On building a CEO-stack.

"Your resume looks like a clusterf*ck of things" is something I hear every now and again from friends, colleagues, family members, recruiters etc. And they're absolutely right.

From a very young age I've wanted to try different things and been driven by the think big ideas and had an unquenchable thirst for being challenged and learning new things. Seeing the pattern. Solving the problem. And getting mega-bored when the big question is answered. It's kind of becoming an obsession sometimes, especially if I can prove something and it has a lot of impact. At my old employer I got nominated for an award for having great customer obsession and bias for action in running in, shaking things up and building stuff from scratch in a scrappy way. It was also why I did a good job in sales, I found new ways to engage new customers rather than trying to inherit old customers and managing them.

My curriculum was always a mess in school too. My first teacher handled it by saying if I finish early I could use the computer to play games. During my early months in high school I pre-emptively did the national tests on the core subjects such as "Maths" or "English" to be able to spend my time learning actually new things like "Philosophy". I needed the science degree - but I didn't want to spend time on things I already knew, so it made sense to flip it a bit. In Uni, I did double degrees because I wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting my time or removing a career-track for myself. I was constantly running into things, jumping on new opportunities.

Meanwhile I simultaneously envied my friends who know what they wanted to be early on. Who did a developer degree, worked in a big company, grew into team leadership, then management, then architecture roles and were clearly aiming for a CTO or specialist title. Why was this so difficult for me? Couldn't I just pick one thing rather than aiming to understand the bigger picture?

One day I was demotivated in my mid 20:ies because I dropped out of the industry I had my degree in to go after something that wasn't really a thing yet (demotivation seldom happens in my bubble, but sometimes it hits me too). I shared this confusion with one of my mentors who smiled at me and said "no need to worry, you are building a CEO stack".

From that moment on I felt at ease. I decided to believe in that. If I am to become a good CEO or I wanna build a company again, understanding the different business functions at a high level will help me with that. Having done tech, marketing, teaching, recruitment, sales, business development, due diligence, technical writing, negotiating, public speaking and pr, customer support, strategy and and learning to fail in different fields, is setting me up to be an empathic, trustworthy and strong leader. When I think about it that way, that means I have to think even bigger and dare even greater. And with age and experience I will reach a place where I feel ready to put all of this to good use.

Now here comes the funny bit.

In my own supporting and coaching of others I get this very same comment from them "but Andjela, I have no red thread in my resume, I've done a bunch of everything" and it falls on me to calmly look at the person and say "that is precisely why you will be a great CEO or founder one day". And people look at me like I am joking at first, but then it lands and something glitters behind their eyes.

It's literally and figuratively the BEST FEELING EVER.

So the point I wanted to make with this post is that the next time someone (anyone) tells you your resume is messy or you seem undecisive, you tell them:

"It's not, I'm simply building myself a CEO stack for the future"

Now go, get out there and do cool shit, jump on opportunities you like and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You are a force to be reckoned with and I sincerely look forward to seeing your face in the Newspapers.

But also remember, there is no need to run. It's a marathon, not a race. Someone is ready by 30, someone by 40, someone by 50 and some ever later than that. Your journey is all that matters - so be as kind to yourself as you are to others <3 and let reflection lead the way.

Hugs,

A