If it's not fun, change

Back in 1992 I graduated university and landed my first job working as a Program Coordinator in a community education office in Little Rock, AR. That’s easy enough to scroll and see here on my LinkedIn profile. What you won’t know, however, is that my line manager for that role, Mala, was the best line manager I have ever had. I’m really fortunate to have experienced this at the start of my career, right? A few months in, I remember designing and then running a summer camp program for at-risk youth, making use of school facilities during summer holidays to provide a place to learn and play for children who may otherwise have been left at home alone while their parents worked. I was so into it, working long hours because it was so interesting, meaningful and so much fun. Because of this, I often forgot to eat. Mala started bringing in food for me because I was getting too thin! Aside from that level of care, she was super empowering, supportive, coached me, taught me, laughed with me, helped me develop and helped me understand where I needed to get better. She left for a new role a year and bit after I arrived and was replaced by *literally* the worst line manager I have ever had. No need to give space articulately why. In fact, I don’t even remember the person’s name. But, I do remember how I felt, and it was horrible. I struggled along for a few weeks trying to make it work, but ultimately, I made the decision to quit without really knowing what I would do. I hustled and managed and never once regretted that decision. Also, I took those early experiences along on my journey the past almost 30 years.

Subconsciously at first, but then very consciously later, I made it a principle that I always wanted my work to be fun like in the early days of my first job. When my work stopped being fun, I would always change it. I would actively make decisions that would take me in a new direction. You might think ‘fun’ isn’t a great measure, but it really is. Fun for me is doing work that is meaningful, supports my integral need to learn and grow, aligns with my values and allows me to bring my best to my work. Everyone deserves to have fun at work as long as the criteria doesn’t include hurting others.

Luckily, I never had to make the decision again to quit a job because the leader was so toxic, but over the years I certainly learned a lot about my boundaries, what matters to me and when the time is right to move on to something new. Sometimes that ‘something new’ was a new attitude or a shift in perspective or simply moving focus to something that mattered. One time it was moving to a new country. A few times it was moving to a new role. Right now, that something new is leaving GSK. My time with GSK has literally been amazing, definitely fulfilling all the criteria that makes work fun for me. Admittedly, there were moments every few years when I thought I was ready to move on because I was living on the edge my boundaries of fun. Every time I shifted something which meant I stayed. However, I’m confident now the time is right to leave because I know what I need to learn and how I need to grow and what I need to contribute to the world means I need to work independently, at least for now. I’ll share more soon about what that means and what ‘fun’ I’ll be getting up to. However, I was inspired to share this context since I think what I learned is worth sharing and also to give at least a hint about what I’ll be doing to address the calls for more details. I guess one detail I can share is that Mala and I have stayed close friends and have decided we want to work together again so are in the early stages of deciding what that is. It’s going to be amazing and definitely FUN!

What’s the moral of this story? If you’re not having fun, change.