I have an amazing friend. I met her through my husband as their families are lifelong friends. One day, we ran into each other at the office of a large tech company where we both worked, and we instantly clicked. We began meeting regularly for lunch or coffee, discussing everything from kids to global warming. Interestingly, we rarely talked about work or our career goals. We pursued different career paths: technical for her, managerial for me.
One day, she called me with some exciting news: “I was promoted to the senior technical leader position. Should I take it?” She spoke fast and her voice pitch became higher of excitement: her contribution and potential were recognized by her managers, and they believed she will succeed in the new role. Despite the enthusiasm, she hesitated: “It doesn’t fit my lifestyle. I need time for my family and my hobbies, and this role will consume more time.” We talked about pros and cons for a little while, and the cons seemed to out weight the pros. Instantly.
I was puzzled. I was thinking what I could offer to the conversation but couldn’t find a good example from my own experience. When I was offered an opportunity to lead a team (15 years ago now), I accepted it on the spot. My manager asked to think for a couple of days, but I just knew. It just felt right to me. I was a new mom and working on my M.Sc. thesis, but I felt confident I’d figure it out. I wanted this experience.
So, this is what I asked my friend. “Do you want this experience?”
“Yes, but I might not have enough bandwidth for such a role in the future” We both burst out laughing when we realized that the cons were based not even on her present but future potential commitments.
Does this sound familiar to you? Do you know what you want and keep telling your boss you’re not interested in a managerial career because you want to focus on your family, even though you don’t have a boyfriend yet? Or perhaps you’re not interested in an executive leadership role, declining a line manager offer? Maybe you dream of traveling the world with a backpack someday, even if the plan is far off and vague?
This is the lesson I learned from the conversation with my friend. If you have the opportunity and the skills to succeed in the job right now, take it. Don’t quit before you really need to. You’ll know when it’s time to make that call. Until then, go for it. You will learn from it. You’ll grow and change. You might like it. After all, the worst thing that can happen is … you might just nail it.
