sherilm

It probably has less to do with your age and more with where you are in your journey and how you are seeing things. Increasing domain mastery can also mean less tolerance for BS.

Slightly tangential, and perhaps abstract, but nevertheless applicable - two counterintuitive ideas that might be helpful:

1. Keats' notion of Negative Capability. We always think of abilities in the positive but often beyond a certain point dealing with the uncertainties is an ability in itself. More at https://www.leadingsapiens.com/developing-negative-capabilit...

2. Maslow's idea of Second Naïveté. Domain mastery can easily turn into increasing cynicism. Have to be on the alert for this. The masters are somehow able to reengage as beginners and push past what others find mundane. More at https://www.leadingsapiens.com/naivete-in-leadership/

You are 32ish. That’s still very young in the grand scheme of things and plenty of time to turn things around. Went through this myself, and did a complete 180 at the ripe age of 41, so you are way ahead than me.

Introspection can only work so much. “Extro”spection can be twice as effective. You can only know so much internally.

You mention not having love for the “art”. What do you have love for? Or what pulls you towards it, even if only slightly? Have you explored that or given it enough time to turn into something?

Looking for inherent meaning in work can be a mirage. You have to “create” that meaning for whatever you are doing.

I have written about my own experience that might be useful.

Some questions to ask about your current goals and career: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/questions-midlife-career-chan... https://www.leadingsapiens.com/ask-before-setting-goals/

David Whyte’s Crossing the Unknown Sea is a must read. I elaborated on one of his concepts here: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/the-set-of-our-sail-in-work-a...

Mid career can be especially dangerous if we are not alert. Captured some of the dynamics here: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/mid-career-mistakes/

Frameworks were essential for me to think through the big change. I collected all of them here: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/essential-career-change-frame...

Author here. Not sure if you read the article but that's the exact point I am making. I could've probably sequenced it better.

My introduction to his ideas was through his OODA loops.

"Have something to say". Everything else is secondary.

Layoffs are common but how they went about it was anything but.

Quixote is hardly a good model for leadership, but he provides a basis for thinking about what justifies great action. Why do we do what we do? Our standard answer is that we do what we do because we expect it to lead to good consequences. Quixote reminds us that there is another possible answer: We do what we do because it fulfills our identity, our sense of self. Identity-based actions protect us from the discouragement of disappointing feedback. Of course, the cost is that it also slows learning. Both types of actions are essential elements of human sensibility, but our usual conversations — particularly in business settings and schools — tend to forget the second.

Have you had instances where you thought Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT) played a factor in your rise/fall?

The results, published in the journal The Leadership Quarterly, were unequivocal. With increasing power – that is number of subordinate under the leader or the number of decision choices available to the leader – leaders were inclined to look out for their own self-interest at the expense of those for whom they were responsible. Even those who have honest and socially-acceptable attitudes at the moment of their accession to a position of leadership rather easily changed their moral perspectives once they got a taste of power.

One reason why the simple "technology" of journalling can be surprisingly effective.

Yes, willingness to learn is key. The military does a great job of designing "experience" as well. Outside the military, simulating that experience can be hard to pull off.

FIRE spreadsheets and calculations are overrated in my opinion. The decision to walk away is much more complex than plain numbers. Even if you end up walking away based purely on numbers, it’s very likely you will be back in a few.

My bet is that there are many who actually can quit based on just numbers but who don’t or can’t. I was one of them. I’ve attempted to take an alternate look based on my own experience instead of the typical crap that’s out there.

Looking at CEOs or anyone higher up on the ladder has survivorship bias issues and often not useful.I took a stab at answering this myself using an old model from philosophy. I focussed on problems rather than what works. https://www.leadingsapiens.com/transition-to-leadership/

Along the same lines: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/technology-dumbs-you-down/

The "open office" concept is not as cool as it's often perceived to be.

Many of the prevailing HR assumptions, including those of some if not all execs, are rooted in early 20th century industrial understanding of human beings. It's deeply rooted in prevailing culture and systems.

Agreed. It cuts both ways. Any idea even with positive intentions can be abused when taken to the extremes. That's what typically happens when the means becomes the end itself.

This one's behind a paywall from 2021. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a36078957...

True. You might find the below article in Atlantic interesting.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/why-t...