I have been thinking about the many layers of learning throughout my life. And it is finally so clear just how impactful every layer has been as I have grown into the person I am today, and the contribution I am in the world. And whatever I learn today will contribute to my next set of choices.
As I considered this post (at 3am when I was sleeping and had to wake up to write the idea down, or else I would have inevitably forgotten by morning), I thought, is the question, ‘Am I MY job?’ or ‘Am I A job?’ It’s just slightly nuanced, and I chose the latter because it seems there are many junctures in a career in which we can believe that the value of who we are in life IS THE job we are in and the title we have. But I am here to say, we are all each an amazing amalgamation of layers we add on along the way!
I am a conglomerate of ideas and lessons and observations I have taken away from all the jobs I have had, and I’ll continue to grow into! And so are YOU!
While many of you who see this know me for some of the more recent roles, let’s go back in time and look at ALL the jobs that have added to who I am:
Camp Counselor and Swim Instructor (age 12-13)
Retail Store Clerk at the Short Hills Mall (16)
Wall Steet Graphics Designer, Prudential Securities (summer of 17-18)
Strasberg-Trained Actor (18>)
Improv Hollywood Sales Rep ((22)
Universal Studios Hollywood Tram Tour Guide (23)
Lifespring Basic Enrollment Leader (24-25)
Sales and Marketing Coordinator Autodesk (25-26)
Eastern Regional Sales Manager Miller Freeman Publishing (CAD/CAM) (26-28)
eTour Account Manager (dot com era) (28-29)
OEM Account Manager Brocade (storage networking) (29-32)
Sr Manager, Product Marketing Cisco (storage networking and data center) (32-40)
Senior Acct Manager Cisco (emerging digital media suite – had to get back to the field) (40-42)
Director Sales and Strategic Partnerships (Cloud start-up specializing in HPC for CGI/VFX sold to Microsoft Azure) (42-44)
Vice President Product Marketing Riverbed (cloud and flagship networking techs) (44-52)
Founder and Head Coach, The Lens Leadership (52>)
Questions:
What did you find most interesting here?
What did you learn about me?
What information was more valuable - the Vice President title part, or the Universal Tour Guide, the Wall Street part? Something else?
Mostly, what value would be available to you or your company by revealing a previously unknown layer of someone you work with now?
You see – none of us ARE a single job. We are not a title. We are humans made from so many layers of experiences and learning over time. On the job front, all of these have given me experience and perspective - they are part of my lens.
How about you? What’s a job you have had that has contributed so uniquely to who you are in the world?
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