What Is a Career Ladder Anymore?

As I’ve mentioned before, I like to start my day with journaling and sketching. Recently, the concept of career ladders kept popping into my head, and it made me think about how much that has changed in my lifetime.

A few days ago, I sketched some rough stuff in a paper notebook so that I wouldn’t forget about it. But today, I committed the ideas to a few illustrations. I was a designer for many years, but not that kind of designer. So, yes, these are rough. But, they helped me think through some ideas, get them out of my head, and into something I can share with you.

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The old model

My parents and grandparents had careers that tended to follow the ladder illustrated below.

• Go to school.
• Graduate and get a job.
• Stay with that employer for life.
• Hopefully, you climb the ladder, move into management, and make more money.
• Then, that magical day finally arrives: Retirement.
• Retire and never work again.
• Golf, fish, and play bingo for the rest of your life.

I’m Gen X, and I thought my career would follow the same path. I’d climb the corporate ladder, just as our parents did, and strive for that golden retirement age. Well, the world changed. Very few people commit to an employer for the entire duration of their careers now.

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What we actually need

I was taught to “chase money” and seek a career that would make me financially successful. That’s what mattered most.

Buy happiness, raise a family, and pump money into your retirement account. That’s how you achieved safety and security.

Safety is essential! The foundation of your career ladder depends on it.

It’s almost impossible to focus on the mastery of your craft and profession when you don’t feel safe at work. And, without safety, finding purpose and meaning is a distant dream.

But, safety goes beyond a steady paycheck. We want to feel safe at work without the looming threat of being fired and corporate layoffs hanging over our heads. We want to work in a safe environment without bad bosses berating us, toxic coworkers undercutting us, and corrosive cultures damaging our confidence.

In other words, we need psychological safety too. As Google discovered in their research to discover the secrets of effective teams:

"Psychological safety refers to an individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk-taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive. In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea."

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A harsh lesson

Looking back now, I’m amused by my naïveté. I thought my career would take care of itself if I worked hard, put in long hours, and went above and beyond.

I can’t really blame my young self, however. More than one person and educator taught me that great workers don’t lose their jobs. Hard workers are always in demand.

Sure, there is some truth to that. But, there are no guarantees.

You could be amazingly talented and valuable yet still lose your job due to poor corporate planning and decisions requiring massive strategic changes, project cancellations, budget cuts, the sunsetting of products, and layoffs.

When the rung you are standing on starts burning, you have no choice but to find a way to rebuild it — often on your own.

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Own your ladder

The sooner you accept full responsibility for your professional growth and career ladder, the better off you will be. No one cares about your career as much as you do. No boss will take ownership of your path and future.

You must build your own ladder to get the safety, growth, security, and fulfillment you need. The old days are behind us of joining a company and climbing an internal career ladder for the rest of your professional life.

Building your ladder may feel overwhelming, but it is ultimately empowering. Your career exists far beyond the walls of any one company. You get to plan the path that is best for you.

In this modern, connected, remote, global working world, you have an almost infinite number of “rungs” to choose from. Intentionally choose employers who will give you the skills, knowledge, and experience you need to keep climbing your unique ladder.

You can even select rungs from the wonderful world of entrepreneurship, as I have. It is easier than ever before to transition from employee to solopreneur.

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Own your growth plan

If you’re lucky, you may find yourself working for great managers and leaders who want to help you grow within the company. They will challenge you, mentor you, and pull you up the ladder into roles that elevate you and tap into your potential.

However, not everyone is so lucky. Most managers are pretty average. A few are downright terrible and destructive.

You may be on your own, or need to work with a career coach. But, no matter what you do, advancing your career and investing in your professional development requires some discomfort and conquering fears.

Comfort leads to stagnation. Growth requires stepping into more challenging roles, often moving to new employers, and assuming more significant risks. Build your career ladder with the employers and positions that will help you climb to reach the vision you have for your professional life.

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An entrepreneurial view

I often talk about treating your career like a business. And, the product that business sells is you. So, in that sense, we all need to be more “entrepreneurial.” We all should do a better job of marketing and promoting ourselves.

However, I also believe that true entrepreneurship (i.e., building your own business) provides security, freedom, and growth in ways that no 9-5 job ever can.

• You will never fire yourself (and please don’t mistreat yourself 😉).
• You will never be forced into early retirement by age discrimination.
• You can build your business 100% around your talents, strengths, experience, and interests.
• You get to decide where, when, and how you work every day.
• You get to decide with whom you work every day.
• You get to plan a future that maximizes your safety and security, professional mastery, and purpose and meaning.

Is it easy? No, building a business is hard work. But, at least you control your destiny. The harder you work, the more you get out of it, and the better your decisions, the better your outcomes.

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Don’t we all want security, happiness, and fulfillment?

Hey, if you’ve somehow found a way to get all of these things with a trusted employer who will never, ever let you down, more power to you!

• Fulfillment
• Security
• Meaning and Purpose
• Freedom
• Financial independence (well… if you still depend on a paycheck from your employer, I guess this probably isn’t possible)
• Mental, emotional, and physical health
• Happiness

But, if you desire all of this and that magical employer still hasn’t shown up in your life, it’s time to take ownership and make it happen. You deserve it, and life is too short to keep waiting.

A final word about retirement. Maybe you are on a good path in your career as an employee and set up pretty well for your retirement. But, I’m already seeing that most of us (e.g., Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and beyond) don’t want to fully retire the way our grandparents and parents did.

We have things we want to accomplish that have nothing to do with our employers and professions. We have personal goals and dreams that we want to see come true. That’s what gives our lives meaning and purpose.

Once we’ve locked in our financial security and independence, an exciting phase of life can begin. We get a chance to pursue fulfillment in a way that many people from previous generations could not.

It’s a gift. Take advantage of the opportunity!

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By the way, I’m writing a book this year. Subscribe now to gain access to draft chapters as I complete them.

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Larry Cornett is a leadership & career coach and business advisor who hosts a private mastermind community for ambitious professionals with weekly challenges, office hours, and ongoing support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).