A Wild Seventeen Months!

It was seventeen months ago when I left my last formal role, and one of the few times in my life I felt like I was heading in the wrong direction for a variety of reasons. Since then, it's been a magical experience, one I wouldn't trade for anything. Among the small group of us, we've grown to eleven client companies whose total revenues are approximately four hundred million dollars. It's humbling. We're working with some remarkably talented people who are a complete delight to be around. We have days when we run with little sleep to help a client meet a deadline, or we'll spend hours (at our expense) debating ideas to better solve a client's problem, and the work has been great fun. To say we love what we do completely trivializes our passion for our practice and the commitment we make to our clients that runs around the clock. Yes, I'm beaming with pride.

We formed Middlerock Partners, LLC, almost a year ago, and got that basic org structure in place so we could create our formal standards of practice and now more potential partners are starting to work with us. I think what's been most enjoyable about the experience is the constant learning and the huge variety of clients who work with us. We're involved with everything from gourmet popcorn to some of the most complex technologies imaginable. Each company is like dropping in on a completely unique country with no two alike. What they all have in common is the desire to be better companies and we do everything in our power to help them achieve their goals.

Some embrace change faster than others, yet all are in a state of improvement. I was thinking about the core elements that make these companies stand out. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, is the high degree of integrity in which they operate. It's clearly a key ingredient to their success. From the customer's prospective, trust is the single most important element. Without it they don't exist. Every company can claim to have integrity but what is that really? In these cases, it doesn't matter what the issue, our clients want to do the right thing. It's nice to see it put into practice.

We've also come across companies that are run by micro versions of Kim Jong-un who are just as silly, just as delusional, and frankly impossible to help. We wish them well, but know their chances of ever becoming anything great is very low. We feel sorry for the employees who have to work under those conditions. Luckily, there are plenty of fun companies to work with.

For those who embrace our help, we take the work very seriously and we do our best to exceed expectations at every turn. We get excited about the progress we make and the people we impact in a positive way, and most of all we're looking forward to continued growth for all of us.

Thank you for your trust, your willingness to listen and work with us to produce the best possible outcome. Cheers to the next seventeen months!