Big Changes

Today, I did something crazy.
I announced that I’m leaving my job, a job that I really like and that others would kill to have, a job with a great team on a project I enjoy and helped start, a job for which I am well compensated and at a company that is probably unmatched in its ability to take on these kinds of hard problems. Who would do such a thing?

Even if every step of a path feels good, it’s important to pause every once in a while and look at where it leads and understand if that’s really where you want to be headed. Much as I love my job day-to-day, I look forward five or ten years and I think that there are some things I’d like to do in my life that my current path is not equipping me for. So, scary as it is, I’m stepping off this path and choosing a new one, even if the destination of the new path is much less clear than the old one and there are no guarantees that I’ll be happier with where it leads.
I’m taking six months off to travel and see the world and then in the fall I’m moving to Boston where I’ll be attending Harvard Business School to get an MBA. There are plenty of people telling me I’m crazy and they absolutely have a point. But I’ve thought about this long and hard and I believe in both following your dream and putting your money where your mouth is so I’ve decided to do both.

I’m trying to say my goodbyes privately, but if I miss you somehow, let me say it here. It’s been an amazing five years in Seattle and four years at Microsoft.  I lived in Seattle from the ages of 26-31 – some pretty critical years as far as figuring out who you are and what you want out of life and the people I’ve spent time with have changed me profoundly. I’ve grown to love this city in a way that I never suspected I would; so much so that I certainly wouldn’t rule out moving back here if the circumstances are right. So not goodbye then, but à bientôt.