A crossroads is both a place where people converge and a point where one path diverges from another. Charles Letbetter, 39, a senior consultant at Crossroads Consulting Group, in Atlanta, has excelled at using the FC readers' network not only as a meeting point but also as a tool for helping him manage career transitions. He has been an active member of the Atlanta Company of Friends cell since its inception, in late 1998, and he has been a highly respected participant in our Fast Talk Forums (www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/) for an even longer period. 'When I go to a CoF meeting, I raise specific issues: This is what I need right now,' says Letbetter. 'With Fast Talk, I become part of a broader community: This is what I'm seeing. Is anyone else seeing the same kinds of things?' Fast Company talked to Letbetter about his company's values-based approach to Web integration, about the importance of personal branding, and about helping people blend work and fun.

What Are You Working On?

'Late last year, I changed jobs -- and that changed everything. I'd been running PageBrothers Professional Services, a startup IT consultancy in Atlanta, along with my brother and some people we met through CoF. Yet, while investors liked our idea, they didn't like our lack of experience. That was a big ego crush -- but then the people at Crossroads asked me to come on board. Now I'm helping to implement a system that analyzes a company's business model all the way down to its core values. We're trying to go beyond the common practice of providing it 'solutions' that nobody uses.'

Favorite FC Story

'The Brand Called You package really resonated with me (August: September 1997). The whole idea of being marketable on an individual level was, well, brand-new to me. Given where I was professionally at the time, that concept helped me answer some hard questions about how I add value in the world.'

Guiding Principle

'Work should be fun. If you're not enjoying what you do, then you need to change it. For example, there's a really good developer on my team who is also a very good manager. We'd been giving her more and more project-management responsibilities, and she'd been doing less and less programming. Recently, I learned that she had been happier as a developer than she was as a manager, so we began to move her away from managerial duties.'

Coordinates: Charles Letbetter, charles@letbetter.com

From: April 2000 issue