Jack's musings on human nature, science, higher education, cooking, photography, and life...

As I explained in my  first blog entry  several months ago, my assignment in Dubai helped me realize I was not ready for retirement and after considerable deliberation I decided to take a role as VP of Strategic Innovation at  Campus Management .  I’ve spent the last seven months as the proverbial “jack of all trades” at Campus Management injecting myself wherever we thought I could add value and improve our operations.  I’d categorize my role as an internal management consultant.  I helped my peers across the company scale and improve their functions.  This gave me exposure to many aspects of our business ranging from marketing to sales, implementation to ongoing support, and development to cloud operations. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with individual contributors on the front line up through the Board of Directors. I’ve visited long standing customers and have helped acquire and implement new members of our customer family.  It...

I’ve spent the last few months contemplating the next chapter of my career. I use "career" metaphorically as I’ve been very fortunate and have had a full and rewarding formal business career. My motivations are somewhat different at this stage of my life as I’m more interested in adding value and making a difference versus position, title, or rank. My seven-month assignment in Dubai last year proved to me that I was not quite ready to retire. I enjoyed the experience even though it was over 6000 miles from home and required enduring 45C (115F) temperatures coupled with oppressive humidity. I enjoyed it because it was very rewarding professionally. I felt my presence had a positive impact on the customers and employees in the Middle East.  I realized that feeling of meaningful accomplishment was missing from my retired life and that I needed to fill that gap. The experience also reaffirmed my passion for Higher Education's mission.  I had engaged with ...