Decision Making and The Path
Short Games and Long Games
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I’ve always been fascinated about how people make decisions, and mentorship has been a very important part of my journey, both through direct relationships and books.
So in college I started asking successful people a question, beginning with then KPMG CEO John Veihmeyer in Miami University’s Farmer School of Business main auditorium in front of 500 other students.
I said from the back of the upper deck:
“John, you’ve been really successful. So assuming since you’ve been successful at this you must have had other things you could have done. How did you evaluate opportunities and ultimately choose the right path for you?”
In the beginning I got a series of answers that weren’t satisfying to my 20 year-old self. Stuff like “I just kept learning”, or “I never got a better opportunity”.
It wasn’t until 5 or so years later when I was speaking with a SVP of Legal at one of my consulting clients where I got an answer that really resonated.
“To be honest I don’t believe that I critically evaluated opportunities, and if I could do it again, I would more fully evaluate the opportunities that crossed my path...
I also wouldn’t have looked at things so long term, but rather in 2 - 3 year time slots to learn something new about myself and the world...
and if I would have done that I would have had a much more interesting path”.
While I don’t necessarily believe this advice suggests that one should change careers or jobs every few years, it has been a helpful frame for me to get present and focus on more actionable time periods.
One of my mentors speaks a lot about the concept of being a “master craftsman” which inherently implies a long game, but often involves spending dedicated time developing a combination of skills and experience that is uniquely valuable.
It reminds me of Christina Wallace’s idea in The Portfolio Life, that we don’t have one linear career or path, but a collection of experiences that compound over time.