Father, Husband, Consultant
Novemeber 27 and early November 28
I am coming to believe that life is a trial and error process. A revelation for a person who is a planner, trained in Industrial Engineering – a person who tries to anticipate the unintended consequences and optimize results. Although I have always been a person of faith, I have come to realize that, especially when it comes to family, personal relationships and even career choices , my efforts to optimize – to direct outcomes – does not leave much room for God. And I am not as experienced or good at creating glorious outcomes as She is.
Twenty years into a career – most of which was spent working for Federal or State government – my job was going to change and I felt that I had reached a sufficiently senior level that career opportunities and my ability to eventually provide for my family in the way I would like were limited. If I was going to be taking on new responsibilities, why not do so in the private sector where financial prospects looked more promising?
I accepted a position as VP of Operations with a small high tech firm. The negotiations with the President / Owner were difficult. I was new to this game and missed the signs at my own peril. After four months we parted ways. Seeking career growth and financial security, in five short months I had gone from a secure government job to unemployment. Not the result I had predicted.
In retrospect, this was not a good time for someone with an engineering or public sector background to enter the Massachusetts job market. The economy was slowing and two of the largest public works projects in the country – the Big Dig and the Boston Harbor Cleanup – were winding down. There was a glut of professionals looking for work. The new boom areas were the southwest and southeast.
Several months later I saw a posting on the internet for a senior project management position to lead the preparation of a Wastewater Master Plan for the British Virgin Islands and then return to Massachusetts for additional assignments. I got the job and negotiated an arrangement where my wife and daughter could join me for the nine months I would be in the BVI. A wonderful opportunity for us all – not at all what I would have predicted when I became unemployed.
I completed the project to great accolades just before Christmas. On my return to the office just after New Years, I was informed that the group I had been hired to help start had been done away with due to poor division-wide earnings the previous year. Not what I had predicted.
Over the last three years I have been creating a career as a contract consultant. I have become an expert in what it takes to create such a business and have successfully coached others. At the same time, while I could clearly see their niche I have had a hard time identifying my own. After two years of work, during the last year things have picked up and a niche may have found me. I am a strategic planner, process improvement and project management person with superior skills working with non-profits, government staff and elected officials. I have recently been doing consulting with an international partnership providing water and sanitation to three of the poorest countries in West Africa. Like the work in the BVI this has been very rewarding. They are happy with my work and it has put me in a good network of people and organizations. While seeking my niche, I looked small thinking that despite the kind words of others and my own aspirations to have a bigger influence such opportunities were not to be. So the niche I dreamed of but did not really pursue found me and I am good at it, enjoy it and it is promising. Not what I had predicted.
A week and a half ago I received a phone call from a colleague who works with a company that provides companies with engineering and technical staff. “Would I be interested in a 90 day commitment to work on the FEMA Hurricane Recovery Efforts in Louisiana and could I do so quickly if need be?” Our bank account said yes and the timing was good in the sense that I was finishing up a few projects and the next one in discussion was about 3 months away. They said it would likely be mid-December which would mean I could see my daughter’s school play and be part of Christmas preparations then be gone for a couple of weeks and home fro Christmas.
Then the phone rang, can you be in Baton Rouge in less than a week – on Monday the 28th. We said yes. So here I am on a plane heading into Baton Rouge. Other traveling professionals around me are tapping away on their laptops. The next twelve months look promising although it will likely require a good deal of travel. Things would seem to be looking up.
But as the title says, I am a father, husband and consultant. I might have found a niche that I enjoy is fulfilling and might provide the financial security and standard of living I would like to provide my family. What I have discovered over the past week, however, is that my past, extended, travels have been more difficult on my wife and especially my daughter than I had previously known. That given a choice between no income and having me home or me traveling the preference might be the former. While on a personal level it is wonderful to be so loved, it raises all sorts of questions. How do I balance father, husband and consultant? Father and husband are the priority. Is there a way to continue to build on past efforts and reduce the amount of travel to an acceptable level for at least another 5 years until my daughter is in college?
I don’t know the answers. I am finally realizing that it is perhaps best to not make a prediction and instead turn it over to God.
