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There’s always a tough decision ahead when opportunity comes knocking: is this really the right thing for me to do at this time?? I’ve designed my twenties to be convenient for seizing opportunities, and it’s hard to know what the best move is when you’re completely open. That being the case, it’s best to look at opportunities from a realistic standpoint without letting fear of the details scare you away.
Last December, I had lunch with my company’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO). I was thrilled to meet the new CMO who would be the healthcare thought leader for the healthcare-oriented IT company that pays my salary. At the time, he offered me a position working for him which my boss, who had just procured me as a young consultant, vetoed. I agreed with her as I wanted to build my consulting craft. The opportunity passed by with little sadness, because I knew it wasn’t the right time for it.
A few weeks ago, my boss texted me that the CMO was interested in me working for him again, and she told me to hear him out regarding the opportunity. At first, I didn’t know what to think. I’d been in consulting for nearly a year and had made immense progress career-wise. I was fine with my current role and was committed to finishing out the project I was involved with.
I heard him out and cautiously considered my options. My mind was whirling for weeks with detail-oriented questions:
- Will I ever travel?
- Will I be stuck in a cube again?
- What will I do every day?
- Will I be miserable?
- Will I just be a glorified assistant??
That’s when I took a step back and stopped the negativity madness. I thought of it more in these terms:
- I’ll be gaining amazing exposure to the highest leaders in my company
- I’ll be working for a powerful physician who has been doing great things for our company
- I find my potential new boss funny and relaxed (a critical lesson learned from other bosses)
- Due to his relaxed nature, this job is what I make of it – totally up to ME
- I’m not IN LOVE with my current role—a lot of my tasks are “glorified assistant”-esque anyways
- I’ll be involved with projects around marketing, speaking engagements, his book deal and goodness knows what else
- My life-situation flexibility was something I was so proud of…why not actually use it??
- This is not permanent!
My final, deal-making thought was that I didn’t want this opportunity to slip by…again. This time it was on my terms and my boss was supportive—how often does that happen? Sure, it might suck some days and it might be a disaster; however, I wanted this to give this a real chance and explore a different world working with him.
I finally felt ready to decide and pulled the trigger: I quit freaking out about the details and said yes!
My advice to anyone in a similar position is to be realistic but give the opportunity a fair chance. Consider the positives and negatives while listening to your gut. You have to do what is right for you and live without regrets. Most importantly, don’t forget how blessed you are to be tossing this around in your head!
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Comments
09.07.09
I think the lesson in this post is about how to sort through opportunities. Top-performers have tons of opportunities, and if you take every single one, you'll have no focus. It's scary to turn down an opportunity, though.
I like this post because you show the process of leveraging mentors to help you figure out which opportunities to take. It seems that your current boss gives you lots of guidance, and in the process of making your decision, you turned your future boss into someone who will help you make good decisions about your career.
I think what differentiates people is not how much luck we have, or how many opportunities we have, but how well we sort through them to best leverage them. You remind me to be proactive in getting help. It's so important. It always takes more time to get advice, but it's always worth it.
Penelope
09.07.09
Hello Penelope! Thanks for the comment. I absolutely leveraged my mentors...all of them. My current boss has been very frank with me over the last year, and I truly wouldn't have taken this role without her support. Additionally, I went back to my personal mentors who helped to balance my thoughts; it's what made me stop freaking out and think realistically.
Taking every opportunity and having a career with no focus is something that frightened me from the beginning. Mentors have been able to assist me with finding clarity for almost every opportunity I've been given. You're correct, in that seeking advice is essential.
09.07.09
I've only recently found myself in a position to start turning down great job offers, and it is an almost surreal feeling. It's so gratifying to think that I've come far enough in my career to be able to start picking and choosing, but it also made me feel strangely guilty at first.
It's definitely an important mindset change from the graduate who's desperate for any kind of work to the professional who can cherry-pick the best opportunities, and I'm still working on making that transition complete.
Here's an another unexpected benefit of having great mentors: A few months ago, I had to make a difficult decision between two jobs (as I mentioned in Carrie's post, here: http://www.brazencareerist.com/2009/09/06/tough-job-decision). I started calling up my mentors for advice on which job I should take, and then two of them said, "wait, you're looking for a new job? Come work for me!"
My mentors actually complicated things significantly by throwing another 2 job offers into the mix, but ultimately a problem of choice is a good problem to have. They both also understood when I decided to go with one of the original two offers, because they care about my career enough to know that working for them wasn't necessarily the best choice.
I also found that it's really helpful to have mentors that are outside your normal circle of coworkers, so that you can ask them questions without worrying if you'll tip them off that you're looking for a new job, etc. Linkedin and my blog have been great for that, and I expect Brazen is going to be even better.
Congratulations!
09.07.09
Hi there Mike! Bravo to you for all the success! It seems like you realize how blessed you are to have this problem of great options and are doing a good job of weighing the choices properly.
Mentors have that sneaky way of presenting opportunities sometimes too :) It sounds like yours really care about your direction and happiness. Keep them around!
Cheers to you, Mike!
09.08.09
Cheers to all of us! It's going to be a very exciting next ten years.
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