Here is what I think I know, part 2.

So, here we are at the part 2, as promised. Since there is a rather distracting post, and far too many days, in between parts 1 and 2, I'm giving you this link to part 1 as a refresher.

"Catalyst that sees things differently" is not exactly a job title. So how have I made money doing this so far? My primary income has always come from some form of problem solving. The titles have been different, of course. Over the last 12 years, I've been a "Process Engineer", "Business Consultant", "Senior Process Engineer", "Quality Engineer", "Six Sigma Black Belt", "Manager - Strategic Deployment", and "Director and MBB - Quality". Just for the record, that list represents 2 separate linear career paths spanning 12+ years. And, as I discussed in part 1, job titles don't really say much about how the job is done.

I've been fortunate in my employers. All of the ones the that have provided the jobs on this list have been well known in their industry, and most of those jobs have been for global giants. This is not that surprising since hiring a team of full time "fixers" means that the company a) can afford such a team and b) has enough issues to warrant the team. That often means that the company has survived long enough to become a global giant - as well as grow into a situation where they need some full time spaghetti sorters to untangle the mess.

People hire me for corporate problem solving teams because being a catalyst who sees things differently translates into results. For example, I'm constantly working with project/problem solving teams in different business areas, so I need to be able to quickly assess the area for allies and "early adopters". I tend to look for individual strengths and interests in the people around me. That allows me to build a team, officially or unofficially, that actually is interested in solving the problem. Also, growing up overseas helped me be more sensitive to cultural issues. Culture changes at the business unit level are more subtle, so they often require even more sensitivity than the company to company changes.

I'm not very good at these corporate gigs, however, because I'm a catalyst who sees things differently. I think that secrecy and political one upsmanship indicate that the corporate framework is dysfunctional, despite the fact that is happens in every corporation. I actively work to be as transparent as possible - without gossiping - and not taking anything personally - while taking as little flack as possible. Depending on my chain of command, this can be a serious issue.

That is the corporate side of my income. The non-corporate side has been sporadic and odd. I've worked as a PA on a TV show (semiconductor industry is known for cyclical layoffs, so it's good to do something in between), sold merchandise for a local musician, and I am in a band. For the most part, these things are much more fun, but they don't make much money. As you can see, they are all entertainment related. In my recent HTR work, I found that entertainment (music and books primarily) was the highest spending category for money that I spent on myself. I think it is just an indicator of what I like.

Then we have the newest addition to my tricks. Small business startup. As you are all aware, HTH and I have been working on our little business for a year and a half now. The business is not only self sustaining, but can now support our family as well. We've been really pleased with the progress and are planning to hire our first employee in the next 6 months.

So, what do we do with all of this information? I've now laid out my work history and my understanding of how I do what I do. Next comes the fun part. What COULD I be doing instead? What am I exploring now? What do you recommend? It is, after all, just a problem solving/life design issue. Time for some speculation....