Celebrating 15 years of freedom for passions

Exactly 15 years ago I’ve decided to give myself the best birthday gift I could imagine: Take a risk and try something entirely new. That decision let to many changes in my life. At the time, I didn't even realize how many of them will turn out to be so great :-)

The first one was to quit my corporate job. Just to be clear: I was very happy and fulfilled at Volvo. Having global position where I could impact the way a huge international corporation develops its software was very rewarding. I was working with amazing people and we did great things together. We’ve completely changed the way software development methods were developed. We’ve created fantastic communities of practitioners who had a chance to co-create their own working environment. Finally, we’ve been among the key players in massive cultural and organizational transformation to agility.

That’s the best job to quit. Isn’t it? :-) Frankly, I always wish my friends and customers to have a privilege to start something new while you knew that you leave something great behind. That’s the best foundation you can build for your future self.

Once I’ve started to work independently, it was amazing to see that I could simply do what I’m passionate about and there will always be people who want to do it together. I’m very grateful to all my clients, students, business partners, universities and professional organizations worldwide for opportunities to make the world a better place together. Project by project. :-)

Looking at those 15 years, I’m still amazed how many things we’ve done together. Hundreds of impactful projects and programs that were improved thanks to passionate minds challenging them together. Thousands of training participants and students who got inspiration for their professional development. A number of international standards that helped many organizations to improve. And so many other things...

This journey is not over yet. Far from it! :-) Apart from few big projects that I plan for the coming years, during the last year I’ve put a lot of work to do a lot of upgrades ?behind the scenes”. A new Learning Management System, completely new training materials with audiobooks, Credly badges for my training participants and many more things that my clients will experience soon. It’s a lot of work but it gives me an immense joy. And delivers a lot of rewards to a gadget guy inside of me ;-)

Another change was to use every opportunity to travel and meet fantastic people all over globe. Back in corporate times I had years when I did 36 international travels a year, including 9 intercontinental. It was wonderful and it opened my eyes to the world. Once you discover the wonders of various cultures it’s a one way street, especially for a sociologist in me :-)

Still, I was only going where my employer decided to take me. It was great to discover that I don’t have to wait for someone to buy me the ticket. I can do it myself and create opportunities to go to places and meet great people there. I’ve been to nearly 60 countries so far and met countless great friends on the way. Even though there is a huge desire for more, these days I really cherish the friendships I have and places I already know, including my beloved Nepal and wonderful people there.

There’s also photography that I’ve finally had a chance to pursue. Apart from few really great travel series, I had a great joy of documenting protests in Poland. It was amazing to see those photos later in some magazines, on record covers etc. Even the postcards that I just planned as a single shot had to be printed again, and again and again. Some of them are still displayed in cafes in Wroclaw!

There was also studio photography as pandemic times made streets less accessible. It was really rewarding to see transformations of people who entered the studio once we started to progress with the session! Maybe the last year or two were kind of silent in this department as I had other priorities, but the photos are coming back soon. So, stay tuned this summer! :-)

Ah! And there’s coffee! It’s a great way to meet people all around the planet. Just look for a local specialty coffee place and you will surely meet some great folks there :-) It’s so great to be a part of that community. Taking a barista course over a decade ago didn’t seem so impactful back then. It was just a way to help a friend to get himself together and finally quit his corporate job and become a barista. He changed his life after that and I’ve met hundreds of fantastic people since then.

The last, but perhaps most important change is finding someone I can share my passions with and enjoy all these things together. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve started to do great things all around the world with Wioleta Kicman ! She has also made some important decisions that let her passions free. And we are just getting started... ;-)

It was great to retrospect on what happened after taking one of the most difficult decisions in my life exactly 15 years ago. I wish all of you to also have a courage to pursue your dreams and to take risks. More often than not, it pays off!

And now, it’s time to enjoy the day off :-) Have a great one too!

#change #birthday #gift