I had reached a career pinnacle—making partner at a firm I helped build—but I had never felt more adrift and unmoored. Two of my super-powers are facilitation and business development, and I have a history of combining these passions to great success. But these things weren’t my priorities at the time.
The challenge is that the company needed a “strategic executive” in the Head of Growth seat to which I had been promoted. I spent months trying to figure out what that meant in practice. It felt like putting business words about the future into documents and decks, and what I really wanted to do was close business and perform The Willie Jackson Show on stages every week. Tensions grew.
When I brought the issue to my executive coach, he listened patiently while I spent our call tying myself in knots. As the call ended, he issued me a simple challenge. He said, “If you’re going to be there, act like you want to be there.”
It was comical in its simplicity, but it completely interrupted my unproductive rumination. The following week, I hijacked a meeting with my CEO and COO with an insight that Stevie Wonder clearly beheld: this isn’t working.
The response was validating and relieving: “We agree, and we’re so glad you said something before we did.”
***
Exactly one year ago today, I submitted my resignation, and the process couldn’t have been more supportive and straightforward. I’ve learned and grown so much in the past year, in ways I’m still noticing.
Living in alignment with your truth isn’t always convenient or easy, but it’s worth it.
