“You can do this, Mike. You can do this. You’re ready! You couldn’t be more ready if you tried.”
Michael Young said those words again and again as he paced restlessly in a small conference room. In just under an hour, he was scheduled for an interview that might very well determine the course of his life. He’d been busting his ass, working long hours and late nights at this company for nine years. After all that time and toil, the opportunity he’d been hoping for came along.
Six weeks ago, a new senior executive position opened in a newly-formed department. Whoever got that job wouldn’t just be taking over for some old employee who retired. They would be in a position to forge a bold new path for themselves and the company. It wouldn’t just be a promotion. It would be a clean slate with which to build a career to call his own.
Michael had been searching for that opportunity since he graduated college, having gone into debt and lived in crappy shared apartments for nearly six years. He only recently began driving a car that was less than 10 years old. Just paying off his debts wasn’t enough, though. Michael aspired to something more.