I want add a little more on a conversation I had with Frank Hamilton, who I mentioned briefly in a previous post.  Frank worked as a consultant for me on a huge student multimedia project back in 2008 with the UNITY: Journalists of Color.  We had a total of 175 professionals and college students in Chicago working on a first-ever convergent media project. I was the Senior Project Manager as I had spent many years at NPR putting together teams of trainers for student training projects. In 2008, Frank and I spent a few months designing the project's work-flow and even talking deeply about how to layout a very large space at the Chicago Convention Center.

Frank was the one who said he "wanted to own his own decisions" when I asked during our recent conversation about why he left his steady job. We both agreed we're not "cubicle people." Also, we agreed there is a lot of risk in getting used to making your own decisions and losing sight of the value of working with others.  One of my strengths has always been team-building and project management.  You can't really do that by always being virtual.  At some point you're going to have to sit in a room with real people and talk with them, and it's the human interaction that I still believe will make or break a project or company. 

Toward the end of our conversation the bartender asked if I wanted another beer. I looked at the time and said, "I need to wait past 7:00 because that's when the parking attendant leaves for the day.  Once the attendant is gone, I can get my car out of the lot without paying the $9.00 fee.  Frank laughed and asked if it would it be cheaper to pay the attendant than buy another beer, noting that, "The total for the beers is more than the parking."  

I replied that yes, on the surface the outlay of cash to the bar is more than an outlay of cash to a parking attendant but, let's flip that around. I said, "In this conversation, I'm making an investment because we successfully worked together in the past and I expect fully we'll be working together on a future project.  If you look at it that way, this is money well spent.

He nodded in agreement.

I refuse to think of all the money I've spent on transportation infrastructure.  I'd rather think of all the business relationships that I've developed and/or maintained because I found a way to invest in an individual or idea instead of paying the parking attendant. 

doug@knowledgewebb.net

*Chantal de la Rionda edits this blog