My First 90 Days

Yesterday marked my three month anniversary at Everly Health--a digital health company and a national leader in at-home diagnostic lab testing. 'Big whoop!' you're saying. But what I didn't realize three months ago was that I was part of a growing population of employees who were leaving their jobs in record numbers and creating a phenomena coined as The Great Reshuffle [once known as "The Great Resignation"].

"So how is your new role?"

I get asked this question constantly. My response is consistent--with the exception of the first several months of the pandemic when I worked with a committed and tireless team to help protect 50,000+ seniors from the virus, I have never worked so hard in my life--and I love every second of it!

My mandate in coming to Everly Health was clear and two-fold--First, partner with Julia Cheek, Everly's extraordinary founder and CEO to scale the company (resulting in expanded access to affordable care) and second, get "stuff" done! Now, exactly ninety days into my Chief Operating Officer role, in the early hours of a crisp winter morning in Austin, I took a moment from our exciting, yet dizzying pace, to reflect. I share these reflections as an offering to those who have considered, or perhaps are considering, a professional pivot.

Learn. Close friends and mentors jokingly remind me of the claim I made for years of being a 'big corporate person' and not a 'start up person.' While I now realize that these should not be positioned as opposing professional types, this mentality has been helpful in allowing me to enter the organization much more vulnerably and with a deeper level humility and ask questions with sincere interest about the people and the business without the pressure of feeling that I should have all of the answers because of my title. For leaders with high learning agility and an affinity for change, it is completely possible to operate in both big corporate and start up environments more fluidly than one might imagine. I am thrilled at this stage of my career to have the opportunity to learn so much about areas that I have had little prior exposure such as direct to consumer business models, omni-channel marketing, digital health and more!

Lead. I have never met a leader more generous with their leadership platform than our CEO, Julia. From the day I signed the employment agreement to the day I started, and every day since, she has asked for my input on key decisions---and get this, then actually listens to what I have to say! Julia created space for me at the wildly successful unicorn-of-a-company she founded, pulled a chair up for me at her c-suite and boardroom tables and then invited me to think independently, to speak frankly, and to lead authentically with the enlightened revelation that her shine in no way diminishes me, nor mine, her. This freedom fuels our CEO/COO partnership and has allowed me to quickly gain credibility within the organization and in turn, leverage my nearly three-decades of experience leading and growing multi-national, multi-billion dollar businesses, building operating systems and processes at scale, and inspiring cross-functional teams to work together to achieve bullish, moonshot goals. None of this is in service to me, nor in service to Julia, but in service to Everly Health and the millions of lives we touch and transform with our digital-first solutions.

If you're not growing, you're dying.

Grow. I can literally feel myself growing in ways big and small every day. On the lighter side, working directly with a large population of younger generations, I have started keeping a running list of sayings (e.g. TL:DR), symbols (^^^) and emojis not to use (??) that make me feel so cool when I use them with my daughter or friends who invariably ask, "Who taught you that?" On a more serious note, I'm exposed to pitches, fund-raises, and entrenched in innovation sprints to a degree like never before. While it's still early (though start-up time advances at lightening speed), I cannot help reminiscing about the sheer, disruptive impact that a healthcare company that operates with the stealth agility of a start up (new economy), combined with the resources and processes of an established company (old economy) could have.

From 'this' to 'that': How will I know that the next role will be more rewarding than the last?

Spoiler alert...you won't. While your career can be an incredible journey, it, as life itself, comes with very few guarantees. But I'll offer a few considerations to help shift the odds in your favor: Passion: Are you doing work that you absolutely love? Values: Are the mission, vision and values of the company--not the lofty ones they espouse--but the ones that emanate from the culture, aligned with your own? People: Do you genuinely like the colleagues with whom you spend more waking hours with than anyone else? Reward: Do you feel valued and included in every way that is important to you such that when you are asked to do more or make sacrifices, it's worth it?

I sincerely hope that you are able to answer each of these questions--as I can-- with deep, affirmative conviction...regardless of your employment tenure.