Commit to a book, but write in chapters

I saw the subject line of this post on First Round recently. You can read the article here. It seemed very à propos given how much I have been thinking about closing out a decade of my life. My fortieth birthday is in 3 months (yikes!) and what a decade it has been.  In this decade, I graduated from Kellogg, did two cross country moves, adopted a dog, ran two marathons, gave birth to two beautiful children, lost my father and saw my mother through a breast cancer diagnosis.  It has been a mixed bag personally.

But this was also the decade in which I found true passion in my career.  Product Management started out as a consolation prize for not getting a brand marketing job and has become so much more.

In many ways, Product Management seems like the culmination of all the chapters of my career. My first chapter at Accenture, was roles in technology and software engineering. Chapter two at Hewitt and Bank of America took me down the business analysis and project management path.  Chapter three, at West Monroe Partners, taught me all about financial management, business plans, SOWs and private equity. Chapter four, at Kellogg School of Management, taught me marketing, advertising, accounting, organizational management and strategy.  This was by far the most pivotal chapter for me because this led to my first job in Product Management.

My first Product Management job (at Adobe) was the shortest chapter of my book and also my introduction to Silicon Valley and what innovation looks like up close.  If you had told me I would one day move to the Bay Area only to move back to Chicago six months later, I would have never believed you.  But without moving back, the Walgreens chapter would have never been written.

During my five years in Digital Product Management at Walgreens, I discovered so many things I love. Designing great customer experiences, learning about rolling out products at scale, re-imagining convenience through the mobile lens, discovering the power of analytics and multi-variate testing, the list goes on.  Walgreens Digital has been one of the most memorable chapters for me because it was the most formative in building my digital DNA.

As December draws close, I certainly feel like my first book is ending and I am getting ready for the sequel.  Even though some chapters felt like they went on longer than I wanted, looking back, I love the story they tell.

In the words of Maya Angelou, "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive, and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style"