The Doodle Report (Vol 1)

Some of the best ideas come through the writing in the margins, a small sketch or a visual that creates a spark.

I loveeee a good visual. Seeing something laid out has always made ideas, concepts and even revolutions clearer. Quite ironic as someone who also loves to write, but sometimes you just need the graphic. The Doodle Report is going to be a weekly series of charts/graphs/tables/visuals that are bringing to life the thoughts & ideas I’m grappling with.

I recently started a new job so that’s been on my mind a lot. The funny thing is when you leave and start fresh, it’s what everyone wants to ask you about.

The conversation usually goes:

Everyone’s thinking about leaving.
Everyone’s sure they’d be better off somewhere else.
Everyone’s terrified to actually do it.

It’s made me come to the conclusion that most of us stay in our current jobs because leaving the comfort zone means starting from scratch. And why be the new kid in high school if you don’t have to?

For the record, I also think it’s totally fine to stay in a job because it’s comfortable and easy. Your 9-5 is what you make of it and choosing ease over ambition is a valid move.

However, all of these conversations made me come to the conclusion that a lot of junior talent stays in their current job because they don’t really have a marker of when to leave. They usually leave for compensation, but that leaves out a really important factor: future value exchange.

Which led me to drawing this graph:

So let’s break this down a bit.

When I left Duolingo, the best way to describe why I was leaving came down to the reality I held in my head: I truly believe in a field like marketing, it’s really hard for any brand to be known for more than one thing.

Nike? Motivational storytelling.

Apple? Beautiful design.

Patagonia? Environmental activism.

A lot of brands are still finding their brand “thing” and very few will find them. The tough reality of being well-known is that if someone is on the top, someone has to be on the bottom.

At Duolingo, I was able to help coin unhinged marketing on TikTok. Which means I was able to develop & discover every corner, crevice and page of it for 5 years.

But at some point, making another viral video for a known brand was not going to grow me - it was only going to grow the brand.

This was the inflection point.

It’s important to regularly check in with yourself and where you’re tracking on this graph. I used to do it annually and once I found myself tracking it on a monthly basis, it was a telling sign.

It’s really important to understand at what point are you adding more value than taking from your role. Everything is a numbers game in an open marketplace and there’s no reason to not treat your job the same way.

The price you pay when leaving is similar to a high-risk investment.

You don’t know what you’re getting into, but it’s very possible the gains outweigh the initial learning curve.

Which usually means… betting on yourself. But that’s a story for another time.