Pause for station identification

aut-viam-inveniam-aut-faciam
“I will find a way or make one” – on my Harvard University chair kindly given by Gary Silverman on my departure from his lab

Through the years, each of these pauses have been a definition of where I am at in that sliver of time. Alas, currently, I’m exploring a few potential paths, so defining where I am in this sliver of time is important to me.

So here we go.

Me
Hello. My name is Charlie Schick. I’m passionate about the intersection of healthcare, mobile, and data; particularly how we can improve the way healthcare organizations engage with customers, patients, and families. I also advise companies on mobile, marketing, and analytics.

I have 20 years of experience in engaging with customers through various roles in marketing, sales, solution design and development, and research at major brands, such as IBM, Nokia, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Also, I have been influential leading these major brands with innovative ways of engaging with customers, particularly through digital solutions.

What I’m doing now. Again.
My first gig out of the lab was my own company, Edubba, providing editorial consulting – running proto-blog sites, being a columnist for some magazines, providing wordsmithing for product reviews and marketing material.

That independent effort quieted down when I moved to Nokia, though I did keep working on the side – writing feature articles for organizations, a biz plan here or there. The bulk of my writing and strategy work in the past 20 years, though, has really been corporate –  the Beagle; Hello Direct; the Nokia Cloud project; the Nokia corporate blog; Children’s Facebook page and blog; sales consulting and occasional writing for IBM; trying to make a difference at Atigeo.

Consultant-reborn
Now that I am on my own, again, I’m going back to my first job out of the lab. I’m launching a new consultancy, 777labs. This time I will have a broader scope than before, tapping into my many years of experience in the corporate world, and relevant to where I want to make an impact.

777labs is a customer engagement strategy consultancy helping clients identify, target, build, and nurture customer relationships, market opportunities, and brand growth. Our services cut across sales, marketing, and solution design strategy and also include the necessary tools, analytics, and content development. Our primary focus is in healthcare, including providing value to non-healthcare companies who are entering the healthcare market.

I’m excited to get back into leading this work full-time, for myself.

Thinking and speaking and helping
Beyond the new consultancy, I want to continue giving talks and running panels. I regularly speak in front of large audiences, sharing my experience and interests through various forms of media and design, and in the office of CxOs. Send me a note if you want to know more.

And of course, my standard disclaimer
(riffing off of an ancient Cringely disclaimer)
Everything I write here on this site is an expression of my own opinions, NOT of any of my clients. If these were the opinions of my clients, the site would be called ‘777labs’ client’s something or other’ and, for sure, the writing and design would be much more professional. Likewise, I am an intensely trained professional writer :-P, so don’t expect to find any confidential secret corporate mumbo-jumbo being revealed here. Everything I write here is public info or readily found via any decent search engine or easily deduced by someone who has an understanding of the industry.

If you have ideas or projects that you think I might be interested in please contact me, Charlie Schick, at firstname.lastname@molecularist.com; via my profile on LinkedIn; or via @molecularist on Twitter. And if you’re interested in working with 777labs, you can contact me at firstname.lastname@777labs.co.