I've never been good at long goodbyes, so let's try to make this brief, shall we?
After eight years and three months of blogging (yes, it's been going on for many years before I hit the pages of the Huffington Post), a lengthy period of discipline, dedication, research and introspection that spawned 1,077 posts, you are now reading my last one.
And with it, one final weekly learning, namely:
"Know when to move on...and be the one to make the first move."
There are a number of reasons for my decision, the main culprit being a much-increased personal workload. I am a lucky man who is now committed to five important lines of work, all of which are inspiring and demanding:
I.While not overtly concentrating on the "day-to-day," I still have important, "big picture/tomorrow" responsibilities at Just For Laughs.
II.My civic duties as "Chief Attention Getter" for Montreal's upcoming 375th Anniversary are ramping up, as the celebration is only two years away.
III.I am financially and emotionally invested in a new tech start-up driven by a passionate, young and experienced All-Star team.
IV.I am once again teaching the somewhat ground-breaking "Marketing and Society" class at McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management (which is about the video revolution and the integration of YouTube as a corporate marketing tool).
V.And, in my spare time, I am directing a play; the annual musical fundraiser at the Segal Centre.
Given the seven-day-a-week duty of the above, it's increasingly hard to fit in a few hours of thought and execution that this blog requires (although I'm sure the lessons will be plentiful in each of the aforementioned projects).
But even though the course ends in April and the show is over in mid-June, the time is right to close the door on the past and move on to new things. When I clicked "Publish" on my first post back on October 14, 2006, the concept of blogging was exciting and relatively new.
Today, with barriers to entry a thing of the past, everyone is empowered to speak their minds, and seems inclined to do just that. Maybe I'm just battle-weary, but it seems that so many people are saying the same thing -- yeah, even me -- that perhaps the "art form" is cluttered, and requires an expurgation of sorts.
So as we embark on a new year, consider me expurgated.
Sure, doors are still open, and I could come back when I want to (obviously, there is no "Big Blog Boss" who makes the rules), but in the eight long years since Post #1, communication technology and strategy has changed so much, that if I do return it will probably be in the form of video, or some other soon-to-be-developed field of interactive visual communication. There's a reason why computers are getting smaller and phones bigger; why read when you can watch, listen and answer back?
That said, I leave this field as I came to it: With passion for the new, and a leap of faith into the future.
This blog has been an extreme challenge, a whole lot of fun, and very, very good to me. It has spawned a best-selling marketing book, a short story, a novella, about a half-dozen different speeches, and voyages to places I never thought I'd visit. It introduced me to new concepts and new people, some who have become close friends.
Most importantly, it connected me to you. Thanks for reading, responding and especially for sharing from time-to-time.
To close, I guess I should re-visit my earlier words and say this isn't really a "goodbye."
Consider this a ship leaving port. On one shore, there are people waving, saying "There she goes!"
But on another, there are people gathered, waiting for the chance to say: "Here she comes!"
So...here I come!