I was genuinely interested in learning about how organizations can improve performance through a focus on people. That's why I went to Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (which is regarded by many as the best HR program in the world though most students don't end up going into HR). I also interned in HR for two summers at a medium sized company.
After a lot of HR classes and two summers in a 5-person HR office, I was certain that HR was not for me. It's a field that has the potential to be interesting and have a major effect on businesses, but in practice HR is boring (except for the fact that you hear all of the company gossip first) and generally ineffective.
The truth is that most of the important stuff that could fall under HR is taken on by managers and executive leadership. The HR department gets the administrative stuff.
When I started thinking about my future, I realized that HR couldn't take me anywhere else. My best possible outcome would be a role as VP of HR or doing some sort of HR consulting. It wasn't for me—I wanted to be closer to the business.
The odd thing is that I really enjoyed my classes and internships. I got to work on exciting stuff. But I knew that it wouldn't get any better. There was nothing to look forward to.