Significant Career Lesson From A Senior Product Marketing Manager At Adobe
Ryan's most significant career lesson centers on the importance of passion and happiness in a job, advising that "if you're not passionate, if you're kind of dreading getting up and going to work," it's time to make a change. This approach, inspired by Steve Jobs, guides their career decisions, emphasizing consistent self-assessment and proactive action to ensure sustained fulfillment rather than solely focusing on title or financial growth.
Career Development, Motivation, Stress Management, Passion, Work-Life Balance
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ryan Khademi
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Adobe
University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business, 2013
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Marketing
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
None Applicable, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Find a career you are passionate about and that brings you happiness. Ryan emphasizes that while career growth is important, finding fulfillment and avoiding burnout is key to long-term success.
2. Don't be afraid to make changes if you are not happy in your work. If you find yourself consistently unhappy with your work, your manager, a project, or company, take action to improve the situation or find something more fulfilling.
3. View your career as a marathon, not a sprint. There will be challenging days and less exciting tasks, but focus on the overall process and find joy in the journey. Celebrate the big wins, but also appreciate the smaller accomplishments along the way.
Transcript
Ryan, what is one lesson you've learned that has proven significant in your career?
This one lesson, huh? Okay, many lessons. I'll try to boil this down.
For me, I was becoming a marketer, and my idol was Steve Jobs. He was really good at marketing, understood customers and their needs. He was probably one of the greatest product marketers of all time.
He always talked about how you have to love what you do. I've watched every single interview, read his book, and watched every documentary that existed. He said if he has more days where he's dreading waking up versus being excited to go to work, he probably needs to change something.
I've always used that as a North Star in my career, whether it was avoiding burnout or pacing myself. It was just making sure I was happy. I think that's been the biggest thing I've learned throughout my career.
Obviously, you want to grow your title and do well, but you have to ask yourself if you're happy with what you do. It gets so hard. There are days when you wake up and it's just meetings, challenging situations, or things breaking down.
If you're not passionate, if you're dreading getting up and going to work, you hit burnout. It's literally when you can't send an email because your brain is so tired. You feel that nagging feeling of not wanting to touch your computer or go to work, and you don't know why. That's probably burnout.
I'd always say to make sure you're operating from a place of passion and happiness, because it's not going to be easy. It's a hard path, like any job.
If you've been at a company, on a project, or with a manager for a year or two and aren't getting a sense of fulfillment, growth, or happiness – people call it psychological safety, there are many terms for it – you need to take action. Don't complain; find out how to make things better.
So, my number one lesson is to make sure you're passionate about what you do and happy every day. You're not going to be able to eat dessert; it's a lot of vegetables, emails, cleanup, and administrative stuff. But you have these big moments.
You can go on stage and present to a thousand people or do a cool tech demo. These are exciting moments, but they're few and far between. It's about loving the process, admiring it, and just coming every single day. It's like a marathon; just be happy and enjoy it.
It's a bit of a cheesy answer, but if you can do that and go back to the growth mindset, learning a little and improving yourself every day, you'll get to where you want to go. You just have to do that every single day.