In these times, when change is one of the only constants, many companies are feeling the pressure to think differently; to move at least parallel, if not ahead of, the trends. It seems necessary to stay competitive and relevant. But, what happens when your team is functioning in the status quo or the days of yore? Thinking about PalmPilots instead of Apple Watches?

There’s nothing like a new job to make us feel like we’re square back in high school, searching the lunchroom for a friendly face, hoping we’re going to fit in. With some group. Any group. But, ideally, the cool one. Ugh. Gross. I don’t even want to think about it, actually.

Have you ever showed up on your first day of a job and it was obvious your new employer wasn’t the slightest bit prepared? Maybe you were left in the lobby for 45 minutes until someone had a minute to come and collect you. Or, you got to your desk and it was still full of the last person’s belongings. Could be everyone was eying you strangely, wondering if you were an interloper or actually supposed to be there.

Culture, culture, culture. Everyone is talking about it, including me in several recent posts. As Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, says, “For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny.” In my experience, this is absolutely true. And, in Zappos’ experience, too, eh?

When I started at Baudville, I was working part time here and part time at another job. But, I really wanted THIS job to be full time and the other one to eventually become someone else’s problem. Over time, that’s what happened. (Yay!) In the mean time, I felt a huge responsibility to Job A to get someone in place who could seamlessly take over for me when I made my final exit. So, I put out a job posting and started my search.