Hardware is ordered, badge photo is uploaded, employment agreement is signed. I think I can stop being paranoid/superstitious and share that I've accepted a position. My 8 month sabbatical is officially coming to an end next week!

My mission in looking for my next role was finding a place where I could be a whole hearted people leader at an organization that valued me for exactly who I was, and that my work would make a positive impact on the world around me. Through a number of conversations with friends in my network, I became very intrigued by roles in the customer success and civic tech spaces. I found what I was looking for in a place I did not expect. I am re-joining Microsoft, a somewhat transformed Microsoft from the one I left in 2011. I am excited about the culture shift, and their new leadership paradigms. I’ll be joining a team of enthusiastic, highly skilled people who also want to make a difference, as a “Cloud Solution Architecture Manager”. I will be leading a team of CSAs in the Customer Success space, and we serve State and Local Government agencies covering the U.S. Central Region. Serving the local agencies that support friends, families, and other citizens in areas where I live, work, and often travel is such an amazing opportunity to live out my personal value of Service to Others. As a bonus, our focus area is Modern Work including Copilot, which is a new domain of tech for me, so I am already digging in on it even though I don’t start for another week. My "Input", "Learner", and “Achiever” strengths have kicked in!

I am so grateful to everyone who reached out in support. Whether you made an introduction, proof read my various CVs and briefs, pointed me at jobs/roles/individuals to research, gave me much needed pep talks, shared a coffee/meal/cocktail with me just to catch up, or shared my posts to expand my reach, you all helped me get here. My offers to support all of you in my network in similar ways does not end with my new found employment, my availability just gets a bit trickier to navigate. And don’t forget to check out the summary of my sabbatical journey here, in case you find any tools or advice helpful.

Looking forward to sharing updates, and nerding out a ton on Copilot, because seriously!

About this post’s image:

The image I chose this time is a little extra vulnerable, and if you’ve been following along you know I am nothing if not authentic and vulnerable as a teammate and leader, and I’ve made a point to bring that into my writing as well. This image is beautiful, and sad, and a little funny (more on that). I captured that image at the height of the leaves changing in the Fall of 2022 along a gorgeous stretch of path within the Beck Lake forest trails. This particular log, in addition to being a picturesque combination of dark wood, vibrant green moss, and gloriously colorful leaves, is affectionately called “the crying log” by my husband and I. It was dubbed that when seemingly out of nowhere on a perfectly lovely run, I stopped in my tracks and started sobbing. I was absolutely struggling on the run itself and totally overheating, thanks perimenopause, but it was so much more than that. We made our way over to that log so I could breathe, talk through what was going on in my head, and eventually take in the utter majesty around me. I felt I was losing myself to burnout, I felt like I didn’t belong at work, I feared I was letting my team down, and I felt helpless to help anyone, especially myself. 2 months later I started inquiring about taking a sabbatical from work, 7 months later I made my own sabbatical. While I was on sabbatical I made a number of trips to do some forest bathing there on that trail with several people, and was able to laugh when I shared that story behind it’s nickname, because I can’t pass that log without saying hello, thanking it for its support that day, and relishing in knowing I am far from needing it any time soon.

The funny part, is if you look at the larger photo, you can see the tip of our dog’s paw in the upper left hand corner, because after what she deemed was appropriate time for being emotional, she leapt to the top of the log as if to say “c’mon mom, it’s gorgeous and we should stop wasting time here and go run some more and take in more of the sights! (and in her case, the smells)”. We did, and it was everything.

Taking the next turn on an old path

please use caution when opening the overhead bins

do the things, and it will happen