On Work

I left a chaotic JFK airport on December 29, two hours late, but with a wonderful free upgrade to business class to see me home. Unfortunately, now almost a week later, my suitcase hasn't show up yet but supposedly will be here in the next hour or so. I just hope everything is still in there.

I arrived to a snowy Munich and took a deep breath, as I always do when I arrive, of the crisp clean air. Ahhhh!

It was a nice visit to the US, with a few unexpected twists and turns, and as always it flew by too fast. I had no plans for the remaining days off in Munich but knew I needed some time to relax and recharge before the new year got into full gear.

I had lunch with a friend on Thursday and decided to join him and a small group for a relatively low key New Year's Eve out. When I woke up on New Year's Eve morning, there was something that I had to do first.

I drafted up and printed out my resignation letter, signed it, sealed it and carried it to the Post for delivery, ensuring that I could start my new job on April 1 with the required three month notice period in my current contract.

The walk to the Post was a walk down memory lane as I recalled some of the funnier, sadder, tougher and rewarding moments of the last 10 years of my career with my company. One thing was for sure. I had absolutely no regrets about a job that I took with no idea how long I would end up staying, all the places it would carry me, all the things I would learn, all the people I would meet and, frankly, without having no clue what the job was even really going to be about. Oh, the places you'll go!! should have been part of the recruitment speech.

I won't go into the details on the discussions with my current company over the last two weeks but I will say that for me it means a lot that there is so active interest in my next steps and what is the best move for me, as well as a two year, no questions asked, open door for return if I change my mind.

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to moving on to an exciting and interesting new opportunity and seeing what life is like on the other side after spending so many years as a consultant. I am sure it will be a challenging transition and I don't think I will be bored for some time to come. In the coming weeks, as time permits, I plan to post about some of my experiences that I loved, cherished, hated, found funny and that were part of an amazing journey over the last 10 years.

So ends one chapter and begins another.

Posted from Munich