When was the last time your boss really embraced who you are?

…continued from When you don’t realize you’re actually in a job interview

On September 16, the day after Cam and I introduced ourselves over lunch at HopCat, he sent me this email:

I want to find a way to bring you into BDC somehow, and will take the weekend to think more on this. I think you bring incredible insight, experience, and network to just crush it and help BDC scale its impact. AND, I think a long-term gig with BDC could fill all 4 of your passion buckets. ;)

Okay, so yeah… He had my attention. This was not something I went looking for, but the thought of getting to join Cam in it spoke to me.

I replied to his email the next day, with a recap of our last conversation and all the ideas we spitballed. It was easy to think creatively about BDC. Because it made sense.

Cam extended another invite for lunch. We picked up where we left off, at The Black Heron on October 7. This time, it got a little personal.

As I shared one overarching story about how I’ve had a history of bringing on chaos in my life from bouts of drinking too much, my eyes welled up and a few quiet tears surfaced. It’s nothing that I’m embarrassed about at this point in my life, but it was obviously apparent to Cam that I take those demons from my past seriously. It was, however, the residual regret and shame talking, which is precisely the trigger that makes BDC resonate so personally for me.

I wiped my eyes, caught my breath, and took a sip from the beer in front of me. Cam’s reaction and next words could’ve gone in one of two directions, both of which were out of my control. I didn’t have anything to lose. I was being honest, vulnerable. Nothing to apologize for, but I did anyway.

He gave me a moment, shaking his head left and right barely noticeable, smiled softly, and said, “Aww, man, don’t worry about it.” Then, he asked, “So, would you like be the CEO of BDC?”

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