Forging Unique Paths
Reflecting on Career Adventurer's 1st Year
Last night, I was driving home from an AI Tinkerers event in Cincinnati, when I couldn’t help but reflect upon our careers and mortality. I was trying to think about what to write for a one-year reflections post and needed inspiration. Then, it came.
I was listening to ESPN radio. A replay of ESPN Daily was playing. Basketball icon, Jerry West was the main subject. Yet, Kobe Bryant was discussed as well.
While I listened, I couldn’t help but reflect upon the meaning of Career Adventurer over the past year. I launched Career Adventurer to help people forge their path by listening to stories, by hearing how others have paved their way. Listening to Jerry West and Kobe Bryant’s paths both inside and outside of basketball captured the essence of what it means to be a career adventurer: you can choose to forge a path in one field or you can explore a variety of interests. The choice is really up to you.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jerry West, he’s part of NBA basketball immortality. He’s the only player in NBA history to have won the NBA Finals MVP while losing the actual series. His list of accolades is long. He was an amazing player and front office executive. He passed away on June 12, 2024. Jerry was 86.
During the same ESPN Daily radio episode, Kobe Bryant was discussed too. Like Jerry, Kobe is a basketball icon. He too has a long list of accolades. The Black Mamba (i.e. - Kobe’s nickname) was a multi-time NBA All-star, NBA champion, NBA MVP, and more. Kobe died in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. He was 41.
Jerry and Kobe are the same, but different. Both are basketball gods. Both played for the LA Lakers. Yet, Jerry dedicated his life to basketball and Kobe did not. This doesn’t necessarily mean one loved basketball more than the other. It was just a career choice each one made.
Jerry is best known for putting his interests and talents into basketball. After playing professionally, he became an NBA head coach. He became a front-office executive for a number of NBA teams like the Lakers, Clippers, and Timberwolves. Given his dedication to basketball, it’s kind of fitting that the NBA logo is modeled after him, even if it was just serendipitous.
Kobe forged a different path, still centered around interests. He explored entertainment and business. He won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball. He was the first African-American to do so and the first former professional athlete to win an academy award. Plus, he created and built the show Detail on ESPN.
Neither path is right or wrong. They were simply two people forging their own paths. It would be reductive to say that they were the same: great NBA players. True, they both were both great players. Yet, Jerry put his gaze on running teams, while Kobe set his on entertaining people in new ways. They are two stories that are intertwined around interests and strengths.
This story on ESPN Radio resonated with me for a three reasons.
First, it’s been a year since I started writing Career Adventurer. I could tell you about how many subscribers, followers, downloads, likes, and other stats I’ve earned. Or, I could just share that I’m happy to be exploring my interest in writing. I’m happy to help others hear stories to catapult them down their path. To me, being a Career Adventurer is not about jumping from job to job and exploring the world aimlessly. It’s about pursuing what interests you, whether that’s exploring the same company or industry or testing a variety of paths.
Second, writing has compelled me to get a career coaching certification. It’s called the Strong, part of the Myer’s Briggs Company tools. It’s a tried and true psychographic approach to help people identify interests within the ever changing world of work. More to come on this in a future post.
Third, we could all die tomorrow. We want to believe we’ll live to be 86, like Jerry West. Yet, we could only live to 41, like Kobe Bryant. R.J. Talyor, my most recent podcast guest, reminded me of the importance of this. On occasion, he asks himself if he’d be pissed off if this is how he was spending his last day on Earth. If the answer is yes, it means he should find something new. We only have so much time here. Don’t languish on something that isn’t compelling, if you can.
I’m not pissed off to be publishing this newsletter and podcast. I was scared to launch it, but so happy I have. I’ve learned a lot about people over the past year. I’m looking forward to writing more and sharing inspiring stories for years to come.
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Paul G. Fisher