My Career is a Casserole
"You're BUYING a cookbook?" my husband exclaimed. "You have the internet!"
Although I don't love cooking as so many grown adults do, I am fully capable. I was never formally taught by any family member, I just decided in my 20s to figure it out with the help of television and allrecipes.com.
So why did I suddenly feel the need to purchase a hardcover book after decades of successfully cooking without one? A momentary lapse in confidence came over me after deciding to pursue a new type of regional cuisine. The unknown frontier of using cheeses I couldn't even pronounce was what attracted and excited me-- and then uh-oh, what if it goes terribly wrong?
My approach to cooking food has been analogous to my approach to my career over the years. I have natural talents to which I've added learned skills; mix that in with voracious curiosity and relentless creativity (despite several efforts to smother it) and voilà! A new and interesting job title is ready for me. Each has been a mixture of different skills/talents-- art director, product trainer, stage designer, web strategist, script writer, ad designer, marketing manager, [mysterious next role here]...
Early in my career, I was deeply envious of those around me that were absolute experts in a specific role. I looked up to my peers who were so 'perfect' at their passions that they pursued doctorate degrees. Because I, on the other hand, went where I was needed, filled in the gaps in my organizations, and built my skills by working backwards from the problems presented to me. But after years of living out that non-strategy, I had become so inundated with new skills and methodologies, I started to worry that recruiters wouldn't believe the huge list on my resume. (Yep, there's that confidence lapse again)
So now, two-decades in, I'm at peace with being an all-in-one creative problem-solving tool as opposed to a uni-tasker. I see that my roles over the years have been layers upon layers; built up to create a really useful 'casserole' for start-ups and headcount-strapped teams. I can take disparate scraps and creatively solve problems that help the bottom line. Yes, I'm a little peculiar, but I've got all kinds of surprises inside. 🥧