Dear Friends & Family,
I hope all is well. Like always, it has been far too long since I wrote – but I thought now that I have all this extra free time due to my funemployment I would take the time to catch you up on the goings-on of Nick Kroshus.
Medtronic Mania
First …I have some surprising news for some of you – I no longer have a job at Medtronic nor am I planning to move back to Minnesota.
<I’ll pause here so you can digest that…..read on!>
In March, while boarding my flight to Trinidad, I was told the role I was offered and signed up for had changed “a bit” and I could talk with the Director when I returned from my trip. The “little bit” that had changed was:
Reporting Relationship Reduction: It turns out the director had been promoted and I was now going to report to someone who was initially supposed to be my peer. Her non-existant seniority at Medtronic combined with her lack of any real work experience before her MBA (prior to enrolling, she was an equestrian) worried me quite a bit. Specifically, I was concerned she was going to make Nick Kroshus-sized saddle and micromanage me to death.
Product Pivots to Pilot: I was sold on the idea of leading a Global Product Launch, which was going to be awesome! But, at the same time the reporting relationship changed, they decided the product GLOBAL launch would be more of a regional “pilot.”
So, after six weeks of conversations, which included some amazing dialogue with my HR contacts…
HR contact: “We believe the opportunity is identical to what we initially promised.”
Nick Thinks: Maybe I need to send her a definition of identical, which according to Dr. Google is similar in every detail, or exactly alike. Which … obviously, this wasn’t… so….
I decided to renege on the offer.
At or around the time I opted out of the role, Medtronic realized the US wasn’t big enough for both of us and decided to re-headquarter itself in Ireland (link). So basically, Nick 1 – Medtronic 0.
Graduated in Style
I graduated, or well, have strong reason to believe I graduated. No diploma yet, but I did get to walk across the stage, fist bump the dean, and all that jazz. The month of May was a great capstone to a wonderful experience and I had the opportunity to celebrate graduation with my mom, my stepdad, and Jack & Jenny. Overall, it was a whirlwind experience filled with lots of walking, wine tasting, beer tasting, crazy drivers, and more!
Since graduating, it has been really relaxing and I am focusing on transitioning out of the MBA world and back into reality – which translates as eating better, sleeping more, drinking less, and catching up on emails (like this one) that months past due. Sadly, I realized last night that while I feel like I am hugely productive, I can usually summarize an entire day’s efforts in a single text. Evidently, when you are unemployed, things like “Watched the World Cup and went to the gym” feel like fulfilling activities.
I also have been organizing and eliminating my worldly possessions (much to my mother’s delight). As part of the process, I am throwing out the papers and notes I saved over the past two years. Which lead to the discovery that my MBA experience and knowledge can be encapsulated in almost 3 feet of paper. If anyone is interested you are more than welcome to purchase the Haas Paper MBA for $100k!
Returning to Mother Minnesota
Thirdly, even though I am not moving home permanently, I am planning to head to Minnesota for three weeks (June 30 – July 22) to visit family, friends, and volunteer at RYLA (i.e., that leadership camp I mention from time to time). I’ll be around Minneapolis for 8 days and would love to see as many of you as possible! Feel free to drop me a note and we can coordinate when to meet up!
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