Chris Rudnicki
Sep 4, 2018 · 1 min read

Best of luck with the search, James. I’m glad you found the article helpful in some way. One thing I didn’t really have space to expand on in the article regarding my dad’s path out of Motorola: the consulting/gig/contractor path has some benefits, but there is a long list of cons as well. I won’t get into all of the pros/cons here, but I’ll mention one con that I think often gets overlooked: it can be an incredibly lonely path.

While you do ‘get control’ (or as I like to say, ‘be your own boss’), you are also out there on your own as you move from gig to gig. It’s on you to find opportunities, sell yourself successfully, and drop into a probably pre-existing community/team to get your work done (and then abruptly leave when the work is complete). Some people love this and thrive, though many more people I’ve encountered struggle with how isolating all of that can feel over time (my dad probably being one of them). I’m not positive that if he could go back again knowing what he knows now he’d choose the path that he did out of Motorola a decade ago. Though, I completely get that sometimes circumstances don’t necessary allow for much choice in the matter. Food for thought.

    Chris Rudnicki

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    Project Tugboat, Harvard business & public policy