Letting go to move forward

TL;DR - I've decided to step away from my role as co-chair and co-owner of Talent Brand Alliance.

When I bought the domain talentbrand.org back in December of 2012, I didn't know that the URL would become an actual organization. Well, I had an idea but let’s just say there are a couple dozen other ideas of mine that haven’t made it into existence yet.

For as long as I can remember (I've been doing this work since 2004), our profession needed a place for practitioners to gather. A place to learn from each other and about each other. An unbiased place where you could ask questions without judgment and know that you were among friends. That was the vision that?Will Staney and I shared when we co-founded Talent Brand Alliance and I’m proud of how that vision has come to life over the years.

I’ve decided to step away from my role at Talent Brand Alliance. I’m going to take time to focus on my family, new role, and what’s next for me. The community will now be led and managed full-time by my fellow Co-Founder & now CEO, Will Staney, with continued support from?Rachel Novak-Barnett, operations manager, Andrew Smullen, Finance Manager, the board, their committees, and our sponsors and partners.

While I may no longer be a partner, I don’t plan to go anywhere. Building and growing the TBA community has filled my cup over the last several years, and I look forward to sharing and learning alongside you all now as a member and volunteer. I’m excited to see the vision Will and the board have for the future of Talent Brand Alliance and wish all of them much success.?

There truly has never been a better time to join Talent Brand Alliance, and help push our industry forward through community, knowledge sharing, mentorship, and interactive events.

Why now?

There are many reasons why this move makes sense now. The easiest one to share is that time starts out important, and ends up priceless. I've given my nights, my weekends, my PTO, my energy, and my creativity to this community in the effort to build something that would serve its members, our practice, and profession.

With two young kids, an incredible opportunity to do some impactful work for a growing entertainment company, and a pending relocation (have I mentioned my super supportive spouse?) I've run out of my most precious resource. Time for myself.

"We must make the decision of what we do and where we go, every morning our eyes open and we are able to draw breath."

There's one thing that a good friend reminded me of recently - the experience of building something and the relationships that come through that process can never be taken away from you.

Personally, I have to let some things go to move forward. It’s time to let the community and its leaders drive what’s next. Thanks to everyone who has touched and taken part in the community.

What's next for TBA?

My Talent Brand Alliance co-founder Will Staney and the board have big plans for its next phase of growth and beyond. Most immediately, that includes the next edition of the flagship Summit event.

The Talent Brand Summit is coming to Nashville September 11-12 with (quite personally biased) one of the best facilitator groups that we have ever put together. Nissan, Pinterest, McKesson, Warner Brothers Discovery, Kaizen Gaming, and that's just the marquee. The real magic begins with everyone attending, learning, sharing, and trusting each other.

You can see the agenda and grab your Summit ticket here.

And yes, that's the same week and city as the first ever U.S. RecFest event.

What's next for me?

As I mentioned, I have been doing this work since 2004. That's almost twenty years of email campaigns, job ads, career site and ATS implementations, recruiter enablement training, focus groups, culture hashtags, brand launches, deaths by EVP committee, social media what-if ideas, and so many more aspects of communicating the employee experience stories that matter.

*takes deep breath* And they all matter in their own ways.

I'm going to keep doing this work in my day job and learning alongside the community that I helped build.

There's also the topic of writing, teaching, and podcasting to share my work experience and my perspective with those looking to learn. If you'd like to follow along with my written thoughts, there's a newborn Substack for that. A different kind of podcast announcement will also be coming soon, but not before I can dedicate my time consistently to recruit some content partners and do it right.

I hope to see you at events, commenting on the posts that matter, sharing your story, asking what's next for our profession, and learning all you can.