Stage 1 Success Stories
Paul Plans Strategy
Paul is a good example of how to develop a strategy. He had a degree in business, got into the job market, took two or three corporate positions while he worked his way up the food chain.

He ended up managing an entire division for a well-known company. Then one morning he woke up and, in an unguarded moment, realized that he wasn't happy about what he was doing.

For all his experience in management, when he was honest with himself, he realized that he didn't like managing people. I can understand that; I love working with people, coaching people, but not necessarily managing people.

Working with Paul, he and I determined that what he wanted was to be in a position where he was responsible only to himself, and that he wanted to be in a fast moving industry. His goal statement reflected a desire to get a degree or certification in technology that would allow him to enjoy a reasonable income as well as more flexibility and freedom.

Paul Picks Project-to-Project Path
If you look at the technology field today, a third of the work force is made up of contract labor, people working on a project basis. Paul loved the idea of working project-to-project, deal-to-deal, taking a month off in-between if he wanted to.

So his strategy had to address the best way to accomplish that. One of his tactics was to talk to the tech schools in the area, trying to get a feel for what they offered, talking to students in school and those who had graduated in order to get a fuller picture of the strengths and weaknesses of such contract employees.

He audited a few classes. He was unsure about whether he wanted to be a programmer or a network systems engineer, so he accompanied graduates in both fields to see how they functioned on the job.

He finally decided on being a systems engineer, and we'll detail the techniques he used in the next few Stages. But, first things first: Paul had to develop a strategy that allowed him to explore both fields before he plunged in.


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