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I would rather talk about the best place to put a new restaurant than manage a kitchen or grill burgers.

I would rather examine construction processes & costs, and value delivery to the client than take shovel in hand or supervise a crew.

I would rather discuss the best ways of solving the problem of physical security for a client than write up shift schedules or walk the rounds with a radio.

I feel like I am a big-picture thinker, but I really hesitate to call myself 'visionary' after the negativity associated with that title, and I am not always the one with the 'hot new ideas'. I'm terrible at the detailed, mundane, or ordinary. But sweeping swathes, broad strokes, 'What's the best for us? How can we be better?' there I think I've got talent.

But without the competitiveness or stress tolerance for academia; without a college degree or years of experience; without the talent or network to write a profitable blog; without the funds to be an entrepreneur or consultant; I feel like I am a bit hopeless. I feel like I am out of options when it comes to a fulfilling, challenging career, at which I would excel, e.g. business strategy, or organizational portfolio management, or something like that.

What can I do? Is there something I've overlooked, or part of the picture I don't see?

Thank you all for your help.

Whatever you end up doing, please remember two things: ideas/big pictures are valueless without skill and experience, and skills and experience is valuable even without ideas/big picture.

I strongly suggest you decide to gain more skill and experience before you focus on any end goals. Possibly in the process you will see a clearer direction for yourself.

You basically nailed it on the head. Your situation is "hopeless" without being willing to do the work necessary to transform abstract ideas in to material actions. According to your post you have:

• No relevant education or qualifications


• No money


• No talent (other than big ideas)


• No skills or experience

So, your value proposition is:

• Has ideas, sort of. Mostly ideas about their own ideas.

Unfortunately, the thing you offer is generally available by people that they already have on board, and whom they already have an established trust relationship with. What are you doing to answer with when someone asks you "Why?" to your suggestion of a location for a restaurant. What about "why?" for construction processes and costs? What about "What about the building codes, safety legislation, knock on effects of your proposed changes, labour relations, etc"?

For a "big picture" kind of thinker, I don't think you currently have a grasp of the big picture. It's good that you're asking questions about it though, so this is a good start.

I feel like I am out of options when it comes to a fulfilling, challenging career, at which I would excel, e.g. business strategy, or organizational portfolio management, or something like that.

You don't know if you would excel at these things, because you haven't done them. You think you might, but from the working of your post, you aren't (or haven't been) willing to do the work to prove that you can.

I can relate to your self perception as a big-picture thinker. I feel the same way about myself but in most fields, the only way get there is to start at the bottom and work your way up. Unless you come from a wealthy family, have big name connections, or come up with a brilliant business idea early on, there’s really no way around it.

Take some time to explore different paths. Find out what you’re really passionate about and then research the steps necessary to achieve it. Try to find mentors who believe in your potential and can give you guidance.

You won’t love every job you get along the way and sometimes, you’ll probably feel like what you’re doing is a total waste of your time and talent but it’s all part of the process. Learning to handle a lot of different types of jobs will make you a more effective leader. Bare with it and stay focused on your long term plan. I find that it’s helpful to have one year goals, five year goals, and ten year goals. Obviously, these goals will shift over time as you continue to learn and grow but it will help guide your decision making.

Most importantly, try to remain humble. You’re never too good for the best job you can get.

From the examples you listed, it sounds like you'd be great in a consultant or business role.

Keep in mind, though, you have to start somewhere.

You will need some level of education. Ideally college degree, but it can also be self-education = something like The Personal MBA book would be a good place to start. From there, entry-level or freelancing is the only way to do it... And freelancing usually requires some high/specialized skill-set. Look around at agencies near you - Consulting agencies often have a lower entry barrier for roles that are "broad minded" and that's where you're most likely to have a quick path to where you want to go.

One other idea is to learn a skill/topic that's specialized and focused on the strategy. For example, data strategy = ie. helping people use their data in a meaningful way. That's a pretty good place for "big picture thinkers".

Bottom line... Choose a direction & don't be afraid to start at the bottom of the ladder - but ideally pick the type of company or industry that can fast-track you towards a management or consultative role.

Good luck!

What you explain there is that you have the mindset for management or even entrepreneurship (as in the will and ability to start and lead to success new businesses).

That is great, and is no less useful than using a shovel or a grill fork.

BUT, whatever you do, you need to get the "science" and the "experience".

If you want to do it for hobby, Internet is full of resources about anything.

If you want to do it professionally, any (kind of) formal education is better than no education. For doing proper management, there are many details to have in mind. And even management in itself has many branches, sometimes completely different between themselves. You will hae to decide what kind of management you want to do and in what kind of businesses.

Go where passion takes you to.