Phil Bundman
Guest Writer
A continuation of our ongoing series on Why Men Leave MDI. Phil Bundman is the former D.C. of Backbone Division in the New England Region. -Editor
There was no one thing that forced me out of MDI. I wasn’t mad at anybody. I wasn’t pissed at some decision that had been made. I wasn’t upset that we were often disorganized.
I still wanted to build myself into a more powerful dude. As I said: it was no one thing.
Except maybe this: I was bored. I was tired of the same old rituals and the same old questions and the same old processes and trainings and conflicts.
I had been on teams and been in Divisions and had led both at one time or another until I just didn’t feel like doing it any more. It wasn’t planned and it wasn’t well thought-out but the parts of me that fit nicely into the big machine, turning the crank were, apparently, worn out.
But the work still appealed to me. Along with some other apostates and outliers I formed a small, unafiliated team that met – and continues to meet – in my kitchen. Most weeks I cook dinner and we do our thing.
There’s something about not being part of a larger thing, not answering to anyone, doing just what we think we need to do and no more, that allows me to continue.
So, like any object in motion, I’ve tended to stay in motion. But though our trajectories and destinations are similar, I’ve decoupled, undocked from the mothership.
The crank is still turning, but we control its operation. That is what made the difference.
