Why I keep showing up to push the boulder uphill
In September I’ll have been with Dropbox for 7 years. Leaders have come and gone, teammates I’ve come to know and care for have moved on, strategies have shifted, culture was completely shaken by the pandemic, and so many other changes. The reality that change is the only real constant in life has crystalized with experience.
Patterns emerge, sometimes déjà vu stares you down in the face of yet another strategy change or reorg. However, over time I’ve come to appreciate that there is always something new to learn, from someone new, in every situation. I’ll never have a handle on what is happening, but I can aim to show up and stay curious in the face of change. I love the following quote from Oliver Burkeman:
“The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control—when the flood of emails has been contained; when your to-do lists have stopped getting longer; when you’re meeting all your obligations at work and in your home life; when nobody’s angry with you for missing a deadline or dropping the ball; and when the fully optimized person you’ve become can turn, at long last, to the things life is really supposed to be about. Let’s start by admitting defeat: none of this is ever going to happen.”
― Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The truth is I keep showing up because I believe in the act of making something great for people who need it. I believe that doing any job is worth doing better than I’ve ever done it before. I show up because I’ve got a team of people looking for guidance and I believe I have something to offer. I show up because my kids need a reliable role model about what it means to put in the time at work and get paid for a job well done. I show up to get smarter than I was yesterday. I show up because I’ve built the trust with my leads that I will be here to do a job.
Being reliable, agile, and curious in times of change
The number one piece of advice that the famous investor Charlie Munger offered to the younger generation was to be reliable. Maintaining an inner sense that you’ll show up for others, for your family, your team, and for yourself provides a moral drive. As change is inevitable in life and business, we can never control what happens, but we can control how we opt to handle it for ourselves. I find that the reliability I aimed for earlier in my career, putting in the hours to show the best I was capable of created a long burning fire to maintain that reliability even as my life has changed dramatically with new jobs, marriage, and children.
Over my career I’ve now had 20 or more managers or leaders, including 10-12 in my first few years at Dropbox. While every change in management comes with a cost, it also came with a new opportunity to learn about someone, and to learn from them. To look on the dark side maybe my career would have moved a bit faster with more continuity, but on the bright side I would have missed the chance to build my toolbox of tips, tricks, advice, processes and friendship with each new manager. Staying agile throughout those changes allowed me to show up where needed or find opportunities to have an impact. What did that manager know best? Where did they need help? etc.
In his book, “Creativity, Inc.,” Pixar co-founder writes about one of the principles that guided him in life and in business: “When faced with a challenge, get smarter.” I’ve taken this advice to heart with every new team, challenge and stress that Dropbox has thrown at me over the years. It’s infinitely fascinating to learn about the intricacies of search technology, how people work, how organization leads to success, how big projects get done, how failure effects morale, and on and on.
I feel lucky to make something everyday. I don’t run into burning buildings or put my life on the line, I don’t save people as a doctor, nurse, or care giver. I’m grateful though that we make a tool that helps others. We protect memories as photos, we save hours at work so people can get back to their families, we enable films to be crafted that contribute to our culture. I don’t really have a conclusion to this thought, but rather a final recommendation: Keep showing up, even if it’s only for yourself.
