Reinventing Your Career
When I was a senior at UCLA, I realized my experiences wrangling dorm residents and teaching kids swimming wasn’t going to translate into much of a career. More precisely, my parents told me it wasn’t going to be a career. They insisted I log some “real world” experience. When you live in West Los Angeles, this means landing an internship (code word for “unpaid”) in The Industry.
Reluctantly, I checked out the student job board and started interviewing anywhere they would talk to me. One start-up network, Arts & Entertainment, had just opened their LA office and offered me a position.
Score!
That was in 1986, 27 years ago, and I’m still with the network.
Twenty. Seven. Years.
Who does that?
I’m still surprised the answer is me! I do that!
My experience is woven throughout this blog, so you can see much of what I’ve learned from the entertainment business. Without qualification, I couldn’t have asked for a better company, a more dynamic industry, or a career more perfectly suited for me than the one I’ve had.
And so, the journey to say goodbye in nine short days is nothing short of life-changing.
My time at the place where I've grown up is down to single digits...
B R E A T H E.
As you might imagine, I am living on a racquetball court of emotions: one moment I’m excited, and the next I’m sad. I’m energized, then melancholy. I’m laughing, then weepy. Overwhelmed, then calm.
But, above all, I am grateful.
I’m grateful for everything I see in the rear-view mirror. Much of it I wouldn’t have chosen, but all of it I appreciate.
God knew what he was doing in giving us the ability to reflect on our past rather than see into our future. I would never have had believed I could have walked this path.
All of you, faithful readers, have listened to me preach on showing courage, pushing innovation, and being fearless, and so I thought I’d take you along on my story to reinvent what I do.
So what’s next? An adventure, no doubt.
I’ll tell you more specifics tomorrow!