CHAPTER 9

How to Figure Out What You Want to Do When You “Grow Up”

by Gorick Ng

On the eve of her retirement, I asked school superintendent Sue Pfeffer, “What’s next?”

“I don’t know!” she replied. “I’m still figuring out what I want to do when I ‘grow up.’”

I froze. I didn’t know how to respond.

“Life is a journey,” she clarified, smiling. “That’s what makes it fun. I’m still growing. I’m still learning. I’ll stop when I’m dead.”

Journey? I repeated to myself. Fun?

I was skeptical.

After all, just earlier, I had met an investment banker who, after making it to the top, started wondering if she was meant to be a banker. “I went into finance because that’s what you did with a business degree from my school,” she admitted. “But was that what I really ...

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