What I thought was torture when I worked at Apple – working with 23 different managers in seven years – I now see as an experience that refined by ability to work with many different kinds of leaders. It was a training ground that has paid big dividends – though I couldn’t see it that way while I was immersed in the experience. At the time itself, it sucked to no level. I would get one direction and then another that contradicted the first. Before I would have a chance to score on the board, the rules would change.
If you want to make an impact, to build something important, only full immersion will do. You’ve got to dive in into the work, and paddle like crazy. There will be setbacks and detours. Maybe there will be a failure or two. How much you fail is not a sign of how much you will succeed. But when you succeed, it will put it all in context. I say, face all of it head on with courage. All of this will shape you. To. Become. Great.
Growth is a serial process and each move you make will reward you – even if it’s just getting the knowledge about what you don’t want. What is difficult today won’t be difficult later.
It’s hard to know in the present what will hold great value for you when it finally becomes history.
