As a result I spent the ensuing months working tirelessly to make this happen. The interesting thing is, we succeeded. The majority of the team wasn't sure if it would work, or should work. But a few folks jumped up and helped, and we were able to hire more in to move the new work forward.

We now have several successful wins under our belts (and a few that we can learn from), and are poised to take on new projects with clients that we could never have entertained before.

The bittersweet part of this is in the midst of all the work to make this happen my company shifted around our leadership structure. My intention was to head up this new division I had started, using my background and experience to move it forward.

However, that didn’t happen. I was passed by. Our leadership team decided to put a new hire into the role; one that was brought into the company under an entirely different role, having nothing to do with this new element I introduced.

I now report to that new hire.

Now I'm trying to decide whether to move forward in a individual contributor capacity in the new division I helped create, or to do something else.

The mistake I made was assuming I’d be able to continue leading the thing I helped start. The company had made no indication of this in previous ventures I’d brought to our work, but I thought it would be different this time.

My wildest dreams came true, I was able to accomplish what I set out to do, but I ended up outside of the dream I created. That's a harsh reality. I'm trying to adjust and figure out what's next.