Written By: Lauren Howard
I was very fortunate a few years ago to have two opportunities come to me on the same day.Â
They paid the same.Â
One appeared to be tailor made for me. It was in the digital health space. They were growing a platform. They needed to grow a team. They would give me carte blanche to build in the world that I knew better than anything else.Â
The other, less so. I have the foundational skills for it, but it was in a space I didn’t know anything about. It was outside of healthcare. It would require me to learn a whole new field and turn off the part of my brain that focuses on intense and immediate patient outcomes.Â
On paper, one was perfect and one was questionable at best.
But my gut told me there was something about this imperfect opportunity. There was a kindness to everything they did that seemed infused into the fabric of the company.Â
My head said to go with what I knew, but my gut kept pulling me back.Â
They were confident in me despite my transparency that I would be learning this space anew even though I knew implementation and growth like the back of my hand.Â
The opportunity that was tailor made for me? Turned out to be everything that I knew including everything that I didn’t love about the industry. It felt familiar like going home to a place that you left for a reason. It was your college apartment with the leaky ceiling that you romanticize because, once you’re not there anymore, there is something charming about being young and broke.Â
But the other one? I learned and grew and changed and added to my arsenal.Â
Sometimes the things that make the most sense don’t actually make sense once you get beyond the surface.Â
Your gut will tell you where the real opportunity is.Â
Listen—even if it doesn’t make sense. Maybe it’s not supposed to now because it will soon.Â
Founder & CEO at elletwo