Power, Appreciation, Reward, Pressure, Nada
The question is almost cliched, every interviewer has this question listed somewhere in their black book, the clever ones will ask you this multiple times camouflaged with thorns once and roses the next time. It is not them I am concerned about, I remember this rather curt one-on-one discussion (just makes me laugh writing 'one-on-one' but the subtle hilarity of that term somehow seems lost while used in conversation!) I had with one senior manager, that was in the relatively early days of my career, he asked me where I saw myself career wise in the next five years, I was tongue-tied for a second and then blabbered on about new technology, learning and promotion while he seemed to be taking copious notes (for all I know he was composing an email to the class mate he bullied in high school). My point is I had no ready answer, I'm not sure I still do and that concerns me at times (clearly not enough to get off the cozy chair I'm sitting on), it is my amazement at the answers I come up with each time this question pops up in my head and it has ever so frequently in the past few weeks.
I am not going to attempt to answer this here but continue to come up with answers, maybe the question will matter no more, maybe the answers will be just enough.
