When I Grow Up ...

I got to spend some time with my college-age brother this weekend. He's declared a major, but he is alarmed by the thought that he has no idea what he wants to do when he grows up. It made me think how my plans and career have evolved.

Age 10: When I grow up, I want to be a 3rd grade teacher (ha! can you imagine? Me teaching 9-year-olds?!). Of course, I never went to third grade and because I missed some multiplication skills, cursive and introduction to verbs and nouns, I romanticized it and thought it was the "most important" grade.

Age 12: When I grow up, I want to be a novelist. This has never really gone away. I still want to be one. I still have constant stories, essays and commentary running through my head. It's why I'm an NPR junkie - because I love that I can listen to the news in essay format.

Age 18: When I grow up, I want to be a political press secretary Four years of competitive speaking/debating and a love of politics and writing led me to think that life as a press secretary would be the life I'd always wanted. That is, until I met a White House press secretary and CBS's main White House correspondent, and I realized that while it would be enormously fascinating, there is no such thing as "a life" when covering political news. I later learned that while I loved the art and psychology of politics, I didn't love politicians, further preventing me from making a foray into that world.

Age 22: When I grow up, I want to work in creative communications - none of this business stuff that requires accounting, statistics and strategy. I flourished in my business classes (not accounting, but that would be an entirely different post), but disliked them. I did well in statistics, hated it. Strategy and analytics came naturally, but it bored me.

Fast-forward 7 years ... I have now, unwittingly created a niche for myself that all resulted from my first job out of college, which I took in sheer desparation - the economy was starting to crack and I was bound and determined to flee my home state. I was the marketing assistant in a relatively new web division of a large company. My boss quit my second day. There had never been any marketing people, no one knew what I was supposed to be doing. Somehow, I managed to be promoted twice during my tenure there, finally leaving the division, and then the company, several years later as a manager. I now have a resume and experience that qualifies me as someone who specializes in strategic integrated communications planning and development.

As I was editing my bio yesterday to appear on my new company's website as part of the core management team, I realized that there are some definite trends in my career - none of which were on purpose.

*Every job since college has involved the word "Marketing" in my title. I hated my marketing class in college - now I wish I would have paid more attention.

*That said, I don't really do just marketing - I've created a career history in integrated communications - developing and executing strategic plans for integrated marketing, advertising and public relations.

*My degree is in PR. I strongly dislike the day-to-day PR tasks, but I love the part I hated in college - the strategic planning/vision/evaluation components.

*I have created a niche for myself in coming into companies with no marketing department and starting something from scratch - then, just as it gets off the ground and becomes successful, moving on to something else (this will be my FOURTH time doing this). I get bored. I don't like to work when it becomes mundane and routine, though I hate the first few months in a new space trying to figure out what it is I'm supposed to do. Yet, I've never PURPOSELY sought out a company or job thinking, "I want to work for a company with no marketing department - only a desire to have one."

*I have never replaced anyone. I've never worked in a position previously held by someone else in the same capacity. Interesting trend, no?

*I have no desire to work on the creative end of communications - haven't in years - a great boss, who knew nothing of marketing, but was a whiz at business strategy, was a wonderful mentor several years back. She recommended a couple of books, gave me some new tasks and unlocked a whole component of myself that I never realized I had - or was good at.

In short, I am a far cry career-wise from where I thought I would be seven years ago, armed with my newly minted degree and several years' experience in the communications/professional development arena, but it's not a bad thing. Little choices, little chances, little forays into new arenas, a few key mentors and a few key books, led me to somewhere I hadn't planned on going, but have found to be relatively satisfying.

I just hope my new job doesn't eat me for lunch - I am solely responsible for an entire department. Me. By myself. No one else understands what I'm supposed to be doing - just what I am supposed to accomplish. It's a glorious, sick feeling - one akin to the feeling one gets when stepping into the great unknown.

I told my brother, "Just major in something you love - you'll end up going in some completely random direction eventually anyway." He didn't get it.

Then again, seven years ago, neither would I.