I'm Rufus Criskum, and this is the next big idea.

Today, Susan Cain and Shelley Archimbo offer up a blueprint for following your ambitions.

In the fall of 2002, Shelley Archimbo sat in her car in a non-descript parking lot in Northern California

and made a phone call she dreamt about for as long as she could remember.

It was to her husband, Scotty, she said, I got the job.

Ever since her junior year of high school, when a guidance counselor had encouraged her to think about a career in business,

Shelley had had just one goal, become a CEO.

That goal carried her to Wharton.

It propelled her through a 15-year career at IBM where she became the first black woman in company history to be sent out on an international assignment.

And now, it looked like it was finally going to come true.

There was just one problem.

The company that wanted to hire her was a hot mess.

It was a software company called Zapplet.

A dot-com boom darling, it had raised more than $100 million.

But by the time Shelley got the call, more than 90% of that money was gone.

Zapplet was in such shambles that the legendary venture capitalist Ben Harwoods warned Shelley that taking the job would be a fool's errand.

But this was Shelley's dream, CEO before 40.

She knew she might not get another chance, and she believed that she could turn Zapplet around, which she did.

She started by following the strategies that had always guided her career.

She devised a plan to rapidly reduce the company's cash burn, then she reached out to every smart person in the industry who would give her a few minutes of their time.

She didn't ask them for pity or advice. She asked them, what are the hard problems you see out in the world that today's companies are struggling to solve?

One of these conversations helped Shelley spot an opening.

...