Leaving CBSi, the blog post (part 1?)

I realised this was a difficult piece to write when it took me 10 minutes to write this sentence. As such, I figure I’ll have more to say – you might consider it something more interesting – in the near future.

For now, the news is that this week was my last at CBS Interactive, a place I’ve been at, in the shape of various companies that have been bought, for well over a decade.

It’s a sad time – I’ve already shed a few tears (you know who you are) – but also a really happy and exciting time.

People have asked me what’s next. I’m overwhelmed with the work I’m doing now on The Idea but sure in the knowledge I’d never be close to making it happen without the last decade of my career – writing and editing skills, tech knowledge, contacts, P&L stuff and more. Basically journalism and publishing give you an amazing view of the world, of what’s possible and who’s doing it. I’m grateful.

For those other enquiries that have come in, now that you know I’m no longer on a payroll – thank you and please keep ’em coming. I have an open mind and it’s nice that word has spread before I said much outside the company.

So before I talk about that future (there are clues in various places, for those who look), I wanted to say how lucky I’ve been to work on brands such as silicon.com, ZDNet, CNET, BNET, SmartPlanet and more.

There’s too much to say here. I can’t even remember all the sub-brands, initiatives, scoops, awards etc.. I can – and this is my only super power – remember most of the people. The hundreds of people, so many of them excellent at what they do. (Though not, as a special someone kept shouting in the pub the other night: “The man with the GINGER BEARD”.)

I’m leaving on good terms. I’m fine. I have already done more school runs this week than I managed in the previous year. That’s a good thing.

If you’re reading this and know me, you already know how to contact me. For others, best bet is to find me at @tphallett and we’ll go from there.

It’s easy to overdo what it means when someone leaves an organisation. I’m still around, still 40 minutes from the centre of London (which isn’t always a good thing).

Best of luck back at CBSi.

As we’d always say: We’ll have more on this story later…