Ever see the HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers"? It was produced by Tom Hanks and is based on Stephen Ambrose book about the Men of Easy Company during WWII, from D-Day to V-E Day. Powerful, moving, incredibly well acted.
One soldier, Capt. Ronald Speirs, was particularly tough, intimidating, menacing. He fought with reckless abandon and led his men to tough victory after tough victory and never sustained a scratch in the war. He told some quaking younger soldiers that it was easy to be unafraid, as long as you realized that "you're already dead".
My takeaway: assume the worst will happen and by accepting that, it frees you to fight for the best that can happen, because when you get careful, you get hurt.
How is that relevant to a marketer?
Look at your career path so far and the career path of the people around you? Increasingly, you will notice that people have worked for many companies and maybe in a few different industries. This type of movement continues to accelerate and there is limited stigma, as long as you are a person with a proven track record of accomplishment - achievements that you led, were fully involved in, which were noteworthy.
So, be not afraid, you're not going to spend your life where you are now, nor the next place. Push, prod and drive yourself (first and most) and your team to create breakthrough. If you are concerned about being shown the door, be at peace with the fact that people will say that you were a person that tried to make something good happen.
O.D.O.o.O.D.B.
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