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Title: How and When to Disrupt Your Career, and Yourself
Authors: Harvard Business Review
Category:articles
Tags:people,management,career
Number of Highlights: 5
Source URL: https://youtu.be/1wrQ6Msp7wM
Date: 2026-04-26
Last Highlighted: 2026-04-26
Highlights
Top of my game, and I was like, itâs time. Like, itâs time for me to do something new. And I went to my boss. I said, hey, I want to do something new. It feels like itâs time. And he said, really? No, really, we like you right where you are. Within a year, I left. Had it been possible for me to jump to do something new, to disrupt myself inside the organization, I wouldnât have left.
Note: When employeeâs arenât allowed opportunities to grow, they companies tend to lose these folks. These is likely even more of an issue, the higher the employee is.
The s-curve. The s-curve is a learning curve. Everyoneâs on a learning curve, including you. It looks like this. There are three parts. Number one, thereâs the low end, or the launch point of the curve, and itâs characterized by inexperience. Youâve just started a new role, just started a new job. Growth is going to be â and that means that some days youâre gonna feel kind of discouraged. Then thereâs a sweet spot, or steep part of the curve, which is characterized by exhilaration and learning and confidence. Things will be hard but not too hard, easy but not too easy. All of your neurons are firing. This is that sweet spot on that s-curve. And then thereâs the height of the curve. The high end of the curve is where you become a master. Youâve mastered your domain, which is characterized by boredom.
Note: The âS-Curveâ is the most interesting part of this video. It feels like when I went from managing servers to clients. It was similar but it had a new set of challanges.
Get complacent, and that is a huge, huge danger zone. Let me tell you, for anybody who knows anything about mountain climbing, youâll know that when you get to an altitude above 26,000 feet, itâs â itâs the Death Zone, because youâre so high up your brain and bodies start to die.
Note: Phenomenal analogy about becoming complacent at the top of your game.
In my naivete, expecting my boss to just figure it out for me. Iâve learned some good lessons. Be very proactive. You want to go in and say, you know, itâs time for me to do something new. Iâve noticed that there is an opportunity over here, meaning a problem that the organization needs to solve over here, and I think I can help solve it.
Note: Knowing you need a change doesnât mean asking your boss for a solution. It means finding a problem space that the organization has that you could solve. And also backfill so that you donât leave your team with a gap.
The challenge for you as a manager is, if this person is good at what they do, is to make sure that they jump to new s-curves. Sometimes theyâre gonna approach you and want to jump to an s-curve, and if you want to retain them, then youâve got to let that happen. Sometimes they wonât approach you, but theyâve been a high performer in the past, in which case you need to push them, because if theyâre at the top of the curve and theyâre bored, theyâre either gonna leave, or theyâre gonna disengage. Theyâre gonna be complacent and stay, which is bad. Itâs bad for them, itâs bad for you, itâs bad for the company.
Note: As a manager, keep an eye for folks who are at the top of that S-Curve. Look for opportunities for them.
Tags:management