This author's professional career has varied in leadership experiences. Unlike women who are coming of age today in leadership positions, the author never had a "plan" for her professional career moves. She simply went about selecting the next interesting opportunity. Looking back, this may not have always been in her best interest, but she certainly had a full life of experiences because of this serendipitous approach. This article presents some ideas the author learned along the way. In some cases, they were great discoveries. However, in most cases, they were painful-at-the-time mistakes that turned into life lessons.