Ambitious: I’m not talking about prestige-seeking (awards, accolades) but about wanting to embody one’s values at the highest possible level, whatever that means for the person. Gives a shit. Wants to keep giving a shit, and to and to continually give more of a shit over an extended period of time, perhaps an entire lifetime. There are a couple of ... See more

“Yes, I’m ambitious,” a friend told me recently, “but climbing the corporate ladder does not interest me like it used to. A title, a bump in pay—it’s not satisfying. What I need to feel successful and fulfilled is completely different.  Am I doing something that brings satisfaction? Do I feel like I’m learning? Do I feel like I’m contributing

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Take, for example, the ambition to “make your venture-backed startup profitable”: to develop, market, and distribute a product or service that’s never existed before, in a form that’s valuable and accessible enough for large numbers of people to want to pay you for it, in sufficient quantity that your revenue consistently exceeds your costs.

If you... See more