Jamie Hammond.

I've started over more times than I planned. Now I help senior leaders do it on purpose.

More than 25 years across Wharton, Capgemini and BCG. I've left jobs and I've been laid off. Then I went out on my own and wrote a book about it. The people I talk to now are either leaving corporate or being asked to leave, and they'd rather build something they own than take the next job.

Leaving corporate yourself? Start with Repeat Beginner Running senior exits at your company? See Exit to Elevation
Jamie Hammond

The short version

The title was never the thing.

  1. 1998Software trainer, then staffing, then Y2K
  2. 2001Wharton Exec Ed, then Knowledge@Wharton, launched in Spain, India and China
  3. 2010eCommerce, then Capgemini and a billion-dollar digital transformation
  4. 2019Principal at BCG, through Covid, then laid off
  5. 2023Digital Dirty Work, LLC, rebuilt one conversation at a time
  6. 2026What's Next for Me? published

I've ridden every tech wave since the early internet. Dot-com, 9/11, 2008, mobile, cloud, now AI. Each one handed me a new title, and for a long time I let the title tell me who I was.

Then BCG let me go. I'd spent years tying my worth to what the firm thought of me, and my body figured that out before I did. When it finally landed, it was simple: it was me, not them.

So I went out on my own. The first real deal fell through. The early offers were messy and some were bad. I kept going anyway, and the business got real.

Everything on this page comes back to that. Figure out who you are without the title first. The business comes after, and it holds up better that way.

Repeat Beginner™

What I call the method.

Repeat Beginner is Jamie Hammond's method for senior leaders leaving corporate who want to build a business they own, starting with who they are without the title.

See the five steps →

The Substack

A new essay every Wednesday on identity, the judgment economy, and what AI shows about your work.

Read Repeat Beginner

The Repeat Beginner Score

Four minutes. Tells you how ready you are to start over, and where you're stuck.

Take the Score

On YouTube

Two conversations with Matt Doan.

Rewilding: Becoming a Founder After 20 Years in the Corporate ZooFacing a Layoff? Don't Just Get Another Job.
What's Next for Me? A Need for Clarity, by Jamie Hammond

The book

What's Next for Me?

A Need for Clarity. A guide to reinvention in the age of AI.

Over 25 years of my career, 1998 through the AI era, and what each wave taught me about starting over. It ends with the playbook I wish I'd had after BCG. Foreword by Mukul Pandya, my old boss at Knowledge@Wharton.

Get the book at whatsnextforme.ai

“If you're questioning your corporate path or trying to make sense of the AI wave while everyone's pretending to be an expert, you'll appreciate Jamie's refusal to bullshit you about what actually works.”Peter Maloof, Innovator and, admittedly, Digital Transformation Specialist
“Jamie's work captures the art of the pivot, turning lived experience, risk, and reinvention into usable insight. I've watched him do this for years, making intentional shifts as his environment changes. His book will help readers make bolder, wiser choices in a rapidly-changing world.”Matt Doan, Founder, Corporate Graduation
“Working with Jamie was a gamechanger for me. Under his mentorship, I was able to turn my career on its side and forge a new path for myself. His expertise, leadership, outlook, and mindset are invaluable, and his friendship and support are a treasure. No exaggeration, Jamie is someone who has truly changed my life.”Jenn Carlson, Digital Supply Chain Specialist

From readers

“I've been called a dinosaur countless times by tech folks. Your points about being open to learning as a beginner really hit home. Curiosity goes a long way.”
Regulatory Policy VP, Barclays
“I picked this book up twenty-six years into a career, staring down the exact question in the title. The job title, the org chart, the credentials, none of that is actually you. It's the container. Containers expire. What doesn't expire is the judgment and pattern recognition you built earning them, and that part travels with you into whatever comes next.”
Founder
“Jamie's book didn't hand me the answers, but it gave me something more valuable, a framework for asking better questions. His voice is honest, practical, and lived-in. It's not theory, but hard-won wisdom from someone who is genuine and real.”
Former Head of AI, Major University

For companies

A second path, for those who outgrew the first.

Exit to Elevation is what Matt Doan and I are building for CHROs and CPOs. Some of your senior people leaving don't want another corporate job. They want to build something. This gives them a real way to do that, delivered by a third party, sitting right next to whatever outplacement you already run.

See how it works

Get in touch

Speaking, podcasts, or bringing this to your leadership team. Pittsburgh, PA.

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