2020: My Best Year - Ever!

24 Feb

Written By

Is this title clickbait? I guess as I am typing this right now I am also not completely sure (2 hours & almost 2000 words later I think it is not). About 2 weeks ago I came to this realisation that 2020 was my best year ever!

I have been in a funk for a few months, staying away from creating content of much any sort (as you may have noticed) when this thought came to me that, yeah, 2020 was an awesome year, even during this crazy period we are all experiencing. Let me explain.

If you are new to this blog or connected to me, well, 'hi' and hope you find this somehow interesting. For the others, you know I was fired during the summer of 2020 from my job of 25 years, during the first pandemic in 100 years. What great timing! Maybe I had it coming to me, maybe I deserved it, maybe I wanted it, heck yeah, I wanted it! But how did I get there and what makes 2020 so 'great' for me? Let's roll back the clock a bit.

It began in 1987

In August of 1987 I followed a lovely German woman across the ocean to see the old world and try my hand at being an immigrant, expat in a new place. I had a bicycle and maybe $800 and planned on biking around Europe, couch surfing and living a simple life. I tried learning German on the fly but that wasn't easy as everyone I spent time with spoke English well enough so I really didn't try too hard. Back home in school we only had Spanish and French, it was New Orleans, right? Well, the money didn't last too long and I needed work. Through a friends mother I got a job making photocopies of military battle plans with the US Army in Stuttgart. That is another story for another time but the luck of her finding the ad and contacting me (this is before WhatsApp and email) meant I had legal work and enough money to get by on. By the Spring of 1988 I knew I needed to go back to the States. So I rode my bike to Luxembourg to catch my Iceland Air flight back home leaving the lovely woman behind. Now not wanting to make this an entire autobiography I will speed this up a bit. We gotta get to that 'best' part.

Now, not wanting to make this an entire autobiography I will speed this up a bit. We gotta get to that 'best' part

A year passed where I worked multiple jobs and learned German at nights and returned to Germany in the Spring of 1989. Who knew what a year that would be! Hint: Berlin Wall for those needing a clue. After a year of learning German I took the foreign student's exam to get accepted at the language college in Germersheim. I failed the exam but got accepted. Again, another, good story for another time. I got a teaching assistant position at the college teaching English to the poor language students there. My mother went crazy since I was not a good student of English growing up. I knew that teaching was not really going to take me anywhere interesting and getting a work permit was necessary so in late 1990 I married that nice German woman. The permit followed very quickly.

Got more interesting in 1991

In early 1991 I was presented the chance (through friends) as a native speaker to work with the German Post Office again teaching English to engineers and managers. I was 'highly qualified' since I had taught at University, right? This was freelance work, teaching 2 or 3 week intensive English courses where we lived all together at one of 5 centers across, the now reunified, Germany. I opted early on to go to Dresden and teach often and that was another 'great and once in a lifetime experience'. I was making buckets of money (and spending it too) and needed a tax specialist to keep my books in order (my understanding of German tax law was not and is not good). That tax preparer is still with me 30 years later.

Working in Dresden right after the reunification was a once in a lifetime experience

It was November 1994 and I was on my train ride home from one of these extensive training courses where I saw on the floor of the cabin the wanted section of the newspaper. It was an ad looking for "Customer Trainers" teaching customer how to use their communications equipment. Very good English knowledge was required as well as teaching experience an advantage. the company was AT&T which I of course knew well as the long-distance telephone company. The interview process is also for another time nevertheless, by January I had the job begining on March 1. I told them I don't have much money (I really didn't) and we agreed to start on February 20th 1995. (I am writing this on the 26th anniversary)

Fast forward to 1995

AT&T in Germany was an unknown company, a startup, where I was employee #23. We worked really hard those first years, really hard. 10-hour days with clients then driving into the night to the next city to repeat the next day. The people I worked with those early years are still true friends today. Well, the company grew, changed names a few times and my career grew with it. I traveled the globe from the Artic to the Cape, the South Pacific to Western Africa. I was a great time. My children were born in 1999 (another great year) and I kept working hard, traveling the globe, improving my career chances along the way.

