In late 1998, I left Johnson & Johnson, where I was a Vice President, to join Drugstore.com, an ecommerce startup in Seattle, were I was employee #15.
It was a gut-wrenching decision at the time. J&J is a great company, I was challenged, learning and contributing in my role and my wife and I had a young family and nice home in Pennsylvania. Why (self) inflict so much disruption?
After looking at my career options and doing the Ben Franklin comparison too many times, I looked at it like this. If things went bad, it would be for one of three reasons ... 1) I don't like it, 2) They don't like me, 3) I am not good at my new job.
I finally concluded that I might fall fast but it was highly unlikely that I would fall far, meaning that I was confident that I could get a comparable VP position, if the need arose.
O.D.O.o.O.D.B.
Fear is good, I have never regretted taking that same leap!
Posted by: steven lauder | November 21, 2009 at 09:33 AM