I was hoping to finish looking through all the emails from September 2009 but didn’t quite get there. What I did read about was how my old boss wanted to give me a free hand as possible and 100% back my decisions because I understood the assignment and had the energy to start working on what needed to be done immediately.

I went from being on a conference call about an hour a week for six months to offering to work for the organization and getting hired a month after asking in order to turn it around. It’s kind of shocking to me how off-track the organization had gotten but then again, looking back, it’s obvious that a busy leader just wants someone who will get things done and off of his plate. But people have all kinds of different agendas particular to them – whether selfish or just unrelated to the mission – whereas I was both aligned and the type of person who likes to be given that kind of freedom and support. It’s just interesting looking at everything from my boss’s perspective. It really makes it clear to me how being aligned with the goals of the organization is really the first criteria to be met at a minimum.