My career mission: why you need one too
Elevate your career by finding your true passion, your north star
Gordon here. I’m a Taiwanese Canadian who has worked in the US for over 10 years. I’m ex-Meta, ex-Microsoft, and have been Head of Product at 2 tech startups.
Have you ever sat down to define your career path? A career mission may help.
Last week, I outlined my gameplan to start something new: writing consistently. Why did I start writing? Let me share the ‘why’ behind: my career mission statement.
Companies have mission statements, so should your career
A mission statement for a company typically articulates the purpose and primary objectives of the organization. It's a concise declaration of what the company aims to achieve long-term, its core values, and its approach to doing business. A good mission statement inspires, motivates, and brings direction and focus1
The same goes for your career mission. It reveals your identity and purpose.
Your career mission is a beacon to long-term satisfaction
A career mission shares the same attributes and values as described above. It should be tailored for you. Your career mission should not only articulate the purpose of your career but also motivate you.
What is that one-liner that can remind you of the right career path, the role, the company, and the product, services, and culture behind? Does it intrinsically refuel your motivation when needed?
For job hunters or people feeling stuck in their current roles, it’s instrumental to refresh your career mission. I’ve presented a talk on this. DM me to practice.
Career mission evolves
My career mission statement has evolved a few times, as it should when I moved to startups, and when I became a people manager. A few years back, I had two school of thoughts for my career mission:
The desire to contribute with my professional skills at scale, to deliver delightful customer experiences through impactful Product.
The aspiration to engage and cultivate people and teams, and elevate the careers of those around me through coaching and leadership.
Both led me to find opportunities with significant impact (2B DAU at Facebook, 300M MAU at Microsoft Teams), alongside people management, and career advisory roles to scale the impact.
My career mission: to create impactful ‘aha’ moments
With the push from drafting this post, I’ve further refined my career mission:
To create impactful 'aha' moments in user experience, product strategy, and career advancement.
Let’s dive in to each section
The ‘aha’ moments
User experience
Product Strategy
Career advancement
The ‘aha’ moments
It brings me joy when someone — a customer, a colleague, or a mentee/direct report — tells me that I helped them have these key moments that changed the way they work or live. Specifically, in my 3 favourite categories:
User experience — when I design the product experience in a delightful way.
Product strategy — when I solidify with the team how we win and why, from product direction to go-to-market plans.
Career advancement — when my direct reports “level up” in how they operate, or when I pivot someone’s career.
It’s the best feeling for me when it’s validated. I summarize them as “aha moments”, which refer to moments of sudden insight, realization, or comprehension.
User experience
I get hyped when a customer is delighted due to my decision in the product experience I provided, changing how people work or live. It’s an honour when I can correlate what I did with a customer’s smile.
An example is when I released OpenPhone AI with AI call summary & AI-suggested message responses, which became the talk of the year on G2 and LinkedIn.
Product strategy
When I started my career as a product manager, it was about bridging product gaps with features. Later on, it became about pivoting key strategies or product directions, and then it became about rallying the team to maximize their impact.
An example is defining the product strategy and diversifying product offerings and markets at Crescendo Lab, where we tripled our annual recurring revenue (ARR), released 2 new products, and expanded to Japan and Thailand.
Career advancement
As a product leader, I drive customer satisfaction and amplify business impact leveraging a team of talents. I am as hyped and committed to empowering, supporting, and uplifting my team members to reach their full potential, achieve success, and thrive in their professional endeavors.
One example is assisting a team member in growing into a senior product manager.
Another example involves coaching someone to secure an offer at Meta and double their salary. We spent time delving deep into their career mission/goal, making resume edits, preparing for interviews, and even navigating salary negotiation and choosing the right team.
Where should I focus to create ‘aha’ moments
This career mission guides me where I should lean in:
I want to work for companies where I can pivot the product strategy and bring the success to the next level.
I want to work with like-minded people to delve deep into design, the go-to-market plan, so that the entire customer journey is delightful and impactful.
I want to transform people with similar backgrounds and ambitions in their career. I’m writing to share my knowledge and point of view with the world and to attract people who crave further guidance and collaboration.
Wow! That's something I would get out of bed in the morning for.
A note to you — How are you taking care of your career?2
DM me on LinkedIn or message me here:
I hope this article resonates with you. If you enjoyed this, feel free to subscribe and share it with someone you think would find it helpful. 💎
At Meta, each team has a mission. I spent a few months refreshing my team mission when I joined [a topic for another time].
One of my circle of editors has no career “ambition”, he just want more money. I think honesty is key, and it is totally okay to have “non-noble” motives (finance, fame, relaxation).