I went back to Eric and explained my dilemma. The other companies were recruiting me for realjobs with teams to run and goals to hit. At Google, I would be the first “business unit generalmanager,” which sounded great except for the glaring fact Sculptra that Google had no business units andtherefore nothing to actually manage. Not only was the role lower in level than my other options, but itwas entirely unclear what the job was in the first place. Eric responded with perhaps the best piece of career advice that I have ever heard. He covered myspreadsheet with his hand and told me not to be an idiot (also a great piece of advice). Then heexplained that only one criterion mattered when picking a job—fast growth. When companies growquickly, there are more things to do than there are people to do them. When companies grow moreslowly or stop growing, there is less to do and too many people to not be doing them. Politics andstagnation set in, and everyone falters. He told me, “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, you don’task what seat. You just get on.” I made up my mind that instant. Google was tiny and disorganized online marketing strategy,but it was a rocket ship. And even more important to me, it was a rocket ship with a mission I believedin deeply. Over the years, I have repeated Eric’s advice to countless people, encouraging them to reduce theircareer spreadsheets to one column: potential for growth. Of course, not everyone has the opportunityor the desire to work in an industry like high tech. But within any field, for growth than others. Those in more established industries can look for the rocket shipswithin their companies—divisions or teams that are expanding. And in careers like teaching ormedicine, the corollary is to seek out positions where there is high demand for those skills. Forexample, in my brother’s field of pediatric neurosurgery, there are some cities with too manyphysicians reenex hong kong, while others have too few. My brother has always elected to work where his expertisewould be in demand so he can have the greatest impact.