Managing Change...Again

In my years as a Borders Manager Trainer, I trained many new or newly promoted managers in a variety of management-related segments. But my favorite segment was "Managing Change."

This topic included, as you can imagine, the importance of change in an organization (such as your Borders store), how to help your staff with change, WHY change is good, etc.

I had stories and anecdotes and real-life examples and visual aids, all to help get across my message in my 90 minute segment: Change is Good and Here's Why.

And at the beginning of every one of my "Managing Change" segments, the opening sentence out of my mouth was, without fail: "I'll admit it. I hate change. Hate it."

"But," I continued, "I get it. I understand why change is important and necessary and I know how to make it bearable, and I've accepted many changes in my life. But I hate change."

 

And now, my life is changing in one of those big Life Changing ways - I'm starting a new job. Me, the one who honestly thought she'd be at Borders for the rest of her life.

Someone told me, years ago, that a huge majority of adults will go through three different careers in his/her lifetime. THREE careers?!? Why?!? I'll be with Borders forever - just the one career, thank you very much.

So, after what I consider a few non-careers (waitress/bartender), a freelance attempt, two dozen years with Borders and four years with MTD - I'm moving on to a new adventure.

 

And what an adventure! I'm going to be the Marketing & Events Director for (my beloved) Santa Barbara Downtown Organization! People who don't live here do that "blink-blink" thing when I tell him, so I explain it this way: It's sort of like a mini-Chamber of Commerce, just for the downtown area, promoting the business, cultural and community of downtown Santa Barbara(http://www.santabarbaradowntown.com/).

 And it is, in a nutshell, the perfect job for me - just perfect. I have a huge and undying love and affinity for downtown Santa Barbara, for downtown State Street. I live in a location that is considered the "downtown" neighborhood (as opposed to "upper State" or the "Waterfront" or the "Eastside"). I have had the same zip code - the downtown Santa Barbara zip code - for my entire time here in Santa Barbara, home and work. And downtown Santa Barbara is my go-to location for just about everything, either on my own, meeting friends or when people come to visit me.

So now, my job will be to market and promote this fabulous location in this amazing and gorgeous city. I'll be working with Board members and business owners I already know and/or look forward to getting to know better. See? The Perfect Job!

As for MTD - it's been...let's call it an "interesting" four years.

 

It was David (whom I met serving with him on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Organization - full circle!) who brought me to MTD when I most needed a job, in 2009. In fact, I was one month away from - no kidding - pulling up stakes and moving away from Santa Barbara. But it was David (or "Boss David" as my Mom dubbed him) who saw potential in me, thought I'd be great at the MTD Marketing job and rightly guessed I'd be fun to work with - and what I didn't know about public transit, he'd be there to teach me. Thanks to Boss David, I spent the past four years of acquiring new skills and honing others, meeting some wonderful people and, after he passed away last October, figuring out how to stand up for myself. He was the best boss I ever had, and I miss him terribly ever day.

But I think he'd agree: it's time for me to move on and try something new. And as the past president of the Board of Directors of the Downtown Organization, I imagine Boss David is beaming with pride over my new adventure.