WORKING IN THE SPACE YOU HAVE

If you're lucky, at some point in your career you get the chance to take a big swing at a big thing. You get to make the decisions, you get the budget, you get the backing you need to do something real and important, and you get to do it more or less your way. You get to shake things up and do something you care deeply about. The big swing comes with its own risks, of course, but it's exciting and rewarding for as long as it lasts. And, if you're successful, you get to wear that badge for a long time afterward.

But for most of us this isn't the norm for most of our careers. That reality can be frustrating. But it doesn't mean you never get to do anything cool. What it means is that if you care enough you have to find the cracks where you can work at a smaller scale, chipping away at the problem patiently but relentlessly, sometimes anonymously. It's harder because you don't always have control no matter how much you want to have an impact. But it also comes with its own reward because it forces you to be creative and flexible - not to mention determined and focused enough to push through the frustration.

I've been in both situations and, if I had to choose, on most days I'd actually choose the cracks. In part because the big swing isn't always what we imagine it will be. In fact, too often we overlook the power of small things (Rory Sutherland is brilliant on this).But it's also because you usually end up working only with people who care as much as you do. Clock punchers and ladder climbers and paper shufflers don't fit in the cracks, and they don't really ever think to look for them. But others who care will seek those narrow spaces out, and in the process they'll find you. And you'll commiserate together at times. But, if your patience and commitment and ego can endure it, together you will eventually make a dent.