Latest / The Talent Brief / The Responsibility to Decide What Is Enough
Transcript
- Jeff Ganter: Welcome back to the Talent Brief. Yesterday I had brunch with two friends, and somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the three of us realized something none of us were really prepared for. What happens when you've spent decades being responsible for everyone else? And suddenly you're only responsible for yourself. The three of us have taken very different paths. My two friends are successful entertainment producers. One built a business and documentaries and film, the other animation and film. And I've spent more than twenty-one years running eleventh hour. Different careers, different paths. But sitting around that table, we realized we're all standing in almost exactly the same place. For most of our careers, responsibility has been pointed outward. Employees, clients, payroll, productions, deadlines, and Problems that needed solving. People looking to us for answers. When you live that way for decades, you get pretty damn good at carrying things. You don't even think about it anymore. You just carry them. But all three of us are going through career shifts, and for perhaps the first time in decades. We're looking at a future where we're not responsible for running companies filled with other people. We're responsible for ourselves. And you think that would feel incredibly freeing. It does. But here's what surprised me. It's also fucking overwhelming. Because suddenly all that responsibility that used to point outward Points inward. And somewhere during that conversation, something hit me that I haven't been able to shake. For decades, I understood the responsibility of taking care of other people. Now I'm beginning to understand something very different. The responsibility to decide what is enough. Enough. What the hell does that really mean? And I want to be clear about something. I know I am enough. I had to work hard to believe that, and yes, I still have cracks. But this isn't about my worth. Maybe it was years ago. The question I'm wrestling with now is what enough looks like when I finally get to define it for myself. Enough success? Enough money? Enough accomplishment enough proving enough building enough responsibility enough pushing? And maybe the harder question Who gets to decide? For most of my adult life there was always another measurement, another client, another placement, another opportunity, another problem, another goal. There was always a reason to keep going. And now nobody else gets to set that measurement for me. I do. That's freedom. And I'm discovering that freedom can be pretty fucking daunting. Because I'm still wired. Still wired to create. Still wired to get excited about ideas. Still wired to challenge myself. But I'm beginning to wonder if the question isn't whether I still have the drive. I know I do. The question might be, what do I want that drive to be responsible for now? And that's where this starts bumping into signals versus scripts. Because there's there's a script I know incredibly well. You can do more. Keep going. Build something else. Don't waste your experience. You're capable of more. But maybe there's a signal underneath all of that saying something different. Not stop, not disappear, not becomes less ambitious. Just you don't have to carry everything anymore. I'm still trying to understand what that means, and maybe that's the point. I don't have an answer. I'm still sitting with it. But maybe after that conversation I realized I'm probably not the only one. There are a lot of us who have spent decades being the responsible ones. The builders, the leaders, the problem solvers, the people everybody counted on. And maybe the question in the next chapter isn't whether we're still capable. We know we're capable. Maybe the question is, does capability always have to become responsibility? I don't know. But I'm starting to look at the word enough very differently. Maybe enough isn't giving up. Maybe enough isn't settling. Maybe enough isn't the opposite of ambition. Maybe enough is something we finally get to define for ourselves. And right now, I'm still figuring out what mine looks like. So I'm not gonna leave you with an answer. I'm going to leave you with the question I'm taking with me. When nobody else gets to decide what is enough for you anymore, what is enough? I'm Jeff Gantor. This is the Talon Brief. Trust the signal, question the script. See you soon. Bye.