Excellent, congratulations! I'm glad you were able to reach your friend, and that everything is going forward -that's wonderful! Good luck with the new position, and congrats on being able to fund your company!

The "natural abilities" test I took was from the Highlands Company ( The Highlands Company ) - I actually went through a career coach though, not directly through the company. It was really interesting, but I haven't found a good way to apply it. I think that's because I need to get my personal crap in line first (i.e. therapy). I think until I get my stuff sorted out, career counseling isn't going to be helpful!

Take a look though, it's really interesting stuff - and I'm *sure* there are things there that you'd score high on. They also make the point that "high" isn't always better. Some things have good strengths associated with either end of the spectrum, i.e. "idea productivity" is how quickly your mind comes up with new ideas (not necessarily *good* ones, just the volume of ideas). It's great if you're teaching, for example, and need to quickly think of different ways to explain something to a student who is not getting it. But, for a surgeon - you want someone with low idea productivity, because you want them to be super-focused, and not thinking about 30 other things while they're working on you!

Congrats again, I'm glad that you're looking forward to starting! Good luck, it sounds like they really need you there!