Safe is the most unsafe career path to take.
Be a doctor, they said. Be an engineer, they said. Be an accountant, they said. Be a lawyer, they said. Find a job at a famous company, they said. If you name-drop a company you work at and your relatives nod in appreciation, you will have arrived. They said.
Raised in India, I was handed a catalog of safe career choices. Safe was drummed into my head since I was a child.
Safe signified success. Safe was a bigger, secure salary. Safe would mean wearing swag with recognizable logos on it. Safe would mean predictable financial standing. Safe would elicit community approval. Safe would mean stable and established. Safe would mean that I had turned out okay. Safe would mean I picked a lane that had been picked for me, that generations before me had picked for themselves, a lane that was proven, desired, desirable, and envied.
Well, screw safe.
“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.” — John A. Shedd.
Safe would mean that I settled. It would mean that I took the path that was fed to me, rather than the one that fed my soul.
Safe didn’t give me meaning.
I wanted to do my own thing, on my own terms. I wanted to own my success and my failures. I wanted to be fully responsible for both. I wanted agency in my career. Otherwise, I would not have really lived. So, I declined the offer from household-name companies when I graduated.
I chose autonomy. Creative autonomy, over safe.
Creative autonomy is the grinding, uphill climb of a roller-coaster, filled with rising expectations and dread, and punctuated by hair-rising, adrenalin-charged moments of terror and joy.
You’re exhilarated, scared, but you feel alive.
Creative autonomy is trusting your brain to come up with the right solution, rather than someone else’s brains telling you what to do. It’s trusting yourself to figure it out, no matter what the “it” is. It’s trusting yourself to think your way out of things. It’s trusting yourself to be your own manager. It’s trusting yourself to find a way, no matter how tight the corner, how challenging the moment, how grinding the climb, and how precarious the precipice you’re staring down. It’s trusting yourself to be creative, resourceful, scrappy—whatever the situation, whatever the day brings. It’s thriving on uncertainty.
Creative autonomy is your career on your terms.
Students and young career professionals often ask me, “I have all these offers. What job should I pick? Where should I work?”
My answer is—build the company you want to work at.
Work where people know your name.
Work where you’re scared you don’t have all the answers.
Work where nobody has all the answers, either.
Work where you’re asked to take risks, and are rewarded when you do.
Work where merit and guts are valued, not tenure.
Work where people don’t mind failing. They mind not trying.
Work where failure is a badge of success.
Work where bold ideas get people fired up.
Work where “why not?” is normal.
Work where people have an inner fire, a desire to change the world.
Work where people’s inner fire is infectious, and can infect you.
Work where the voice of enthusiastic inexperience carries weight.
Work where you came from matters far less than where you’re going.
Work where everyone is expected to be a leader.
Work where people believe you are a leader.
Work where you’re trusted with big and scary, even when you’re little.
Work where you are out of your comfort zone.
Work where there is no cap on your upward trajectory.
Work where only you stand in the way of your ascent.
Work where people don’t need to “wait their turn.”
Work where change is possible, and through you.
Work where you’re a part of big decisions and small ones.
Work where you don’t know what you will invent next week.
Work where people chase impact, not titles.
Work where you can make mistakes, and talk about them.
Work where yesterday’s comfortable predictability is boring.
Work where you’re given responsibility with authority.
Work where everyone’s swimming in ambition.
Work where the people around you elevate your game.
Work where people are happy creating and building.
Work where work seems like fun, like play.
Work where people find humor on good days and bad.
Work where you’re moving 200 miles an hour.
Work where you can see courage in action around you.
Work where you can work on problems you care about.
Work where you can defy your own expectations.
Work where you feel yourself changing.
Work where you can change others.
Work where you can change the game, not just watch others play it.
Work where safe is the most unsafe path to take.
Your career will take care of itself.
