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PREFACE

FOR US, THIS BOOK WAS MUCH MORE than a bucket-list item—it comes from an ambition to start a movement. We strongly believe that we have a vision of how to make work better and want to challenge the long-held paradigms about how work can and should be done. We believe this is good for employees, managers and the companies and shareholders they serve. We know the future of work is going to transform organizations. We believe that technology that is available today can enable an entirely new way of utilizing all the skills our employees bring to the company and create opportunities for continuous learning and growth.

We have deeply personal reasons for being so passionate about this topic, so we want to share our stories.

Kelley:

If someone had told me when I was a child that I would grow up some day and not only lead people, but change the world by building a technology platform that would revolutionize the way people work, I certainly would have said they were crazy. Despite having quite an active imagination, I don’t believe I ever dreamed big enough and I often allowed other people to define me. As I look back on my life experiences and my story, I realize that everything that has happened to me personally and professionally is part of the fabric of who I am today—someone who is passionate about the future of work and the legacy that I hope to leave in my profession.

That journey to change the world really started in 1994 when my mother, Christy Hamilton, who had dreamed of becoming a police officer, finally got that chance to reimagine herself and change her career from an accountant to an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). She was 44 when the LAPD lifted the age ban for new cadets (prior to this time, women that age were not able to enter into law enforcement). She looked up to her father, a detective for the LAPD during her childhood, and now she would have an opportunity to follow in his footsteps, as she also dreamed about becoming a detective.

Despite what would be a grueling academy with physical challenges, especially for someone her age, she sailed through them with flying colors. In February 1994, she graduated at the top of her class and won an award for most inspirational cadet. Three days after graduating from the police academy, she was killed in the line of duty responding to a domestic violence dispute. Losing her so early caused a shockwave for the LAPD, but it also shocked the countless number of people who were inspired by her story and her ability to make good on a “second act” in her career.

It was a very difficult time for me, trying to make sense of this tragedy and all the questions about why this had to happen to her. However, in the emotional chaos, there was some peace in knowing that she’d had the opportunity to pursue a lifelong dream. It would later become one of the strongest and most meaningful messages that would define the rest of my life’s work. My mother’s experience taught me the importance of being able to reimagine yourself, pursue your passions, and be recognized as being able to contribute beyond what you are doing today based on the holistic portfolio of your experiences.

The tragedy surrounding her death became the catalyst for a dramatic change in my perspective about people and their professional journeys. It was the beginning of internalizing the “growth mindset”—the belief that people are not fixed beings; they have the ability to change and grow over time and are an amalgamation of all of their career and life experiences. This was a transformative realization and I wanted to find a way to bring the growth mindset to organizations and apply it.

As a human resources (HR) executive, I knew that the current HR systems had no way to operationalize this belief and solve for talent mobility at scale. Setting out to solve this problem, as my organization and others embarked on the future of work, became the genesis of the talent platform at HERE Technologies, and what would later become a commercialized solution in the market known as Hitch.

That life experience is a central reason for my strong belief in being able to pursue your passions and to reimagine yourself. I believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to their work and that people are so much more than what they are doing today. And, much like my mother’s example, I have had a “jungle gym” career. I have spent my career motivated to learn, grow and pursue my passions and interests. I have held so many roles and have had so many wonderful, diverse experiences that have shaped who I am today. My hope is that more people will adopt this new way of thinking—seeing themselves not as fixed beings but as full of opportunities to be reimagined several times throughout their career.

Edie:

It was early career experiences that created my awareness of how organizations box people in to a job and fail to recognize all of their skills. Before I started my own consulting firm nineteen years ago, I worked for Towers Perrin. While my role description was multi-faceted (Asia-Pac liaison for the Human Capital Management Practice; global thought leader in Career Management, Learning and Development, and Succession Planning), fundamentally I was a consultant in the Human Capital Consulting Practice. But my education and experience went far beyond the type of work we did within this practice area. I have a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, which included eight semesters of advanced statistical training and several courses in research methods. Earlier in my career, I had put this education into practice, and I was a deep expert in research methods.

A few years into my tenure with Towers Perrin, the company began to build a Measurement Practice, which was just forming in the west region. Despite my expertise, I was never allowed to participate in Measurement projects because I was not in that practice. Our organization was very siloed, and those barriers were rarely crossed. Lending my expertise to the Measurement Practice would have been a win-win. The firm would have more access to more expertise in the local market, and I would have gotten to do work that I think is, quite simply, fun.

The experience left a deep imprint on me as a talent management professional. Since that time, I have helped numerous companies (from Fortune 50 to smaller, privately held organizations) improve how they manage employee careers by helping them to deeply understand their own talent: people’s passions, aspirations, past experiences, education and career interests. In my experience, companies can do a better job of understanding all the skills employees have and taking full advantage of the expertise each individual offers, even if it’s not needed in their current role, and particularly during times of organizational transformations.

While Kelley points to her mom as a point of inspiration, I always love to hold up my husband, John Carter, as the ultimate example of a person with a portfolio career. Time and time again, he has understood what he is good at and where his passions lie, and then he has pivoted to doing something new that brings him energy. For example, based on his education in electrical engineering with an emphasis in acoustics, he began his career at Bose (he had studied under Amar Bose at MIT, so this is not a surprise). He quickly advanced in the ranks at Bose to become chief engineer, which gave him both general management skills and the financial acumen required to run a line of business.

With this experience, he pivoted to start a product development consulting firm. Once he realized that he had tired of the daily grind of consulting travel and he really loved managing a team, he sold his firm and became the CEO of a technology start-up. This experience helped him understand that what he really loved in this role was selling the technology the company developed to other companies. So he pivoted once again (and this was a big pivot) to become an investment banker, where he would help companies sell their company (and intellectual property assets) to other companies. After the 2008 downturn, he then decided to restart his product development consulting practice. This is a perfect example of an individual who has pivoted to entirely new careers to follow his interests and fully utilize all the skills he has. In the words of my dear friend Beverly Kaye, “Up is not the only way.”¹ John’s portfolio career represents the type of career growth opportunities we are trying to make available for more people.

It is with these experiences that we wish to bring the Inside Gig into action inside your organizations. We hope this book serves as both inspiration and opportunity to take action.