flâneur

The Career Bets That Compound (And the Ones That Don’t)

koffeeguy.substack.com · 2,349 words · saved by 2 readers

Fifteen years of watching both, and what I’d tell a 27-year-old today.

Guest post! A friend’s daughter sat across from me at a Bandra cafe last month. Twenty-seven, two years out of a top-five US MBA, three years into a brand-name strategy job. She wanted my read on a job offer. The offer: same level, slightly different function, 35% more cash, a more glamorous-sounding firm. The kind of offer that, on paper, anyone would take. Her parents had already taken it on her behalf, mentally. I asked her one question: “If you take this, what are you optimizing for?” She paused. “More money. Better brand. More options later.” I nodded and asked the second question,…

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