I have often thought how helpful it would be to have a subtitle feature in Movable Type. In this particular case, I would have included the Israel Zangwill quote: "Everything changes but change."

After a year and a half as president and COO of Corante, working closely with Hylton Jolliffe and Francois Gossieaux to grow the business, I have decided to step down from that full-time position into an advisory role with the company, and spend more time with my clients -- particularly various early start-ups -- which are my first and true love. My partners, Hylton and Francois, understand my itchiness to be able to spend more time on my personal projects, and are very supportive of this transition. We have worked together very closely, and we all have the highest regard for each other.

In the past year, Corante has had a lot of firsts. We recently launched the Corante Network, and the initial Hubs have taken off. And the recent Symposium on Social Architecture was a blast, the first Corante Event, one that we hope to repeat in 2006. More events are in the pipeline in areas like marketing, media, and innovation.

Anyone who knows me well will not be surprised to hear that I am following this siren call. Even while we were pushing ahead with all these Corante activities, I continued to write Get Real, as well as leading various closely related media projects such as the Get Real Show and Behind The Scenes (formerly Podcasting on Windows). I recently taped the first six of a new series called The New Visionaries: Rebooting The Web, which will be launched in January. I also have been working with various large companies and small Web 2.0 start-ups, and the demand for my involvement on that side continues to grow. Honestly, that sort of advisory work is just more fun and personally rewarding than acting as a media company executive -- at least for me -- and now it will be easier for me to concentrate on those activities in an undivided fashion.

So, Corante will remain close to my heart. I will continue writing here at Get Real, and to provide whatever advice I can to Hylton and Francois. I will continue on as a shareholder, and I obviously want the company to prosper. In the coming year, I will be continuing on with various media projects with Corante, such as The New Visionaries series.

I also expect that this will free more time for writing, and I am looking around to see what comes from that. One of my goals will be to find a regular column somewhere, along the lines of the columns I used to write for Darwin, Lotus Journal, and other pubs. I have started to think about a book project, perhaps growing from the New Visionaries series, about which more later.

So, I am looking forward to 2006 as a new adventure, not just a continuation of the past. I haven't written my predictions for 2006 post yet -- I'm waiting for New Year's Eve -- but here's one prediction: 2006 will be faster, crazier, and more fun than 2005, and 2005 surpassed 2004 by approximately double in all categories.

Stay tuned!