Where I Ended Up - a 30-Day Update

30 days ago today was my last day at AIIM. Over the last 30 days I've done a lot of reflecting on the past and thinking about the future. I have to admit that I have not yet found the answer to life's eternal questions - besides, Doug Adams already did that. 

So what did I do the last 30 days? I've read a ton of books on everything from certification development to AI to association management to product marketing. I've taken quite a few online courses from Coursera and LinkedIn on those topics. I've started working on my exercise regime again - after all, if I'm available for in-person events, at some point I will have to put on pants that fit. 

Tell Us Already! 

Oh, I also started a company, Athro Consulting.  This is the answer to the question in the title. I'm offering consulting services in a couple of key areas: 

Information governance and information management consulting. In particular, I focus on strategy, planning, and process-type issues like business assessments, building program roadmaps, developing information governance and records management programs, and identifying and upskilling required staff. 

Training development and delivery. I've been a trainer since 1993, when I graduated United States Marine Corps Drill Instructor School and became a drill instructor. In terms of industry training, I started teaching courses on IMR'S Alchemy product line in 2000 and on CompTIA's now-retired CDIA+ program in 2003. IMERGE Consulting was AIIM's first training partner in North America, and I taught AIIM's first in-person training course in North America in January 2006. 

In the nearly 16 years since, I've developed or updated more than 20 AIIM courses and delivered more than 200 workshops including public, private, train-the-trainer, and custom to students around the world. 

In the months to come I'll be developing and delivering some of my own workshops, as well as partnering with some organizations that I support. In the meantime, if you have training you need delivered, particularly relating to information governance, information management, records management, etc. let's talk!

Certification program development and delivery. This is a little more esoteric in that not everyone needs a certification program developed, but there are a lot of ways for a certification program to go sideways if not planned and executed properly. I led the technical development of the original AIIM Certified Information Professional (CIP) program in 2011 and the overall development of the program updates in 2016 and 2019. Before I joined AIIM, I worked on the now-defunct CompTIA CDIA+ and TAWPI ICP certifications as well. 

Note that we're not limited to personnel-type certifications like CIP - I've also developed a couple of vendor partner certification programs.

Evangelism and thought leadership. I love writing and talking about this stuff. I love learning new stuff and sharing it. I love theory, and I love practical application. I love learning lessons learned and sharing them, and hearing horror stories and sharing them. Despite having been a vendor, a consultant, or a training provider for most of my career, I've always been focused on the message of improving organizations through effective information practices, regardless of who signed my paycheck. 

You can see some of my presentations on Slideshare - I need to add some of the more recent ones, but even the ones there now will give you a feel for how I approach speaking. 

If you're reading this, you know I blog; I also have a number of posts on the AIIM blog. I've written some longer-form things too, including the AIIM Social Business Roadmap and How to Conduct a Social Business Assessment, and, more recently, two editions of the CIP Study Guide. I'm always excited to learn about something new and then understand, and help others understand, how it can improve the way their organization works. 

How I Work

Here's what Athro Consulting offers in terms of approach. 

I'm a professional, and I have very strong ideas on ethics and their importance. 

My role is to be a guide. I know some stuff about how good information governance, records management, etc. can and should work. I don't know everything about everything, and I'll be honest about my limitations. I am a quick learner, and will go overboard learning about something if I need to. 

I believe in standards and best practices and will make the case for why you should follow them. That said, it's your business, your training program, your culture, and my role is to help your organization be more efficient, more effective, and more successful. If that means following different standards and practices sometimes, so be it.  

I believe that consulting engagements should not stretch on indefinitely, but should end, and should end with the organization having the knowledge and ability to continue to drive things forward. 

I'm willing and able to travel as needed. I'm vaccinated for a lot of stuff, and I'm a pretty cheap date, given sufficient advance warning. 

If you think I can bring some value to your organization, feel free to drop me a note at jesse.wilkins@athroconsulting.com. My permanent Gmail account, jwilkins13@gmail.com, still works as well. I'm happy to have a call, Zoom chat, etc. at your convenience.