What's next?

My reign as Microsoft CEO is over. On to bigger and better things.

Now that my brief stint as CEO of Microsoft has come to an end, it’s time to look for something new. In a world of endless possibilities, it’s safe to say that I’m facing quite the challenge to find the path forward that’s right for me. I’m not the type of person for whom their job is “just a job”. It’s not how I’m wired. So, I started asking myself: Can I design the perfect job? Do I even know what I really want? It’s time to find out.

I’ve now spent enough time thinking about those black lines above and reflecting on them. It’s time for me figure out which of the green paths I want to go down. Image source: Tim Urban

I don’t have a “passion”

“Go find and follow your passion.” It’s a common piece of advice, and even if people aren’t explicitly phrasing it that way, they are typically hinting at it. When I hear “passion”, I think of Olympians, inventors, chefs, artists; people who have completely devoted themselves to their chosen purpose. I find it easy to look at them and be jealous from time to time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a clear passion to focus on? If you ask me today what my passion is, I don’t have a straight answer. I’ll probably utter something about having a positive impact, doing something with sustainability. Maybe something with food. Perhaps mechanical engineering.

I’ve always had very broad interests. A jack of all trades but master of none, if you will. As my discontent at Microsoft grew, I spent months thinking about what I want to devote myself to. Between looking for my “ikagai”, having a positive impact, and wanting to have some fun while doing it all, it’s been easy to get lost trying to find the perfect next step.

Me, if I could grow a beard. Maybe I can find the answer in books? Image generated using DALL∙E 3.

Full of clichés, but occasionally helpful: Self-help books

As I found myself in this pickle, I did what every directionless person would do: I started reading self-help books. While they can typically be reduced to the length of a blog post, they do often come with a handful of actionable takeaways. They haven’t quite provided the answers I’m looking for in my quest, but I have found some ingredients that I’m using to craft a way forward.

Two of those books are “The Passion Paradox” by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, and “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. To save you the time of having to read them (although I do recommend the latter, it’s a good one), I’ll share some takeaways that I found thought-provoking.

• Every “passion” starts as an interest. Allow yourself to freely explore interests without looking for something perfect.

• If you keep searching for perfection, you might not start anything at all; and if you do start, you’re more likely to give up quickly, bouncing from not-quite-perfect endeavor to the next. This one rings especially true for me.

• It will never be the perfect time to do something. Saying you’ll do something “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams with you to the grave. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually”, just do it now – and course-correct along the way as needed.

• Be honest with yourself. It takes time and effort, but serious self-reflection can help you admit what is obvious – the answers are inside you, somewhere.

While these points might initially feel cliché, I found that I wasn’t fully realizing them. It’s one thing to understand their gist and intent, and another thing to implement them in your way of thinking and in how you decide on opportunities.

Where has all of this led me so far?

Taking all the above advice to heart, I’ve been trying to do a lot of self-reflection to understand my own intrinsic interests over the past year. Some things that I’ve been exploring at various levels, listed in no particular order:

• Addressing the food waste problem. I hate seeing food wasted, and I’ve been trying to figure out good ways to make the food system more efficient.

• Working on carbon capture technologies, removing CO₂ from the air. I’ve been researching a ton of new technologies, and it’s a really exciting space.

• Coming up with a consumer product, because I feel like that would be really fun. Right now, I’m playing around with something related to coffee and digestion… (stay tuned)

• Doing something with AI (I released a PM Document Writer here – but that’s only available to ChatGPT Plus users).

• Writing and telling stories (hence the Substack!).

• Renting out LEGO sets. I pretty much built the website… Now I have to wait for that pesky work authorization.

I wouldn’t characterize any of these things as my “passion” right now, but I’ve planted seeds for all of them. Through creating my own projects, I’m simply going ahead and giving these interests a shot. I’m putting in time now to nurture them, to see if they might grow into a passion. I can always course-correct along the way.

In addition to the broad spectrum of explorations I’m subjecting myself to, I’ve also established some helpful constraints in my journey. After all, knowing what you do not want is perhaps just as powerful as knowing what you do want, as it can quickly help you narrow down your set of options. For me, I already know that I don’t want my next job to be…

• …at a company larger than 100 people;

• …one where I’m restricted to manager-provided “projects”;

• …a PM role;

• …one without a clear positive impact on the planet.

Taking my own advice, I’m going to be honest. Just from reading my “don’t wants” and the list of my current projects, I can quickly conclude that I want to start something myself. I want my next adventure to be a startup. If you want to start one with me, don’t hesitate to reach out.

---

I don’t know what’s next yet. But I’ve made progress.

To my dear readers: Take some time and look at that image above. Think about the path you’ve taken so far, and all the paths still available ahead. Where do you want to go?