My client had come to me to help her manage a difficult boss. There had been a lot of changes in a business that she had helped start and lead, including the death of the founder.
From a business perspective, things were good. They were scaling, and my client was doing very well financially. But it was exhausting, and no longer inspiring her.
Her goal was, in her words, “To find a way to make it ten more years so I can retire and do what I want.”
She wanted passion. She wanted meaning. But the paycheck was holding her back.
What if she could have both, I asked. Money and meaning? A purpose she believed in? People she loved working with?
Suddenly she lit up.
“That could happen, couldn’t it?”
Is it worth a try?
Sometimes just knowing that something is possible is enough.
Ten months later she had a new job, making more money, plus an equity stake, at a firm whose purpose she really connected to.
Two years after that her new employer went public.
The insight she had was virtually priceless.
What are you not seeing? What’s really possible for you?