“Just as I was about to reach the top of the mountain I’d been climbing for years, I caught a glimpse of the view—and realized I was on the wrong mountain. So I jumped.” ~ Paul Abel

This week, we’re joined by Paul Abel, Ph.D., who takes us on a deep dive into the high-stakes world of academia and the "awkward" courage it takes to pivot once you’re about to reach the summit of everything you thought you wanted.

Paul had a, shall we say, unique childhood. One of his earliest memories was checking out a book on human anatomy from the library. While other kids were out playing ball, Paul was experimenting with bees - putting them in the fridge to see how temperature affected their activity. Whereas most kids dread dissecting the cat in high school biology class, Paul was fascinated by the complexity of it all.

While pursuing his undergrad in biology at UCLA, Paul was headed towards becoming a physician - until he realized that much of practicing medicine felt like following recipes in a cookbook. He wanted to write the recipes, not just follow them. So Paul pivoted toward a PhD in Neuroscience. Along the way, he studied rats, primates and neurons in crayfish (in case you’ve ever been curious). He even studied ants in Costa Rica and discovered they’re actually quite good at stealing from each other!

Paul was on the path to a promising career as a professor - teaching, researching, and getting paid to “nerd out” on science. But after the grueling journey of obtaining his PhD, a seat on a faculty search committee changed everything, Paul saw “The Matrix" of academics a little too clearly. He decided to take the exit ramp off the scientific interstate to search for something else.

That “something else” led to a career in Corporate America, eventually landing him at Intel as a research executive. Today he is managing partner at Blue Research, delivering the kind of high-stakes market insights where you simply can’t afford to be wrong.

Stick around for the finale, where Paul shares a never-before-told "reveal" about a major setback that happened behind closed doors during his doctoral degree. It’s a powerful reminder that our "Imperfect Best" often involves a big failure

Please join me as I have a conversation with this amazing man.

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**Video broadcast available** on YouTube @imperfectbest

**Learn more about Jason Freeman** at AwkwardlyAwesome.com