November 6, 2005 - Colleagues and Role Models
This was one of the shortest trips of the past 4 months. I feel like I’m returning to basecamp after a summit bid. It’s hard to get out of the mountaineering theme and frame-of-mind after an entire long weekend of mountain films.
My partner on this expedition has been Alejandro who I have known since our time at Princeton. We’ve been living on separate coasts for about a decade now. I’ve always admired him for having the courage to follow his instincts. He has worn many different hats in the past dozen or so years which is very different from my life which has been on this medical track for so long. My only decision each day has been to continue or not continue down this same road. There haven’t been many spurs.
Alejandro has changed fields several times. There was always a smooth transition with no abrupt adjustments; But, he is now pursing a career very different from the direction that his university training would have dictated. He is now on a road that, for many of his colleagues, has been the only thing that they have known. As a consultant for a major firm, most of his colleagues see the next level of advancement as a stepping stone to “ruling the company”. Alejandro, who always excels at what he chooses to pursue, is in this game as long as it is still rewarding. I’m sure he will be the CEO one day…that is, if he elects to do so. Otherwise, 10 years from now, he may be in an entirely different walk of life…and at the top of that field, no doubt.
I have to force myself to remember that even if life is a ride on a train running on a fixed set of tracks, I may get off at a stop for a while, then get back on the same train or transfer to another track all together. Now, I just have to figure out the train schedules and where to buy tickets.
My partner on this expedition has been Alejandro who I have known since our time at Princeton. We’ve been living on separate coasts for about a decade now. I’ve always admired him for having the courage to follow his instincts. He has worn many different hats in the past dozen or so years which is very different from my life which has been on this medical track for so long. My only decision each day has been to continue or not continue down this same road. There haven’t been many spurs.
Alejandro has changed fields several times. There was always a smooth transition with no abrupt adjustments; But, he is now pursing a career very different from the direction that his university training would have dictated. He is now on a road that, for many of his colleagues, has been the only thing that they have known. As a consultant for a major firm, most of his colleagues see the next level of advancement as a stepping stone to “ruling the company”. Alejandro, who always excels at what he chooses to pursue, is in this game as long as it is still rewarding. I’m sure he will be the CEO one day…that is, if he elects to do so. Otherwise, 10 years from now, he may be in an entirely different walk of life…and at the top of that field, no doubt.
I have to force myself to remember that even if life is a ride on a train running on a fixed set of tracks, I may get off at a stop for a while, then get back on the same train or transfer to another track all together. Now, I just have to figure out the train schedules and where to buy tickets.
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