End of an Era

Author

Lauren Curtis
December 10, 2024

In partnership with

Hey Health Techies!

This was a rough week in healthcare with the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. I’ve been quiet on social media about it, trying not to add to the noise. And there’s nothing new that I feel like I can really add to the conversation, especially nothing that will feel in any way inspiring to this community.

I resonate deeply with an article posted a little earlier today by journalist Christina Farr in her newsletter Second Opinion. It’s beautifully written as a letter to her children about the events of the past week and how difficult it is to have committed your entire career to healthcare and allowing yourself to wonder sometimes if we’re even making any progress. I highly recommend that you give it a read.

But in an effort to keep it a bit lighter in your inbox today, I want to throw back to the very first issue of the Hey Health Tech newsletter. It went out in January 2023, and I talked about the kickoff of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. And here we are now almost two years later (and with over 10x more of you here in the newsletter community!), the tour has come to a close, and it truly feels like the end of an era.

In that issue, I talked about how — just like Taylor — your career should have eras too. And given that the end of the year is near, and many like to use this time as a time to reflect, perhaps it’s a good time to revisit that idea and think about how you may want to apply it in 2025.

Taylor embraces the eras

Whether you’re a certified Swiftie or not, I think we can all respect Taylor’s career trajectory. Her music career has spanned nearly two decades and has made her one of the most famous people in the world. Maybe you’re thinking “What could I possibly have in common with a billionaire superstar?

Eras.

Yes, Taylor’s Eras Tour was a nod to the different stages she has had in her career. And guess what? Your career should have eras too.

Whether you are looking to transition to a new career or you’ve already found your dream role, if you want long-term career fulfillment, then you likely need to embrace the fact that your career should have several eras.

How does one define these? Well, that’s up to you. What roles have you held? What skills have you developed? How have you grown?

Some examples might be:

Discovery Era

Leadership Era

Reinvention Era

“Won’t make that mistake again” Era

Impact Era

Do you really need to name your eras like Taylor? I guess not but why take the fun out of it?

The bigger picture is that Taylor uses every era to learn and grow as a person and musician. She uses these learnings to feed into her music and get better and better over time. After all, she wouldn’t be where she is today if she had boxed herself in as only a country artist and just stayed in that lane.

And you can do the same. Take time to reflect on what you’ve learned throughout each phase of your career and use that to propel you forward.

This isn’t so much about climbing the coporate ladder (I’ll be the first to admit that career growth is rarely so linear). It’s about cultivating a career based focused on your interests and growth.

Be the mastermind of your career

So I encourage you to be like Taylor.

Be the mastermind of your career.

Use your lived experiences and your curiosity to carve your career path rather than picking a path first and trying to fit your life into it.

If that reflection has you feeling ready for a change, check out the job board for some open roles in health tech. If that reflection has you ready for a career in pop music…I’ve got nothing for you but I’ll be cheering you on and will take full credit when you make it big.

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Until next time,

Lauren