Where Are We Going?

Too much going on. Too many projects. Too little time. It’s easy to feel behind.

Day by day.

Then there’s politics. I try not to comment on everything happening in the world, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing to say. The same goes for sports.

I was on a morning flight back home from Detroit when Team USA beat Canada in the men’s gold medal game. I fell asleep in the second period (I hadn’t gotten much sleep in Ann Arbor). I jolted awake when the cabin cheered as Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime.

March Madness is around the corner, too. If I had more time, I might write those posts again, like I did in the Deloitte days. The ALE Conference at Michigan Ross this past weekend felt like those days, from catching the first half of #1 Michigan vs. #3 Duke in the hotel lobby to meeting Chris Webber at the gala.

I met a lot of people last weekend. Have you ever noticed how people respond when you ask where they’re from, or where they’re based? People from the most interesting cities in the world will tell you like they’re telling you the time.

Some answer with pride. Others hesitate, obvious discomfort on their faces. You can hear the insecurity.

Careers are similar. Ask some folks what they do for a living, and they might answer like they’re asking you.

It’s because we tie geography, culture, ambition, and money to identity. We judge ourselves. Then we judge each other.

If we’re both products and producers of our environment, the places we come from shape us just as much as we shape them. The same goes for how we support ourselves. We may blame the places that raised us and the roles we’ve held for holding us back, but those very experiences often become the path to the next chapter. It’s only in retrospect that we see how necessary they were.

So, with all that’s going on, where are you headed?