When you are a child, you are told to follow your passions. You are supposed to explore, take risks, play.
As you grow and develop you are still encouraged to follow your passions. Maybe you have a gift! Are you an artist? A football star? a violinist? You sign up for countless classes and activities in hopes to discover your thing.
In High School you have electives. Classes that will let you see a little deeper into things you might enjoy. You also have school clubs, after school sports, and friends who all influence you to try new things.. find new passions.
Finally you reach college. Sure there are general education classes, but there are also literal books full of classes for everything imaginable. You can follow any passion you want in college! You are learning, You are growing. You are exploring.
Then you graduate, and are told “Well you had your fun now pick one thing and do it for 40 years.”
But what if you didn’t find your thing?
And what if your thing is things?
In my career I have worked in visual effects, feature animation, toys and collectibles, on-set for films, and in licensing. Yet there was a time that, even with those qualifications, I couldn’t find a job. Not a single job. Why? Because I was a “job hopper.”
I was so defeated. I was being punished for curiosity. My wanting to grow as a creative was getting doors slammed in my face. Aren’t creatives supposed to be curious? Doesn't human existence tie itself to the desire to learn and grow? Are we supposed to be content in a cubicle doing the same thing day after day?
It doesn’t have to be this way. Sometimes a company recognizes this as an advantage, instead of a handicap.
SEGA was one of those places. When I started at SEGA, I came in as a Product Development Manager, strictly working in licensing. My position started evolving when different points in my career became relevant and helpful.
(Keep in mind NONE of the below are responsibilities of a product development manager…)
We had licensors who needed packaging design concepts. I could do that (From my time in collectibles)
Submitted designs needed minor modifications. Instead of sending it back to the licensee and waiting for revisions, I could do that (20 years of photoShop work)
The Sonic Boom animated series has deadlines with the master toy licensee but the 3D assets for the show haven’t been created yet. No problem, I can make those (A history in 3D art for film and toy design)
Sonic Boom also needs someone internal at Sega who understands feature animation. I got you. (2 years at DreamWorks)
Someone needs to approve the Sonic The Hedgehog comic book. I would love to (History of writing)
Sonic Team Japan is too busy to provide style guide posing of the Sonic The Hedgehog crew. Easy. (10 years of VFX and animating character rigs) - This was actually cool because at the time, I was the ONLY American allowed to pose the Sonic characters for official licensing use. This was previously a Japan office exclusive task.
And so on. After 2 month I went from “product development manager” to “Art Director for licensing and animation”. SEGA saw the value where others saw the faults.
Many of you will be familiar with this story:
"A father said to his daughter “You graduated with honors, here is a car I acquired many years ago. It is several years old. But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you. The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because it looks very worn out.” The father said, ”Take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said, ”The pawn shop offered $100 because it was a very old car.” The father asked his daughter to go to a car club and show them the car. The daughter took the car to the club, returned and told her father,” Some people in the club offered $100,000 for it since it’s a Rare year and model, an iconic car and sought out by many.” The father said to his daughter, ”The right place values you the right way,” If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means you are in the wrong place. Those who know your value are those who appreciate you. Never stay in a place where no one sees your value.
This isn’t just true for cars, it’s true for you.
One place I found this to be exceptionally true is the world of startups, where teams are small, nimble, and every dollar counts. Places where creativity is needed - but they don’t have the budget or bandwidth for a full team.
I can be that team.
It took a long time, but I found “the car club.” An area where my background makes me unique, and thought good luck, bad luck, and a need to learn, I carved my own path to get here.
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