One of the cool things about being sorta/kinda retired is being available to talk to people when they call. And one of the most interesting calls to receive is when a former colleague-now-friend calls and asks for advice.
Yesterday, I got such a call from Sue. I met Sue early in my company’s journey through a key vendor. She was smart, strategic and passionate. So when it came time to hire a key marketing executive, I knew where to turn. Long story short, we worked together for many years. I was her boss but really she was my partner.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Sue called me because she has been a bad-ass CMO at a pretty good-sized startup for the past few years. She wanted advice. Even though she loves her job and feels like she’s doing something she’s meant to do, was it time to leave? Should she take a job she’d been offered at a larger, more secure company that was interesting but out of her usual space? Or should she just start looking around?
I think her situation is not that unusual – we’ve all faced it. It would be easy to fall back on either the optimistic “go for it” – you deserve better, keep climbing – or the more pragmatic “appreciate what you’ve got” and maybe even enjoy more work/life balance.
Security vs. Upside Potential
A few more details on Sue’s situation for context. Despite having a pretty solid base of customer revenue, her company had been struggling, not meeting forecasts from quarter to quarter. She didn’t see how the current management team would change fast enough to get and stay ahead in the market.
Her earnings are a key part of her family’s income and while there’s a lot of upside at her company, it’s only there if they get it right. Nonetheless, despite the frustrations, she loves her job and what she does every day. She loves being the voice of the customer and being able to use her passion for marketing.
New Job Opportunities Bring Questions
Recently, she was contacted by a deeply technical firm that had wanted to hire her previously but the situation didn’t quite line up right. Now, they had fixed a few things to make it more attractive. Even though it still wasn’t everything she wanted in a job, she was tempted to just take it. More money, more stability, bigger company, same title. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?
She wasn’t sure. She wanted to know what I thought . . . Should she take the other job? Should she start looking? Or just re-dedicate herself to her current job?
5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Considering Leaving Your Current Job
- Does your current job allow you to pursue your passion?
- Do you have confidence in your current company to meet goals?
- How important is money, title and stability?
- Is there more for you to learn in your industry or position?
- How is your stress-level in your current position?
My Advice
My advice for Sue? I suggested she reject the new offer but start looking outside selectively. My advice for someone else in the same situation? I can’t say. Because at the end of the mulling over, what it comes down to is this… everyone deserves to be at their very best working somewhere great or somewhere on the path to greatness. And all that means different things to different people. So the real question is… “Is this opportunity one where I can be at my best at a great place for me and by extension my family?”
Being At Your Best
When you’re at your best, it’s incredibly satisfying. Work is still work but there are more moments when it feels like play. And guess what else? When you’re at your best, you’re probably going to be amazing at what you do.
And you’re going to get to do more, be more recognized, get more resources, gain more credibility, learn more, and move up in the world. It’s going to be a great ride. And finally, often being reasonably happy at work means you can be better at home – less stressed, less angry, more present.
For Sue, she’s at her very best when she’s passionate and deeply interested in the problem her company solves. Her current company solves customer communication problems for its customers. Communications is core to Sue – she shines in this arena. She connects with customers, represents their problems and they in turn see her as their advocate.
The company with the offer was an innovative hardware company. It’s a space she hardly knows and isn’t that directly interested in. Now, I’m sure she could be a very capable CMO, running the functional parts of marketing well enough. But would she be at her very best, working toward true greatness? Would she have the kind of fulfillment and satisfaction she has now? My bet is no on both of those questions.
Someone else might be up for that other CMO job. Someone who loves the hardware game. Or maybe their abiding passion is not about the problem space or the customer community. Maybe their passion is about creating compelling stories about innovative new technologies and helping customers see the potential impact. So this innovative hardware company could be perfect for them. Just not Sue.
Being Somewhere Great
But there’s another part that matters a lot. And that is working at a company that is either great or has a path to greatness. In today’s job, Sue is at her very best. But the company is not great – and it doesn’t know how to get to greatness.
It has product problems – engineering is not keeping up with solving the problems that Sue so clearly identifies with and represents to customers. It has management team problems – Sue can’t be heard over the din of too many cooks in the kitchen.
The CEO won’t make tough firing and hiring decisions. And the board is not engaged enough to help him see what needs to be done. So the company is not great nor on the path to greatness.
So can Sue stay there and be a great CMO? She can stay there and know she’s a great CMO. But it won’t show up to the outside world as greatness. She’ll look like a reasonably functional CMO at a so-so company. Does she deserve better? Heck yes.
Let’s be real. Finding great places is probably the greatest challenge of the job search. It’s so easy to look at the job description and say – hey, I can do all those things and I love doing all those things. You can even meet a few folks and say the people are great. You might even see some reviews that say it’s great. But is it great for you?
You have to sit down and think about what a great place is to you. For Sue, driving the CEO to have courage, making up for mediocre colleagues, and trying to work with the board to recognize the needed change all add up to this not being a great place. For someone else who loves turnarounds, it could be an amazing place.
And let me be clear… great does not mean perfect. I’ve often said (and people I’ve worked with sometimes quote this back to me) “All companies are shitty. Pick the one that’s the least shitty for you.” Be real in other words.
Sue needs to move on to somewhere great for her. And that means being very selective about what that looks like.
In the meantime, until she finds it, she’s lucky because she is doing work she loves so she can continue to cultivate her best self.
Share this post:
Elissa, I sure wish I’d read this (or had you at the end of the phone line) at various moments in my career like this. One thing that really resonates with me a lot here is “great does not mean perfect.” Someone once encouraged me to (pardon the language) “choose what is your shit sandwich.” Any situation, any role, any company, any stage – it’s gonna have something that you don’t like. And the question is NOT to eliminate all things you don’t like, but rather, to choose the thing you don’t like with intention. That might mean stability of company, or pay, or passion for the topic, or number of direct reports, or ability to work remotely, or upward mobility – there are so many. At this particular moment in your life and in your career, which of the things that you don’t like is most tolerable and most sustainable? So much disappointment could be avoided by recognizing this and choosing that thing with agency, rather than having a search-for-prince-charming letdown when not all is perfect. I so loved this post – thank you.
Thanks Lindsay – glad it resonates. And love the sh*t sandwich analogy. Nothing is perfect – we can choose our lumps and then use them to grow.
Great article. I loved your advice.
Thanks, Cyn! I appreciate the comment.
A totally separate thing I should add is that in hard economic times, it can take a lot of courage to look at career choices this way. Trying to think not only about the next year but also thinking about the next 3 years, or even 10 years, can put a perspective on it that is beyond temporary (albeit painful) economic pressures.