Why change in the first place ?

This post is going to be about me again. My dear friends asked me to elaborate why I made a big move to leave the corporate world and also why I got into social entrepreneurship.

Sorry to disappoint (I am a woman and cannot get out of the habit to start some messages with a ‘sorry’) but my story did not have a climax. There was no big event which shocked my system and inspired me to do something completely different. The idea grew over a number of years.

I was in a promising position and on a good track before I left my last employer. Although I became fairly smart in maneuvering my time to manage both my local and global managers, the overall intensive work demand and competitiveness among peers made me wonder whether I wanted to be in such an environment for the next 10 years (not that I would be reaching retirement age in that time frame but it was commonly known that working too long in banking was not healthy).

Did I want my boss’s job or her boss’s job? No, not really.

Would it make sense to change industry now or in 5 years’ time? In general, the sooner the better.

A banking job paid well and made me very comfortable, didn’t it? Yes, it did.

Did I have supporting managers and good teams? Was I motivated to go to work everyday? Yes and yes.

… Okie… argument started to steer another direction, what else are missing in the decision tree?

Was I still enjoying what I did? Yes but it was not as enjoyable as before.

Was I learning new skills? Yes but the learning curve was certainly not very steep.

Was I really doing something that made the best use of my skills and experience? Not sure.

I started to weigh all the different considerations. My heart told me that having a bigger challenge was important for me.

I set a goal and timeline. I aimed for a specific promotion in the following year. It was a realistic goal. I further polished my skills and worked hard. The promotion did not happen. My trusted sources shared with me that there were circumstances outside my control. Those assurances confirmed that I was capable of doing a bigger job. Did I really need that title? Not really. It sounded arrogant or sour grapes, depending on how you looked at it. I proved myself and understood myself a bit better during that course. That was good enough for me. We all deserve to be a little arrogant at times. (Deep down I knew that there were other things I could have done to make that promotion, but did those things enhance my skills to be a better person? Not at all. )

I went through the decision tree again and did more math about my finances. Of course my savings would not support me through to the day I die. I needed to earn an income but how much would I really need to maintain a certain standard of living? Was I prepared to clean the toilet at McDonald’s if I could not find an interesting job and ran out of money? (When you are in one industry too long, you would question whether your skills and experience are transferable) My brother said that Mr. M would not hire me. Anyhow, you got my point. I just needed to run through different situations in my head and get real.

In conclusion, off I went to start a new journey. I wanted to be ahead of the game. I wanted to experience things in this wild world. A year after the move, I confirm that was one of the few best decisions I have made. I landed on a booming industry with lots of uncertainty which comes with lots of opportunities.