As Luck Would Have It

“I’d rather be lucky than good,” was what some contestant on an episode of Jeopardy said to Alex Trebek years ago. I immediately adopted it as an unofficial motto of sorts, and have stated it whenever fortune has smiled upon me…

Looking Back

Image by Hallicious via Flickr

Two years ago is when a project manager position opened up within Humana’s Innovation Center. I was all over it, and got the job thanks to my mad interviewing skills and the recommendations of some good friends. But the lucky part happened when I was matrixed to Greg Matthews who had recently been tasked to get his head around social media for the company.

I thought that I had been hand selected by Greg, as the best fit for the job because I had started LouisvillePM, was a MySpace and Facebook veteran, and was really into the internet message board scene. But as Greg told the story to me later, it was the typical, corporate we need a warm body for the next project in the hopper and you just happened to be that warm body, thing going on…

I guess sometimes a guy CAN catch a break.

The past two years have been exciting, frustrating and totally worthwhile. The best part was hands down meeting and working with Mathias Kolehmainen to create the three-man Cougar Team that brought Humana: myTPSreport, Diabatron and Shopensteinr. It took the better part of a year to build the team, but there was really no reason that team should have existed in such a large company in the first place. And the fact that we built it, pioneered an agile development process, and made digital products that helped the business utilize the data behind social media is one of my favorite accomplishments.

I am grateful for the opportunity.

Looking Forward

Two weeks ago is when I accepted the Director, Clinical Platforms position at HealthCentral. Starting Monday, I get to lead the product and business development efforts for Mood 24/7, an SMS tool that allows users to rate how they feel daily on a scale of one to ten, via text message. I am fascinated by both the product’s simplicity and the enormity of its potential impact. I will be working for Ted Smith and with Dr. Adam Kaplin, and am very excited to be a part of the mission to eradicate suicides in America.

I anticipate that this journey, like the one before it, will be exciting, frustrating and totally worthwhile. I’m also planning for some hard work, because as Samuel Goldwyn said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

And I’d rather be lucky than good.