Career Vision and North Star
What am I optimizing for in my career?
Many product people manage their career like a product.
Great products contribute to top-line metrics that matter most (i.e. "North Star" metrics) so I've been asking myself, what would my top-line career metrics?
In slightly different words, it's a way of asking "what am I optimizing for in my career?"
Potential answers include maximizing earnings, # of direct reports, title, status, etc. I'm historically as guilty as anyone for thinking about those things as ways to measure my career success.
But I've recently found myself optimizing for a different kind of metric: level of excitement about work.
The specific metric might be something like "% of Monday mornings per quarter where I rate 9+ excitement about the week ahead".
Another one could be "% of working hours spent in flow states". It's okay to have multiple top-line metrics.
You get the idea.
The best North Star metrics pass the following litmus test: if achieved, do these metrics directly help us achieve our mission/vision?
And this is why having a personal vision for a career is important.
My career vision isn't about being a billionaire or managing hundreds of thousands of people. It's about being in flow with great people and loving how I spend my time.
Note: it's important to revisit top-line metrics at least once or twice a year so I'm excited to keep updating how I think about measuring success with my career. If you have any top-line metrics for measuring your career, would love to hear 'em.
Quick career note: I’m over a month into my new role as head of product at Continuum and loving it. How I feel on Mondays about the week ahead is what inspired this post. It’s the leading marketplace for executive talent. We’re helping venture-backed companies solve their biggest problems by connecting them w/ great people who can help.
Quick personal note: Gaia is almost three months old and super smiley. I’m loving dad life so far and her presence in my life inspires all kinds of thoughts that I’m planning to share here when I have a bit more time. I’m enjoying work from home life so much more now that I’m a dad because I get to see this smiling face before/between/after calls throughout the day ❤️
