Navigating the Opportunity Marketplace

It’s funny how much time I spent preparing for my adulthood - the leadership training, the personality assessments, the right-off-the-blocks emphasis on personal development - and how competitive the opportunity landscape of my adulthood has actually been. 

As a student, it was easy to take this kind of training as manifest destiny. 

But there was little to no discussion about how things like your hometown or your alma mater would irreparably alter how others saw your potential. How immovable things, like your race or gender, would impact their view. 

That’s a shame, because I spend a lot more time navigating the opportunity marketplace than I should. 

I looked up my Myers Briggs personality type today. “Energizing. Communicative. Strategic. Motivating.”

Who wouldn’t want that combination? 

But part of navigating the opportunity marketplace is acknowledging that gender bias is real, that the myth of meritocracy weighs favor towards others.