Deborah B

That's a question I'm earnestly grappling with right now. I know that negotiating takes a toll on me. I love working with people in ways that build people up and connect them. While I don't feel bad, exactly, doing what I do now, I don't feel I'm building a better world for my future children and grandchildren.

For a long time, I tried to pretend I could deny the "bigger picture" questions or paint them as unimportant to where I end up. Now, though, I'm coming to understand that, whatever the reason for feeling the way I do, I need to be in positions where I am helping people. It doesn't necessarily matter whether the job itself directly ties in. I'd be happy to negotiate procurement contracts for a hospital. But in some way, somehow, the end result of what I'm doing needs to be more poignant, more significant than more dollars in a big, big corporate coffer.

And, no, that's not to knock those for whom this is fulfilling. I've learned enough at Big Software Company to understand that some extraordinary people work in the corporate world. They need different kinds of challenges to engage them than I do, and that's the kind of environment for them. All the props in the world to 'em! It truly takes all types to make this crazy, beautiful world....