the controllers

April 30, 2007 by  

There’s a great deal of advice out there for the solo professional service firm (psf), but here’s a story that will help when you come up against “the controllers”. If you are so unique that you are in a category all by yourself, you will be an irresistible target for “the controllers” who are likely a main reason for your leaving the world of “having a job” and entering the world of “creating your work”.

This (lengthy) NYT story is about a solo psf who refused to be blocked. He’s Charlie Hess, military, F.B.I. and C.I.A. veteran, possessing brilliant and controversial investigative credentials, who worked as an elderly volunteer for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. He had a purpose – to attempt to solve cold murder cases by corresponding with incarcerated convicted killers. His relationship building and communication techniques are unique. The confessions have brought immeasurable closure and peace to the victim’s families, including the families of the 48 people murdered by serial killer Robert Charles Brown.

To the reporter who tried to understand the secret of his success, Charlie Hess responded:

“You have educated people and uneducated people,” Hess said. “You have competent people and incompetent people. And you have people who are just average.”

“What category are you in?”

Innate suspicion made him hesitate. Then he said, “I’m in a category all by myself.”

In spite of his results, “the controllers” got to him. So he quickly and simply turned it into a new opportunity and change of direction.

A little more than a year ago, Hess got a new correspondence going with another inmate in another state — one who has a very different personality from Robert Browne’s but who also has murders to discuss. Hess says he hopes to close more cases soon, under different auspices. In January, he received the Sheriff’s Meritorious Service Award. There was a big dinner, lots of warm words. Only weeks before, he was asked by the El Paso Sheriff’s office to sign a confidentiality form. He was insulted — what had he ever done that suddenly the bureaucrats didn’t trust him not to compromise privileged information? He turned in his office keys. “Quit is too strong,” he said. “I’ve left.” With a co-author, Davin Seay, he is writing a book titled “Hello Charlie: Letters From a Serial Killer.”

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The Confessor: “He was a retired F.B.I. and C.I.A. agent volunteering on cold-case investigations in the Colorado Rockies. How did he persuade a man who may be one of the most prolific serial killers in American history to admit to his crimes?”

(Via NYT > Magazine.)

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