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# So Jeff, when are you leaving Google?
- URL: https://www.jeffsu.org/so-jeff-when-are-you-leaving-google/
- Published: 2023-10-29T10:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-24T12:37:01.000Z
- Author: Jeff
- Tags: Career, Communication

Last month, [I bragged about](https://www.jeffsu.org/how-i-tricked-ali-abdaal-into-becoming-my-friend/) meeting Ali Abdaal and his team in Dublin.

What left an equally deep impression on me was my 1:1 chat with [Johanna Schmidt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanna-schmidt-2220b31a/?ref=jeffsu.org) (Jo), a Director at Google covering the EMEA market.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/db/85/db858a9d-1c4f-4993-8042-faa87b9bb3c1/content/images/2023/10/PXL_20230907_100322681.jpg)

Thanks for paying for my flight and hotel Jo 😂

## “When are you leaving Google?”

That was one of the first questions Jo asked as I sat down in her office.

“Well, I’m not sure. I like my manager, my work, and I also like making Youtube videos. A few years maybe?” I stuttered.

Jo smiled, “Apologies, but as you probably know we Germans are pretty direct. Why don’t we talk about your career plans for a bit.”

And over the next 25 minutes, Jo asked me some tough questions and shared even tougher decisions she’s had to make over the course of her career.

## Two (surprising) questions

I won’t bore you all with the nitty gritty details but two questions Jo asked that stood out were:

1. What problem do you want to solve?
2. Where do you want to live?

### What problem do I want to solve

I literally had to think about this for \~30 seconds (it felt like I was in an interview), and in the end I answered “how to consistently be the best-in-class in execution."

Not the sexiest answer, I know 😅.

And I felt all the more stupid when Jo shared her answer (I don’t remember it word-for-word but it was something along the lines of empowering customers to grow sustainably).

This part of the conversation made me realize that (1) I was still thinking too small, and (2) I needed to identify **the purpose** of my work - both at Google and with Youtube.

Jo asked me to have an answer by our next 1:1 PDP chat (PDP = Personal Development Plan), scheduled for the end of November.

### Where do I want to live

It was slightly easier to answer this question, because I really resonated with this quote from Derek Sivers (author of bestsellers like **Anything You Want, Hell Yeah or No, How to Live**):

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/db/85/db858a9d-1c4f-4993-8042-faa87b9bb3c1/content/images/2023/10/CleanShot-2023-10-19-at-14.44.36@2x.png)

In my case, those options would be: 

- **Hong Kong** (where I was born and raised)
- **Mainland China** (where I’ve spent the majority of my adult life)
- **North America** (where I studied + worked my first job)

*(by the way I’m seriously considering immigrating to Canada in the next 5 years so if you’ve immigrated to Canada, hit me up* 😂*)*

According to Jo, this second consideration is extremely underrated because most ambitious people don’t consider how much they’re impacted by their physical location.

Put another way, even if you landed a “dream role” (which doesn’t exist by the way), if you can’t stand the city you relocate to, your lifestyle and career wouldn’t be sustainable.

## Next steps

This post is already too long so I’ll just wrap up by saying clearly I didn’t have all the answers during our chat, but I have another conversation scheduled with Jo so I’ll report back with more learnings soon!

[What do you think? Let me know in the comments!](https://www.jeffsu.org/so-jeff-when-are-you-leaving-google/#ghost-comments-root)

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