Make your own fucking career path.

No, seriously. Quit chasing stupid things.

Hey, Fuckers.

We have to talk about career paths. In short, not everyone needs to be a fucking manager, okay?

Someone asked me this last week what my professional goals are. And when I was in my 20s, I would have told you I wanted to be a CMO someday. Then when I became a CMO (well, technically an SVP because the fucking CEO of that company was a cretin, but that’s for another post someday), I realized quickly that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

I spent more time making fucking slides for board meetings and running around putting out fires and doing planning for planning meetings to plan for the planning meeting that I never got to do any fucking marketing.

One of the most fucked up things in the work world these days is that there aren’t clear and fulfilling paths for individual contributors and people who don’t want to fucking manage the drama, interpersonal issues, HR bullshit and operational nightmares that underpin People Management. I mean…have you managed people before?

Yeah yeah ok, someone will invoke “coaching” and “developing” people and while that’s lovely and I like it too, you do not need to manage people on a fucking org chart to do that.

There is not default value built into titles. In fact, give me ten people who have a fancy title and I can guarantee at least half of them are assholes who got there because they were in the right place at the right time, they work for a company that over-inflates titles to impress clients (cough cough agencies and banks cough), or because they got a fancy fucking piece of paper from a fancy-ass school and at graduation they stuffed their pockets full of business cards that automatically said they were vice president of something.

Not to mention the startup tech world that I have too often inhabited where they just make shit up on the fly and the bro who is the SVP of Dickbaggitude is actually a team of one, sipping craft cold brew and running his Twitch side hustle while he attends local “incubator” meetings at Soho House.

So the answer to my career goals has nothing to do with a title anymore. After all, I’m the whackjob who did 20 years in marketing, all the way through those glorified executive ranks…and now I’m an individual contributor doing work that’s fulfilling for a company I love.

Give me interesting, challenging work for a company that gives a shit about its people. Let me work with people I really like and who make me better. Fuck the titles, fuck the corporate ladder, fuck the traditional career paths that are way messier than they look on the surface anyway, and fuck the idea that I always have to have Big Goals I’m working toward to find meaning in my life. My career strategy is an open mind and a sense of adventure these days, and it’s working. Never forget this gem:

This thing has been all over the internet for years, but originated in Demetri Martin’s This Is A Book.

Quit chasing titles and the trite, limiting and narrow career paths that people have laid out for you. You can carve your own messy, squiggly line and let your goals be to adapt to the opportunities that find you and still be fucking amazing.

Fuck Yes Friday

A new addition to our Dear Fuckers missive is what I’m calling Fuck Yes Friday, where I balance my rants and raves (and soon, yours) with something that’s worth celebrating this week.

Did you see what Calm did? (If you’re not familiar, they’re an app that helps with meditation and relaxation and headspace kind of stuff).

In support of Naomi Osaka’s decision to withdraw from the French Open after the organizers fought her choice not to do press (citing her own mental health), fined her, and then threatened to kick her out of the tournament, Calm decided they’d make a $15K donation in her honor to Laureus, an organization who promotes sports for well-being.

Then they said they’d also pay the fines of any other Grand Slam players in 2021 who also chose to opt out of press for mental health reasons AND they’d make an additional donation of $15K to Laureus on behalf of each of them.

So that’s how you fucking do THAT. Marketing and doing good at the same time while living your values out loud and throwing a big middle finger for people who deny that mental health is a real, valid reason to not do things. And I’ve been a longtime free user of Calm, but I for one upgraded my subscription because fuck yes to that.

Okay, fuckers. That’s it for this week. It’s warm outside and there’s a fizzy wine cocktail or something that’s calling my name. More to come next time on how to submit your own Dear Fuckers editions because I know you have stuff to say. Stay tuned.

With love and angst,

Amber