Guidance / Sharon Minnich
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen (the term is to be expansively applied),
Welcome to those new to Serendipity. If you are reading this for the first time, the premises of these musings can be found in the provenance email all the way back from August 2023. (In short, it's been described as inspirational self-help content that is poorly worded and has zero applicable benefits.)
A few trips to the cardiologist this month have made me feel rather grateful for all the people in my life who have helped me along the way. This will approximately last until my medication kicks in and brings my biomarkers back to normal, and then I can resume my sense of reckless abandon and living in the moment.
Bad jokes aside, if you are reading, I owe you a thank you. Each time I sit down to write this and close ChatGPT, I am overwhelmed with a sense of joy and gratitude. Reflecting on the people I want to help or connect with because they deserve it forces me to put my life and career into perspective. I can easily get caught up in my natural cynical state, demonstrated by my abhorrence for over-priced spaghetti sauce, but when I am feeling hopeful, more good things start to happen. For instance, this month:
I found my lost retainer under the bed, which I had already looked for 30 times. The retainers are from the now-defunct internet braces company Candid. That's like a $5k saving right there.
An amazing woman in Costco stopped me and said, “Have you lost your credit card?” to which I replied, “No,” and then she said, “Well, you sure look like the guy on the back of the Citicard I just handed to customer service”. Please note that the picture was from 2007; therefore, my skincare routine is clearly on point.
There has been a silver and black bolt sitting on my outside shelf for 4 months. It looked so important that I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. When I was removing a bird's nest from our vine that cascades over the back porch, I saw the sun shade was missing that exact bolt. I haven't used the sunshade since we installed it 2 years ago, but if I ever do, it will work.
Talk about positive life momentum - watch out.
Moving on.
This month’s ‘Serendipitous moment’:
This month’s serendipitous moment is from November 2024’s feature and business development aficionado, John Dinkel. Since I know John well and we speak frequently, we forget to ask each other how we can help one another. It wasn’t until he posted on a network “ask board” that I was like - damn, I know a few people who can help. The moral of this story is that you shouldn't just talk about beer with your friends; it doesn't help grow your business.
Moving on, on.
This month, I would like to introduce you to someone whom I have never told, but was extremely formative early on in my career. Sharon Minnich was like no Government leader I had ever seen when she took over the technology department at the PA Dept of Revenue some 20 years ago (don’t date check me on that, in case it was like 10 years, because I have a shitty memory).
Sharon Minnich
Sharon was decades younger than her peers, and she was in a very small minority of female leaders in the tech department. Nonetheless, she possessed the pace, precision, and skills to modernize not just the existing systems, but also the thinking and attitude of the entire department. Possibilities of a better way were paired with a work ethic that was frankly bananas. I had never seen a leader at that level help secure funding with political leaders and then dive into the details to assist with User acceptance testing.
Sharon’s abilities and leadership opened my eyes to what was possible. I had no business being in the same room as her, but nonetheless, she advocated for my projects and ideas, which helped elevate my career in the department. I will never be able to repay her for the guidance and support she gave me back then.
Nowadays, she is still leading in the role of Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. I have no doubt that she has shredded outdated and arcane systems and processes for the latest and greatest methods because that’s what she does.
She might be a bit hard to get a hold of because she is busy and important, but if you mention my name, she will definitely have one of her staff look at the message and send you a very polite declination. Nevertheless, give it a shot and follow her here.
Finally, thank you again for reading all the way through. It really takes a special person who clearly struggles with prioritization to read this far. Your attention means the world to me and the companies I resell your data to. Thank you.
PS - I don't really sell your data. I give it away for free.