Fast forward to 2015 and my 20th anniversary and I remember sitting here, yes here in the same home office, thinking what is this all about? I had made it a little game of mine, to see if my manager would reach out to me and congratulate me on my anniversary or even my birthday. Spoiler, they never did. Along with that was my losing interest in what I was doing. I had done it all. I had helped transform my company and many others from the telephone age to the internet age and was proud of that, but what now? I began making my own job description, trying to find interesting things to keep me motivated. I know there was much more to be done in the new age of mobile data and customers changing norms and expectations when dealing with companies.

I had helped transform my company and many others from the telephone age to the internet age and was proud of that, but what now?

I started researching the world of artificial intelligence in communications and found many companies here in Europe and began engaging with them. I organised 4 "AI in Communications" events in Frankfurt and Zurich which were a particular highlight for me. I am grateful to the trust I had from local management and their allowing me to try something which had never been done before. Thank you. So, now we are entering 2020. In February I rebranded my podcast from CX404 to New Normal before the world would enter a new reality. I wanted to talk more about what I felt would be a New Normal of communications. I had seen it since 2011 when the first companies were leveraging social media to reach out to customers. It was then I had the chance to work with H&M in Sweden to see what might be possible in this new space. Very exciting times.

Finally, here we are in 2020

So, 2020 moved forward and lockdowns became the norm but home office was nothing new to me. I was the first employee in Germany to have an "official" home office contract and that was 2001. I am still sitting at the same desk as then, the chair has changed so all is good. In late Spring I got an invite to a call with my manager and HR. Well, when you get that out of the blue, you know what that probably means. By the end of August I had, figuratively, cleaned out my desk and was gone. 9325 days I spent working for the same company (more on that here https://www.andrewfmaher.com/tom-sawyers-travels/9325). I was not mad or upset (the package was good, hey it was 25 years!), maybe a bit disappointed. I had many questions which stuck with me for many months.

It took me and that German woman less than an hour to say "yup, that's my ticket to ride"

I knew for the previous 5 years that I was no longer being challenged. I knew there was still much to be achieved but felt my wings were clipped and did not see a way out. Being a guy in his 50s with 20 or 25 years with the same company, the offers were not coming in daily with "come to us and we'll fly together" deals. I had told a few close friends that I really wanted a change but the corporate deal was too ($$) good to give up on it. I felt trapped. Then that invite came in the mailbox along with it the package. It took me any that German woman (yeah 30 years now) less than an hour to say "yup, that's my ticket to ride".

So, what happened?

The week after I had left the corporate world I was contacted by a startup I had been involved with for a while with an offer; to build out their business here locally. WFT!?! This was like finding that job at the Army making copies in 1987 which let me stay a few months longer, or teaching for the Post Office which made it truly possible to being a life in my new home country or finding that wanted ad on the floor of a train in 1994 which gave me, and my new family the chance to thrive. I was back with a startup. I was back to the early grind and challenges but working with people who appreciate each other and support each other. To be fair, my corporate experience was full of very helpful and supporting people from all over the globe and there are many still there with excellent experiences. I am just reporting my own experiences and they were not bad. Really, it is a great company with a great future in communications just as they have since the 1880s.

Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery - Wiki

Looking back now, 2020 was my best year, well at least since my boys were born. What a dream gig! 30 years of business experience I bring to the table and work with a small group of professionals on making a better future for customers and their dealings with companies they do business with. Pinch me! I can't believe this is true! I have lived a serendipitous life. I am a political scientist and geographer who learned German in his mid-20s, moved continents and cultures to begin work in a field without any skills except being born in the US and being very curious and hard working. What's next? I have no plan and never have had one. I don't live at the ocean but I go with the flow. For that I thank my parents who allowed me to be flexible and never defined the path I should travel. Only once, my father in 1987 when he brought me to the airport for that first trip to Europe he asked "if you have children, my grandchildren, please have them speak English so I can talk with them". Well, Dad, I delivered on that one, heck I am an English teacher!

Hey, if you made it this far then, thanks! I hope it was worth your time and if you have a comment please leave one below. I am on a journey to learn how people and organisations are coping in this New Normal. If you are interested in sharing your story or know of someone who might, just reach out. Use the contact form here and leave me a short note. I would love to hear your story.

Thank you for coming here and sharing your day with my stories.

/Andrew