3-15-10 Do Overs?

Someone asked me the other day…. “if you had the chance, would you have done anything different with your career?” My immediate response? Heck, no. After all, I got to do many, many different things over my career. I mean, really, I got to do things (like manage an airplane factory) that I never dreamed about 30 years ago when I was just starting out. Oh sure, I had a couple of bosses that were real trolls and I had a couple of positions that, while I didn’t despise them, I sure didn’t love them --- but who doesn’t go through that over the span of a career?

But I knew, from about the first year of my career, that I wanted to be an executive. And executive of what, wasn’t really clear in my plans. I just knew that I wanted to be in the executive ranks. So I took the actions and jobs that I thought would get me there. It worked pretty well for me.

But then, being the person that I am, I had to reflect on the question a little more. And yes, there are probably some things that I could (should?) have done differently.

I always told my mentees that they should try lots of things, either in school, at work, or in their leisure time. That way, they could figure out what truly interested them. Sure, I followed my advice to a certain extent, as evidenced by my varied positions -- from finance to manufacturing to program management to sales. But I didn’t follow my own advice as fully as I probably should have. For example, I always wondered how I would have faired as a scientist -- chemical, biological, botanical, etc. I know for sure that I wouldn’t have been a good hardware or software engineer. But after completing my PhD, and truly enjoying the research part of the program, I did wonder about a scientific career path. Had I taken my own advice, way back when, I might have had a quite different path.

Which brings me to my next piece of advice to all of my mentees -- find your passion. Trying lots of things can lead to finding your passion. Now granted, you might not be able to make a livable wage at your passion, but at least you know what drives you and can look for jobs/career paths that will feed your need. For me, that passion was always to be the best manager of people that I could be. By trying the varied disciplines and jobs, I was able to learn and grow as a manager and an executive.

So no, I wouldn’t “do over” anything -- being an executive was a terrific ride -- and has always been my passion. However, I should have taken the time to learn more about the scientific side of the world to see if that fed my passion even more than the path I took.

Cheers!