A career is an interesting thing.

I’ve never been a “career at all costs” kind of person. Probably why I’ve never made millions of dollars or been a CEO.

At uni, I worked at a pizza shop and a liquor shop. The mop was my friend. Things always needed to be cleaned.

I spent the first part of my “proper” career working to get ahead, to succeed in using my brain and to find new challenges to overcome.

The middle part of my career was spent leveraging my specialist skills to deliver consulting services and support others. There was value in status with this role; being seen to be successful and knowledgable.

Now, in the current (but hopefully not last) part of my career, I’ve got no interest in any of that. I don’t really care what others think of me, or what status is assigned to my job. I’m enjoying the effort of being a good manager. As a manager I have an ethos of never asking somebody to do something that I wouldn’t do myself (if I have the requisite skill and capability).

Mopping. I know this. 30 years later, the mop is still as friendly as ever. I feel no embarrassment about being a manager that mops.

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