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Through all that we’ve done together, we’ve learned a lot along the way. Thank you, team Sprout, for the ride.

A note to Sprout Social — November 15, 2019

Leaving a job creates space for reflection. What did I learn? What am I proud of? Where can I get better? How will I remember this place, and these people?

I wasn’t sure what to expect joining Sprout two years ago. I had heard of our rave Glassdoor reviews. Our sterling reputation in the startup community wasn’t lost on me. Imagine the imposter syndrome, then, when you’ve been invited to juice up a rocketship in a leadership role. There aren’t playbooks for these things.

Playbooks don’t suit me well, anyhow. Every company is a blank canvas. At Sprout, I thought about work through several lenses. I’d like to say these were intentional, but the following takeaways were more revelations than plans of action.

All Together Now

Greatness through togetherness

“So, we’ve officially acquired Simply Measured in Seattle. Think you can you head out next week?” What a way to start a job.

I had never brought two work families together. Meshing the people and product from Simply Measured and Sprout into something bigger than all of us set the tone for my tenure. We navigated differing processes, complimentary team values, and a mix of emotions. It took all of us.

Our design system, Seeds, wouldn’t be a phenomenal resource without Brand Creative, Product Design, and web engineers sharing a vision of how we make Sprout. Building Nectar, our UI refresh, couldn’t have happened without orchestrating our product organization—over 35 product managers and designers, and dozens of web engineers. Reflecting on leadership and seniority, bringing people together seems to be part of the career journey.

Building companies, culture, and products is a team sport. It gets hard. It’s made easier when we weather together. Thanks for letting me annoyingly snap photos of you all during the times I felt togetherness.

How’s the Blue Line, Aria?

Laugh a little

The workplace can be daunting. Teammates rely on us. We’re supposedly grown-ups and experts. We should be right more than we’re wrong.

I’ll miss the times we paused our professional selves. Betting the return of the Monroe Blue Line escalator in #talk-blueline. (Of course it’s finally back.) Out of context quips in #overheard Slack channels. Molly Jones running All Hands. (You’re doing great with the hoodies, CFJoe.) Jack Sadanowicz karaokeing on the Arboretum stage. Analytics newsletter dad jokes. Red-eyed, hungry, and giggling in the streets of Seattle. Aria Solar making fun of you, me, and everyone else.

I liked the meetings we laughed in. Sprout reminded me our best work happens when we’re our weird selves. Weirdos at work, that’s the workplace for me.

What shall we call work today?

Work is what you make of it

There are many SaaS businesses, but none quite like Sprout. Culture is our keystone. I spent a lot of time thinking about those who carry it. Sprout is largely defined by the people who are unabashedly themselves. They satisfy their own curiosities. Sprout reminded me to value questions more than instructions.

What if we invited talented people outside of Sprout to teach us? What if we made a Slack channel for coworkers to meet each other? What if we hit a giant gong for every product release? What if we brought our parents to work? What if we went canoeing for a day? And dammit, what if we stopped meeting on Wednesdays?

You can let work happen to you. Or, you can make work happen for you. The brilliance is knowing that we get a choice.

Cool cool cool

Dear Product Design

It’s been an honor co-leading our team. Your high ambitions underscored my tremendous responsibility. It’s a perk working with people who care this deeply. You grew as individuals; we grew as a group. There are many proud moments.

We doubled and diversified our team. We flipped our culture, becoming people of craft. We got better at understanding our customers. We pruned and groomed our product’s experience. We learned from each other. The industry learned from us. With Brand Creative, we were honored as an exemplary design team. We took over a movie theater to talk design with Chicago. We showcased our work in conferences, blogs, and books. We helped Sprout teams apply design thinking. We shared. All the while, we redesigned our company’s product, top to bottom.

Togetherness. Laughing a little. This is what we’ve made of work.

Ben Lister, Bill Foehring, Boo Fagan, Chase McCoy, Courtney Sandberg, Erinn Dornaus, Jessie Bohannon, Jimmy Yoon, Jing Guo, Jules Simplicio, Kelly Burke, Kevin Bertram, Mark Montri, Meagan Hughes, Nathan Sanders, Nicki Stearns, Rachel Sinon, Savy Lacombe, and Gil, I love you nerds like siblings. I can’t wait to see what you do with my Legos.

One last Ariana Grande bit? thank u…

Thank you.

Coaches & pep-talkers. When I felt accomplished, you challenged me to do more. Alicia Johnston, Boo Fagan, Carolina Leon, Danica Heffernan, Jenny Poore, Kim Blight, Liz Corcoran, Maureen Calabrese, Sarah Cameron, thanks for all the lessons and the learnings. It’s no surprise you’re incredible women leaders. You prove the movement: the future of business is women.

Partners & pals. I got a masterclass in growing teams building cool shit with people smarter than me. Alan Boyce, Blake Smith, Jason Sendelbach, Matt Trumbell, Max Page, Nick Nieman, thanks for championing design to complete the stool with product and engineering. And dropping font jokes on me, because design.

Everyone working on Nectar. Beyond Product Design, shout out to Anjali Thakrar, Gordo, and Dan Kielp. To every one of our front-end engineers. To Brand Creative, Marketing, Sales, and Support for bringing Nectar to our customers. To Justyn and Gil for being crazy enough to greenlight rebuilding the plane while it’s still flying. It wasn’t easy. What a feather in all of our caps this will be.

Gil & Small Council. It’s a privilege working for executives expecting excellence. You asked tough questions pairing them with kind encouragement. Just when I thought I had this leadership thing figured out, you humbled me. Every hire is a bet. Thanks for betting on me.

All of you. Analytics. Publishing. Team Seattle. #talk-donuts. Hallway high-fivers. Sproutdoors survivors. Kickoff dance partners. All of you. Thank you.

Revisit chapters of your career. It’s not always the projects you remember, it’s the way your coworkers made you feel. Feeling good; feeling proud.

With that, I’ll catch you on Instagram.

✌️😎
Mig