I’ve been incredibly lucky in my career and I wish the same for everyone.
Having thought much about my personal life and career ove the last two years, I realized I’ve had some great successes and misses too.
As I pulled back the lens, asking why I was successful at one place and not another, it became clear that my strengths and talents certainly improved and matured, but inherently they were not the main cause of my success. Indeed, my successes were the result of much luck for landing in places where I jelled with and received much support from the teams who surrounded me!
Though it’s hard to categorize the groups of successes and misses, and there are definitely different shades of each, two incredible group of people stand out:
1) The development team, Microsoft Consulting Services Firm consultants, and supporting staff at Fidelity National Financial during my time there in 2004 to 2007; and
2) The Professional Services, Engineering, Product Management, Sales & Marketing, and all support staff at DocuSign in my stint there from 2010 to 2016.
I count myself lucky to have worked at Fidelity National Financial with the likes of Olivia Sethney, Shawn Regan, Jay Esguerra, Betrina Chavira, Henry Bow, Kelly Adams, Luis Adrian, Regina Garcia, Seth Carr, Vidya Sinha, Victoria Blakemore, Sam Sides, Michael Machowski, Jeremy Woo-Sam, Jim Brown, Rick Shahid, and Sharon Dugan to just name a few.
I’m especially grateful to Olivia Sethney for giving me the opportunity to work with this incredible team and contribute to them. She had a vision of whom we needed to complete the team and gave us plenty of autonomy and care to do what we all enjoyed doing.
Thank you, Olivia!
She was also instrumental in getting me introduced to Terry Kisner who later hired me at DocuSign. Terry also had an incredible vision of how to run the Professional Services in those early days when the company was less than 100 people strong.
I’m grateful to have had the chance to collaborate at DocuSign with the likes of Ken Moyle, Gil Vincent, Drew McCabe, Josh Fischer, Mike Parish, Vera Rossi, Adam Hernandez, David W. Grigsby (RIP), Doug Rybacki, Mike Roseleip (RIP), Eric Wong, Mike Wong, Matt Marquez, Dewey Wald, Aaron Wald, Loren Alhadeff, Scott Os, Vasu Sampath, Amit Sharma, Marc Carlson, Tom Gonser, Keith Krach, Rob Lewis, Matt Pelham, Andy Wang, Grant Peterson, Bob DeSantis, Brad Epker, Christopher Rager, Sandeep Mangla, Christopher Lewis, Mike Fiascone, Christopher Barone, Craig Levy, Tom Barnes, Damon Miño, dan kennelly, Busy Cummings, Debbie Sakai, Derrick Tran, Ella Dillon, Greg Perotto, Jamie Byrnes, Jason Barnes, Kim Brandl, Jesse Morgan, Jonathan Peterson, Judy Desbans, julia ferraioli, Kennith Asher, Lewis Pfister, Lynda Mills, Patric Wiesmann, Rob Schmeltzer, Ron Hirson, Scott Barmmer, Tyler Kimsey, among others whom I’m sure I’m forgetting.
My point is that we may think we’re each the center of the universe and people should feel lucky to work with us individually, but, in reality, we’re lucky to find the opportunity to work in and with a group of people we absolutely love. The individuals certainly make incredible contribution, AND it’s the team who jell so well that ensures the success of the whole and each team member.
We created some amazing products and services together that changed the world for the better, and I’m grateful to have been in the company of these great women and men who made up the most effective, enjoyable, and energizing teams I’ve been a member of.
Thanks for the years and good times, folks!