The Optional Career
One letter a week.
One letter a week.
One idea in it.
Careers, money, and the decisions that create more choices. Roughly a thousand words, usually with a number in it, and often with something I got wrong.
What turns up
One substantive idea per letter, alternating between the two columns and, every third week, a real decision run through both.
- Earning power. What makes your time worth more as you get senior. Framing, executive communication, managing up, influence, and what AI is doing to the bottom of the ladder.
- Exit power. Runway, employer concentration, compensation structures, what equity is actually worth, and the commitments that quietly decide your options.
- The join. One live decision, analysed properly. Should I take the offer. Should I take the pay cut. Can I afford this risk. With the arithmetic shown.
What does not
No stock tips, no market calls, no returns screenshots, no urgency, and nothing that requires you to quit your job to find it useful.
Reply to it
The best thing about the letter is the replies. If something lands, or if you are stuck on a decision that has both a career half and a money half, write back. I read all of them and a lot of what I write starts there.