A buddy of mine this weekend complained to me how his company wasn't letting him work on a couple of projects he thought were critical to the long term success of his company. He's the Senior Vice-President in charge of new product development for a medium sized, yet global business.

The reason they won't let him continue with the projects doesn't have much to do with whether they can afford them. To hear him talk about it, the company has plenty of resources. Business is good. He says the reason he can't get approval to work on the projects he thinks are important has to do with a recent change in the executive suite.

A new CEO recently brought on board caused a shakeup in the political structure at the executive level. Old alliances and allegiances have fallen apart. New alliances are taking their place. My friend feels like he's no longer in the inner circle.<!--break-->

My advise to him: Do what you want.

He has two choices. He can choose to stay in this job and see whether he ever regains his inner-circle standing, and thus the opportunity to work the projects which are clearly his passion; or he can go do something else. He can cut his losses at this company and go find a new passion.

He doesn't realize he's the one in control. It's his life, after all. He gets to do whatever he wants with it.

The same applies to you and to me. Every day we get to decide whether the path we're on is the right one or not. If you don't take control of where you're headed in life, someone else will.