I’m sharing a photo here of the REI Customer Innovation team — one of the best groups of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. This morning we all received the official news that our team is being dissolved as part of REI’s layoffs — which included 357 employees outside of our store staff.
Naturally, I have a complex range of emotions at the moment. Joining REI to discover and build new products felt like a “dream job” two years ago. I’m disappointed that our impact was cut short and that we never had the opportunity to fully execute on our team’s charter.
But above all I’m grateful — mostly for having had the chance to collaborate with, learn from, and build deep friendships with this amazing group of people. This team has been such a blessing in my life. Thank you Jacob Stefanik for the team you built, and your inspiring leadership over the past 2 years.
I’m also grateful for what I learned through the work. I could write a short novel about the range of recreational outdoor customers and their Jobs to be Done as they get outdoors. (Relatedly, there’s a companion novel in my brain about what it takes to introduce a product innovation function in a large, complex organization.)
As of today, I have many talented colleagues who are looking for their next challenge. If you want recommendations, I have many. Talk to me about it.
And as for me, I’m looking forward to a little downtime while I figure out what comes next. I’m going forward with an open-mind. I’d love to stay in the outdoor space and build or grow a product using all the learnings I gathered over the past 2 years — but ultimately I want to solve interesting, meaningful problems with compelling products. So we’ll see where the most interesting opportunities appear.
So, LinkedIn network: whether we’re strangers, new friends, or old friends…. let’s connect for coffee (real or virtual) and talk about whatever — career, product-led growth, product discovery, bikes, music, etc. I’m out here looking.
AVP Talent Acquisition (Technology) @ LPL Financial
3moThe best in the business. Mike Griffin is a true competitor, loyal friend, and committed mentor. Every time Mike and I connect, I leave the meeting feeling energized & determined to move mountains. I can't say enough great things about the leader that Mike has become.