Rebels at Work

Lois Kelly, an author and marketing strategist, counsels executives in large corporations like FedEx, SAP, HP, Fidelity Investments, Dunkin' Donuts, TJ Maxx, SAS Institute, University of Massachusetts, The Conference Board, USAA, Sapient, Communispace, and many more. They hire Lois presumably for help on communicating change and mobilizing word of mouth marketing. The unstated, real reason they hire her is that they are rebels at work, looking for a rebel emeritus who can guide them in successfully shepherding their change agendas inside large, complex organizations – and outside to customers. Being a rebel can be dangerous, and they recognize the value of having an experienced guide.

Carmen Medina worked at the Central Intelligence Agency for 32 years, rising to become one of the highest-ranking women at the Agency. During her career at CIA she achieved positions of apparent importance, such as the Deputy Director for Intelligence and the Director of the Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI.) But she thinks her greatest achievement is that most people who worked for her are still her friends. She had many ideas about how the CIA could do its job better—not all were welcomed. Being true to yourself, being a rebel at work, Carmen learned, means you will often feel uncomfortable and not welcomed at work. Since her retirement from the CIA in 2010, Carmen has led two new careers. One with Deloitte Consulting and the other as a curator, connector, and synthesizer on social networks. At Deloitte, she continues to support the Intelligence Community on issues such as social networking and future trends, and mentors Deloitte’s consultants about how to become innovative and independent thinkers. (She prefers to think of it as being their Yoda). She tweets regularly under the handle @milouness (She started on Twitter while still at CIA so chose an obscure user name; she has 2,504 followers.) She also writes regularly both on her own blog, recoveringfed.com, and on the joint website with Lois Kelly, rebelsatwork.com.