I am coming to believe that life is a trial and error process. A revelation for a person who is a planner, trained in Industrial Engineering – a person who tries to anticipate the unintended consequences and optimize results. Although I have always been a person of faith, I have come to realize that, especially when it comes to family, personal relationships and even career choices , my efforts to optimize – to direct outcomes – does not leave much room for God. And I am not as experienced or good at creating glorious outcomes as She is.
Twenty years into a career – most of which was spent working for Federal or State government – my job was going to change and I felt that I had reached a sufficiently senior level that career opportunities and my ability to eventually provide for my family in the way I would like were limited. If I was going to be taking on new responsibilities, why not do so in the private sector where financial prospects looked more promising?
I accepted a position as VP of Operations with a small high tech firm. The negotiations with the President / Owner were difficult. I was new to this game and missed the signs at my own peril. After four months we parted ways. Seeking career growth and financial security, in five short months I had gone from a secure government job to unemployment. Not the result I had predicted.
In retrospect, this was not a good time for someone with an engineering or public sector background to enter the Massachusetts job market. The economy was slowing and two of the largest public works projects in the country – the Big Dig and the Boston Harbor Cleanup – were winding down. There was a glut of professionals looking for work. The new boom areas were the southwest and southeast.
Several months later I saw a posting on the internet for a senior project management position to lead the preparation of a Wastewater Master Plan for the British Virgin Islands and then return to Massachusetts for additional assignments. I got the job and negotiated an arrangement where my wife and daughter could join me for the nine months I would be in the BVI. A wonderful opportunity for us all – not at all what I would have predicted when I became unemployed.
I completed the project to great accolades just before Christmas. On my return to the office just after New Years, I was informed that the group I had been hired to help start had been done away with due to poor division-wide earnings the previous year. Not what I had predicted.
Over the last three years I have been creating a career as a contract consultant. I have become an expert in what it takes to create such a business and have successfully coached others. At the same time, while I could clearly see their niche I have had a hard time identifying my own. After two years of work, during the last year things have picked up and a niche may have found me. I am a strategic planner, process improvement and project management person with superior skills working with non-profits, government staff and elected officials. I have recently been doing consulting with an international partnership providing water and sanitation to three of the poorest countries in West Africa. Like the work in the BVI this has been very rewarding. They are happy with my work and it has put me in a good network of people and organizations. While seeking my niche, I looked small thinking that despite the kind words of others and my own aspirations to have a bigger influence such opportunities were not to be. So the niche I dreamed of but did not really pursue found me and I am good at it, enjoy it and it is promising. Not what I had predicted.
A week and a half ago I received a phone call from a colleague who works with a company that provides companies with engineering and technical staff. “Would I be interested in a 90 day commitment to work on the FEMA Hurricane Recovery Efforts in Louisiana and could I do so quickly if need be?” Our bank account said yes and the timing was good in the sense that I was finishing up a few projects and the next one in discussion was about 3 months away. They said it would likely be mid-December which would mean I could see my daughter’s school play and be part of Christmas preparations then be gone for a couple of weeks and home fro Christmas.
Then the phone rang, can you be in Baton Rouge in less than a week – on Monday the 28th. We said yes. So here I am on a plane heading into Baton Rouge. Other traveling professionals around me are tapping away on their laptops. The next twelve months look promising although it will likely require a good deal of travel. Things would seem to be looking up.
But as the title says, I am a father, husband and consultant. I might have found a niche that I enjoy is fulfilling and might provide the financial security and standard of living I would like to provide my family. What I have discovered over the past week, however, is that my past, extended, travels have been more difficult on my wife and especially my daughter than I had previously known. That given a choice between no income and having me home or me traveling the preference might be the former. While on a personal level it is wonderful to be so loved, it raises all sorts of questions. How do I balance father, husband and consultant? Father and husband are the priority. Is there a way to continue to build on past efforts and reduce the amount of travel to an acceptable level for at least another 5 years until my daughter is in college?
I don’t know the answers. I am finally realizing that it is perhaps best to not make a prediction and instead turn it over to God.
posted by J Corlss at 10:04 AM
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