today I apply that to my own story:

I began with an interest in politics and ideas when I was inspired to go on the road with the Gary Hart campaign while I was an undergraduate at MIT in 1988. “Democracy, not Media-ocracy!” A similar motive led me to organize and lead Paul Tsongas delegates in Washington State in 1992 while I was in law school. In between, I created or improved student publications like the law school newspaper or the MIT Course Evaluation Guide. The common thread of my engagement was that I threw myself into–I committed myself 100%–to causes where I combined the tools I already had internally (communication, empathy, passion) with skills I rapidly developed (technology and presentation) to advance ideas for making something better.

Now that was a long time ago. But throughout my career I made choices based on my unique combination of talent and skills in pursuit of creative, innovative ideas that I believed would change the world.

At Smart Valley, Inc., I used technology to improve quality of life in Silicon Valley. I created an online database of volunteers to wire the schools to the internet, then build PCs for low income schools. I brainstormed the idea to create a voter information site–SmartVoter–that is still active today.

At Decisive Technology, we believed we could do surveys better online (instead of phone-based surveys). We could more accurately serve the needs of customers and employees by giving executives a way to hear those voices effectively. So I built a team of web engineers and we created EnterpriseView–a web-based analysis tool for survey management.

At ConsumerReview, we had dozens of websites driven by passionate enthusiasts like mountain bikers (MTBR.com) and audiophiles (AudioReview.com). To scale the company down to a survivable state, we need to consolidate. So we learned C# and .NET and rolled out a new publishing platform. Many were laid off, but the consolidated company has kept those user communities going for over a decade.

At QuitNet, we supported thousands of people trying to quit smoking by building, maintaining, and pioneering the online delivery of smoking cessation services through www.quitnet.com. As the business grew to serve a complete wellness and behavior change model, we managed the technology and community–from “servers under a desk” to a virtualized hosting facility and geographically-distributed telephone counselors. Now the service is part of a national health care company.

At Spire, I stepped into a role that quickly turned into the launch of a “spun-off” startup company. The core challenge was to provide a publishing and interactive experience where members could help one another. I improvised technology, integrated workflow, and promoted social media to support our efforts in growing the community.

Along the way, I acquired tech skills and titles. But I was always jumping into the trenches. I faced a challenge and I learned what I needed to get through it. I am not constrained by what cannot be done or what I lack experience in today.

So when people look at the individual items on the resume…and ask me if I am a manager, engineer, writer, marketer, or lawyer…I have trouble answering that. Yes. Well, OK, which one do you want to be? It depends on what I need to be to solve today’s challenge.