Finding Momentum: On Growth, Opportunity, and Alignment
When your growth starts asking questions
Have you ever asked yourself why you are not growing in your current job? Do you ever think “this organisation doesn’t appreciate my talent enough”, or “I wish I had the opportunity to really have an impact on the business goals”? Then we have a lot more in common than you think.
My career has been marked by many ups and downs. I started fresh out of high school, diving into everything from advanced math and electrical engineering to microcontroller programming in Assembler and C. Discipline and a drive to be useful were embedded in my DNA early on, but I quickly learned that skill alone isn’t enough.
This post comes from a personal perspective to show you that there is nothing wrong with you — and there might be nothing wrong with the environment you are in either — chances are your growth and ambition has simply outpaced your environment.
Surviving in the wrong habitat
You probably guessed I would use a Lion reference, right? Wrong environments can be devastating to any living thing. But let’s stick with the Lion for obvious reasons.
Imagine being a Lion in a habitat where not a lot of prey is left. There might be a lot of snakes, but that’s not what you feed off of, especially if they are toxic. The climate isn’t perfect anymore, either. You could try fishing, catching birds, or eating bananas, but it will never truly satisfy your actual desires or needs — like feeling like who you are destined to be.
I felt this at my first job in a call centre. I learnt everything in weeks, then spent months doing the same repetitive tasks while feeling more exhausted every day. In your career, you will stumble upon companies ranging from small startups to huge corporations. The company might be amazing, but you could end up in a team where you consume all the knowledge there is in weeks and then end up wondering where to go next.
One day you end up speaking to your manager and asking: “what is next for me.” The answer is often disappointing: “I have nothing else for you at this point, but keep on doing the amazing job you are doing.” Don’t think these words are just a carrot on a stick. It can also mean just that. But once you start asking “am I in the right habitat,” you have likely already outpaced the growth of your environment.
The Beauty of Diversity and Balance
The corporate world is diverse, so don’t despair — there is a lot of prey out there. The real question is: what do you need to feel in the right place?
The real challenge for an organisation is creating a heterogenous environment where people don’t clash over their differences but complement each other. The balance is what truly gives outstanding results: happy employees -> happy customers -> happy shareholders.
The right habitat is a space where diversity is celebrated and you are appreciated for who you are. It’s not about forcing everyone into the same box; it’s about empowering you to be the best version of yourself. For a decade, I was labeled a “job hopper” because I hit the ceiling of every box I was put in. I tried to force myself to comply, but it never got easy.
Many organisations just want you to do a specific thing without giving you the “why.” Like “take this screenshot of an AWS Dashboard and send it to that mailbox.” When you propose an automation, your idea is silently ignored and you end up doing the same thing knowing you can do better. The right habitat encourages you to speak up, raise concerns, and be curious about the actual result of your work.
When you finally come home
Yeah, let’s dream about that for a second.
You wake up, do your morning routine, and get on your way to the office feeling excited to face the day. You walk into the meeting room where people are slinging jokes, and then you get to the real business matters.
Energy is THROUGH THE ROOF, the team gathers at the whiteboard, everyone is drawing, everyone is bringing their opinion. You feel your say truly matters. It might feel like you are hanging out with your friends on a Saturday evening, but you are actually building something meaningful.
This is what I found when I met Steve, Mark, and Wouter — the founders of Lionsville. I was on a plane to Den Haag within weeks, and I didn’t even know I was on my way home. At Lionsville, I found that the problem wasn’t me; it was the misalignment in ambition and pace.
In less than two years here, I’ve been the EMEA Security Lead for our biggest customer, handled Data & AI for the world’s largest sports retailer, and achieved top - tier security compliance for a major postal service. Whether you are improving a customer’s security posture or the design of your company’s website — you walk out of that meeting thinking “this time was really worth something.”
Join the Pride
We are all different, yet we are alike. It is completely normal to outpace your environment. It is normal to want to be useful. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious.
If you recognized yourself in this post, you are not alone. My colleagues have been there, too, until we finally met in a habitat where Lions thrive and aren’t taught to just meow like ordinary cats.
Lionsville is expecting to grow immensely next year.
We are building an environment where you are appreciated for who you are and empowered to achieve your dreams. We welcome everybody — whether you are looking for a steady, reliable engagement or you want to be disruptive and push boundaries.
Our door is always open. We love meeting other Lions, even if you aren’t part of Lionsville yet. If you are in Den Haag or just want to chat about your own growth over a coffee, come by.
I encourage you to shoot for the stars and never doubt yourself in your pursuit of seeking the right environment. I assure you I will be doing the same while vouching for you, too.