Diary of a CPO - Chapter 11
Working on something new...
I always knew that I wouldn’t be an employee forever. I knew that I would eventually leave working for a company to do my own thing.
My own thing could mean many things. With the experience I’ve gained through working “corporate” half my career (think systems, processes and big picture) and working at multiple startups for the other half (think risk-taking, building from 0 to 1, and scaling), I’m a pretty balanced person in terms of experience.
The companies I worked at gave me confidence in knowing what I was good at. I was born to lead. Even when I was an individual contributor, I was leading ideas, projects and things the team had never done before, but when I became a true people leader, I was able to move mountains. There’s a huge difference between “managing” and “leading” and it’s something that many leaders don’t fully understand. I’ve seen executives and CEOs still “managing” when they should be “leading” and it often makes me wonder if it’s because leaders are getting younger and have less experience as leaders so they just haven’t been trained to properly lead in their short work tenure.
I can confidently say, I was born to lead whether at a large, matrix, stuffy corporation or at a scrappy startup that’s newborn and trying to make it in the world. Both take an incredible amount of responsibility, stamina, structure-building and courage, and I’m really good at owning that. They must also have a strong ability to work with people and build strong teams. If you can’t do that, you can’t lead because no one is going to follow you. If you ever want to see if a leader is great, ask them who they personally groomed that became a greater leader than when they started? Hopefully they can name a few.
Now that I’ve been leading as a “leader” for over a decade, one thing I realized as I moved into more expanding roles in HR was that I was doing more than what a traditional Chief People Officer typically does, and to be honest, I really enjoyed that. I was often being pulled into sales discussions, product discussions, finance discussions and everything else you can imagine when you’re building a company. The more seasoned I became, the less I was involved in HR decision-making and instead, I was moved more into the decisions regarding the “business of running a business.” I wasn’t just invited a seat at the table, I had a permanent seat. The reality is I was no longer fulfilling the narrow role of CPO but rather, building a company.
That really got me thinking, especially over the past few years post-COVID, I knew I couldn’t continue being an HR leader anymore because I had bigger interests outside of HR. I also knew I couldn’t be an “employee” anymore either because to be honest, I’ve always been more than an employee. Working at a company is like an obsession to me. I go all in, or I don’t want to be there at all. I know that sounds really polarizing but it’s how I think about most things. I’m fully interested and will obsess about it or I don’t care at all.
So I know that I’ll probably do one of three things over the next few months:
Co-found a company with like-minded founders.
Start my own thing and become a solopreuneur.
Consult and advise, but only where I want to. Really focused work here (though not actually sure the world needs another consultant).
I just know I will never join a company as an employee again. I know that’s really scary for some people who have worked for companies their whole lives, which includes me as well, but I've learned something over the years that I never really thought about until now.
Working for someone means you are fulfilling a dream they designed. They created the rules and the vision, and you have to live in it, and truly believe in the mission or you are frankly just working a “job” and no one wants that. Humans need inspiration to do aspirational things and that’s why mission-focused companies tend to succeed. But if I’m going to spend countless hours working for a company, I have to have strong conviction in the following 5 areas:
The mission. Do I strongly believe in what we are building?
The leaders. Do I respect them and is it reciprocated?
The way we operate. Is the company being run well?
The way we treat people. Do employees feel motivated and respected?
Success. Am I seeing tangible success from this business so we can continue to build for the next decade (are we a vitamin or a pain killer that people would gladly pay for)?
I find that when one part of the above is missing, it can be ignored for a while but it always comes back to haunt me. Nobody said building a business is easy but we also forget that you can’t build a business on your own - you need people to build your software, serve your customers and motivate your teams. You always need people. And truthfully, you want the best of the best in people, but one word of caution for founders is that the best can always leave for better companies or build one themselves. They don’t have to work for you so be thoughtful about how you treat your best.
So after 20+ years of working for companies, I’ve made the decision to never join a company again unless I’m co-founding one or starting one myself. It’s something I always knew I was going to do eventually, whether it means building a business with other people or starting something solo that I’m passionate about. And why am I sharing this with any of you?
Because over the last week, I’ve had over 12,000 people read the last chapter of my Diary of a CPO blog and I gained 600 new followers on my substack. I haven’t even counted how many new LinkedIn followers I’ve gained this week. The messages many of you have DM’d to me were about having the same thoughts on leaving the HR industry or leaving company-employment overall. I’m clearly not alone in how I feel and I’m not surprised - considering how much valuable time we spend at work and the countless hours we dedicate to the people we work with, may we all find the journey purposeful and rewarding because if it’s not, perhaps we’re seeking a new chapter for our careers.
Thanks for the read and for the messages. This discovery phase in my career is exactly what I needed right now.
I’m on a very similar path right now. Would love to chat!