For one, I quit a job that would've paid out over $700k in total comp in 2021 just for showing up—and maybe a million if I'd exceeded expectations.

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2024-06-16 04:00:02

For one, I quit a job that would've paid out over $700k in total comp in 2021 just for showing up—and maybe a million if I'd exceeded expectations.

But don't cry for me, because my story is kind of like that one Lil Wayne verse: "Hope I don't look weak, 'cause when a wolf cry wolf. You still see that wolf's teeth." Keep in mind that I got to that total comp by taking risk in the first place.

Years ago, around the midpoint of my career, I internalized that it takes risk to get ahead. After that realization, I took a leap of faith and my first big risk. I took my first huge pay cut, huge, at least for me back then. I left a reputable job at a big, stable bank, Bank of America Meryl Lynch, for an unknown startup with 20 engineers.

But that startup grew like a rocket, and then my career grew like a rocket. That startup was acquired by Walmart, which increased my compensation to the levels that I then left behind in 2021.

So, it took the risk of leaving the bank for the startup to get the personal growth that I needed to be worth much more a few years later.