Four years ago, I was moving from startup to startup, confused about my future but leaning into the roles I thought others valued. In the middle of the confusion, I had lunch with a wise friend. An artist and actor, she knows how to read people, and she knew me well. I remember we were eating brunch in San Francisco, near the water, a view of the Bay Bridge before us. I was telling her about my latest job:
“I think it will be good. I am in charge of figuring out how to break engineering work into manageable cycles while working with the operations team to make sure our products are aligned with their expectations.”
My friend got a confused look on her face. Her response was immediate and to the point. In a direct and loving way, she said, “Meredith, don’t you think you might need to be a little more creative in your role? I remember how happy you were working on videos in your past job. You loved that.”