Those pictures I mentioned...

I finally got around to uploading a picture of my cube and a picture of one of the private phone areas. As it's midnight, that's going to be the extent of this post. I'll provide more reports of week 2 at B of A shortly.

Bank of America Day 3

Well, you can see that I missed an entry for day 2. I've been quite busy trying to get acclimated to my new role. I now have meeting notices on my calendar for about 20 orientation meetings over the next week or so, along with my formal corporate orientation all day on Monday. Oh, and I found out yesterday that the person who hired me, my manager, has been given the opportunity to lead a 9 month project in China, to gain some global experience. While this is really cool, it also is another bit of uncertainty for me to juggle at this time.

In addition, I was in an all day offsite meeting today discussing the future course of our workgroup (cool to be part of, but a bit scary at the same time, since I may or may not end up liking all the elements of the redefined role, and we've already begun the relocation process). We had a dinner after today's session, which was quite nice and gave me a chance to get to know the team better, but put me back at temporary housing around 7:45pm, just barely in time to give Mia a bath and put her to bed.

The commute is about as bad as I expected, maybe even a little worse. I am still hoping to make effective use of the ability to work from a nearby satellite office at least 2 days per week. It seems that most meetings at B of A happen via teleconference, so that shouldn't be too difficult to arrange (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

Several of you will be interested to know that my average waking time for the past few days was about 6:15am, and I'll be up tomorrow by about 6:00am in the hopes that I can beat some of the traffic and get an hour of work done prior to the continuation of our offsite meeting.

We fly back to Columbus tomorrow evening, and I'm looking forward to seeing the friends we've left behind.

Day One at Bank of America

Today was my first day at Bank of America, and I am now the proud borrower of a modern-looking cube with ample storage space and supplies, a Dell widescreen laptop, a photoless but functioning ID badge (I'll get my picture taken on Monday during my orientation session), and a variety of documents from multiple meetings during the day. On order are my business cards, cell phone and Blackberry (yes, it may finally be time to bid my Pocket PC farewell for a corporate approved device).

Although it would take too long to share all of my impressions of the day here, I thought it was very interesting that, since we're in a cube-based environment, the company has provided a couple of private phone areas with curtains, in case employees need to make any calls that can't be made from their desks (e.g., sensitive topics).

As for food, the cafeteria, Chik-Fil-A, and Quiznos are all within less than 2 blocks of my building. In addition, one branch of the YMCA fitness facilities is located in my building. Now I just need to develop the willpower to awake at 5am to exercise. I would definitely beat the morning rush hour with that plan. Speaking of the morning rush hour (that phraseology reminds me of something I've often heard Kevin say at work at Nationwide, and I will miss that and other things about the people I've left behind in Columbus), it took me 29 minutes this morning, leaving at 6:55am. This evening was not as good, as it took me 42 minutes, leaving at 5:41pm. Since we are looking at houses another 3-5 miles outside of the city, that would put the morning commute at closer to 40 minutes and the evening commute at 50+. That's certainly something I'll have to get used to, given that my prior commute was 15-20 minutes each way. On the positive side, I will be able to work from a satellite office a couple days per week, and that office is located about 10-15 minutes from the homes we're looking at.

Well, I need to get some rest. I've got many more documents to read tomorrow, and then I need to get ready for an offsite talent management meeting on Thursday and Friday. Oh, and then I'll be back in Columbus with Nadya and Mia late Friday night.

Temporary Housing in Charlotte

Well, we made it to our temporary housing at 3:00am this morning. We left Powell, OH at 4:20pm on Sunday, and made several stops along the way. We drove both of our vehicles to make sure we could fit enough of Mia's toys, our cat, etc. Mia rode with me and Tashi (the cat) rode with Nadya. Both Mia and Tashi did very well in their respective vehicles, but we were slowed down by the snow in parts of Ohio and the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. When we reached the North Carolina, almost if by magic, all the snow was gone. Today's high temperature in Charlotte was 57, and the highs will be around 7o on Thursday and Friday. It feels weird, considering the fact that two days ago I was shoveling almost a foot of snow off of my driveway in Ohio.

The temporary housing is nice, but certainly not like home. We have 2 bedrooms with walk in closets, 2 full bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area, and living room (all with 9' ceilings). There is also a laundry room with a washer and dryer in the apartment, along with a small porch. Unfortunately, the main building was closed today, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow for our welcome packet. I was, however, able to find the business center to check my e-mail, and I located the fitness area, tennis courts and pool as well.

We had enough time today to unpack the cars, purchase groceries and go to a local park where Mia enjoyed playing on the slides, swings, etc. Tomorrow is my first day at Bank of America, so I need to get some rest. I'll write again soon.

Leadership Questions

In preparation for the start of my new job at Bank of America, I have been doing a lot of reading on the topic of Leadership. I've recently read "The Leadership Pipeline" and several Harvard Business Review articles. Although multiple, sometimes conflicting, viewpoints are presented across the literature, I have captured below a couple things that caused me to ruminate about specific instances of leadership that I have viewed in the not so distant past...

Leadership Characteristics

1. When you become a leader, succcess is all about growing others


2. Leaders have to set the team's vision and make it come alive


3. Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency and credit (i.e., possess integrity)


4. Effective leaders are able to assemble a top-notch staff: A) They are willing to take risks by picking people who are unlike them-and who may even have different leadership styles; B) They are willing to take a chance on untested people if they size them up and conclude they have what it takes; C) They do not feel threatened when they hire someone who is more skilled, better experienced, and smarter than they are

Questions to Ask to Determine Leadership Effectiveness

1. Have you ever known this person to shade, color or withhold information?


2. Does this person give credit to others when appropriate?


3. Does this person stand firm with their opinions or move with the winds of politics?


4. Does this person command the respect and attention of senior executives?


5. Is this person more of a tactical or strategic thinker?


6. Does this person have a vision for the company? Have they demonstrated that they can move the business into new areas?


7. Has the person demonstrated the ability to assemble a good team?


8. Is the person threatened by people who are more experienced, smarter, or better technically?


9. Does the person surround themselves with strong people who will be candid and tell them what they need to know vs. what they want to hear?


10. Is this individual sometimes needlessly interested in certain activities?

If you've encountered instances of particularly good or bad leadership, I'm interested to know if the above items capture the essence of the difference. Share your examples with the world (or, um, the other 2 people who read this blog).

Relocation Snag #1

Well, we were supposed to be traveling to Charlotte this evening to look at a bunch of houses over the weekend. Unfortunately, Mia is just getting over being sick and Nadya caught whatever Mia had. I'm wondering if I need one of those NIOSH approved respirators to ensure that I don't get sick as well. With all of the things that we need to accomplish in preparation for our relocation, every day is important. Fortunately, several of our friends have already offered to watch Mia, help with packing, etc. Now if we can just get organized enough to figure out how to best rely on the benevolence of these individuals over the next week or so. The type of support offered by our good friends in the Columbus area is something that we will miss when we begin our adjustment period in Charlotte. Of course, once we're out of temporary housing and into a home, we'll be eagerly anticipating visitors from "up North".

We're Moving to Charlotte

For a variety of reasons, I've decided to take the Leadership/Organizational Development position at Bank of America in Charlotte, NC. My last day at Nationwide will be February 14 (Valentine's day) and my start date at BOA is February 20. We will arrive at our temporary housing location on February 18. What we need to work out now is whether we can all fit in one car to drive down, or whether I will need to drive while Nadya and Mia fly. The logistics of moving are at least as challenging as managing a work-related project workplan. Anyway, as we progress through the moving process, I'll keep you posted on our thoughts, learnings, etc.