I try not to be too self-referential here but it seems silly not to write that I’ve joined up with 3Sixty Insights as a principal analyst. I should also tell you why and what that means.
I’ve got what some might call an untraditional background. In short, I’ve done everything possible to not create a sensible career path, including going out on my own. I like that.
But that’s also why going down a traditional analyst path isn’t easy. I don’t have the educational pedigree, the proof in public, or the personality to take on that sort of role. The work I do is serious and I care about it deeply, but I don’t take myself that seriously. I am opinionated, but I also know stories and the Truth™ always have different sides and angles to explore. I do not think I have all the answers.
So, yeah, I wasn’t getting calls from Gartner.
I also really like what I am doing now. I like working on my own firm with my own ideas. I like working with the folks at Rep Cap. I like writing for publications like Reworked. I like writing here.
What I really liked is independence. And that’s what attracted me to 3Sixty Insights.
But other than embracing my weird background and my desire to continue what I am doing (and more), there are three other pieces that came together to make it work.
One is that they want me to continue to be opinionated about the market and continue growing my voice in a very crowded industry. That helps both of us. I really didn’t want to yield my voice behind a brand, and at least in this sort of intellectual work, people really care about trusting the voices they are reading.
Two is that I am really aligned with 3Sixty’s approach. They’ve focused a lot on how decisions are being made inside HR, IT, and finance orgs and how people are getting the most from their technology investments. Not that there isn’t value in quadrants or waves, or those incredible feature/functionality breakdowns I personally love consuming. But it is also a complicated, noisy time. As a former practitioner, I am empathetic about the decisions leaders have to make. Trying to make sense of that noise is important.
The last is infrastructure. While it’s boring, I know how hard it is to drum up new business, get contracts signed, follow up, invoice, design, QC, etc, etc, etc… I know people outsource parts of that and all I can say is that they are probably far smarter than my DIY approach. While I’ve appreciated the hard knocks education, I’ve also come to appreciate that infrastructure way more than I ever thought about when I was a W2.
What does that mean? You’ll see more of my research out in public instead of white labeled and behind another brand. You can brief me now and I have a pretty good process and expanded audience for market coverage. You’ll still get this newsletter. You’ll still see me writing for Reworked somewhere or on a random Rep Cap call, too. And if you’re still interested in some weird little project, you can still get me. Although, probably a little less of that.
If you’ll be at HR Tech, let me know. It would be great to catch up. And if you want to request a briefing, you can do that here.