Harvard educated, corporate-career-dead at 42

But it’s ok. I will just have to reinvent myself.

Cambridge, Harvard, Morgan Stanley, Silicon Valley, international experience. I could now be a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs at an office of my choice. London, New York City, Hong Kong. I could be a director at a big Silicon Valley company. I could be making a million a year, give or take.

But I blew it.

I detoured from the corporate world soon after I did my MBA at Harvard. Harvard MBA was like a virus or a bug that you make you itch. It makes you want to pursue uber ambitious goals. You think you’re destined for greatness. Leadership. Entrepreneurship. I’m not saying you’re arrogant, but you do want to walk a big journey, climb a very high mountain.

I was madly in love with the corporate world (investment banking with Morgan Stanley to be precise) but after my MBA it lost its appeal so I ventured into various business roles and entrepreneurship. Failed at most. I had a couple of opportunities to reset my career with big companies, including in Silicon Valley but I blew that too.

It’s now impossible to realign my once perfect resume with a traditional career path. The resume still looks impressive and you get compliments for having tried different things but it no longer gets you a job. I’m both overqualified and underqualified for many positions. Overqualified because I’ve attempted things that vastly transcended sitting in the office 9 to 6, even if it’s a position of…