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The shelf life of a community worker

Posted on
December 20, 2007

My friend and fellow community guy Sean O’Driscoll announced today that he’s leaving his well-known position at Microsoft after 15 years to take a go at the consulting world. I have absolutely confidence in Sean’s ability to do amazing things and wish him all the luck in the world.

Today I formally announced that I’ve decided to leave Microsoft. I love this company…always have - it has been amazing to me. I’ve had great opportunities for growth and worked with really incredible people both inside and outside the company. Microsoft supported me through a difficult time medically - time off, benefits, security and genuine care and concern I’ll never forget. To be clear, I’m not leaving Microsoft to get away. Nor am I going off to some other company with a “grass is greener” dream. That isn’t it.

I’m leaving because I see an opportunity to follow a dream I’ve had for a long time. In the weeks ahead, I’ll be a bit more specific about what is next, but you can expect me to use the year ahead to immerse myself in the intersection of social media, influencers and business. I look forward to writing, speaking and consulting to grow my experience in this exciting space that promises to radically change the face of business and transform how innovation, service and support, and sales and marketing are done.

Sean’s announcement really hit home for me. I too didn’t leave LEGO because of anything negative… it was just time for new challenges. LEGO was absolutely wonderful to me over the years, which made it hard to leave. In fact, it took my wife and I months of agonizing discussions and debates to make the decision to leave my “adopted family” behind. I’m still a huge believer in the power of the LEGO brick and can’t wait until the girl is old enough to break out my (pretty huge) collection.

I hear stories regularly about community people leaving big brands to break out on their own. When I started to think about leaving LEGO, I asked fellow evangelism advocate Guy Kawasaki what he thought the shelf life of a community manager type was. He said (paraphrased heavily): “If you make it 3 years, you’ve done great. If you make it 4 years, you’re impressive. If you make it 5 years or more, you’re crazy.”

The point is that community management/interaction is a difficult job that requires bizarre hours, countless personal relationships, and a “not quite community, not quite company” reality that can make it tough for a mere mortal to handle for any length of time. It makes you wonder if one of the job descriptors for a community manager hire should be: “Is bulletproof and flame retardant”!

Welcome Sean to the tough, wonderful road that is consulting. You’ll have a great time.

(Photo Credit: Ho Yin)

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2 Responses to “The shelf life of a community worker”

Thanks Jake…I have a feeling you and I will be talking a lot!

sean

Comment by Sean ODriscoll on December 20, 2007 @ 11:51 pm

Jake, I would say this equation works for most people/positions that look to engage new challenges and make real change. There are definitely cases of people staying in a position for decades and effecting real change and doing great work, but I would say in general the lure of new challenges and new opportunities will pull the best and brightest out into the daylight every 4-6 years. Just enough time to get up and running but not become burnt-out.

Comment by jharr on December 21, 2007 @ 12:03 am

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