Life lessons from climbing the corporate ladder

I had made it to the ‘top’.

15 years, 8 positions, 5 promotions and 4 companies later, I had scaled the corporate ladder to the lofty heights of ‘Partner’. The title was never an attraction (I somewhat irked at the idea of what being a ‘Partner’ might actually mean) but it felt good thinking that the years of work and perseverance had led to somewhere of recognition. It felt good thinking I could build, or certainly influence the future direction of a business and what I might learn in a position of leadership.

Up until this point, my life had followed a fantastically unexceptional path; I had worked hard at school and college, made it into a good university, found a ‘good job’… married, two kids, house… check, check, check.

My consulting career had started in 2007 with Accenture. I had known of their reputation as a tough and hard-working consultancy, and told myself I wanted to try it out for two, maybe three years to ‘see if I could do it’. I would use the exposure and training to jump into something else (what that was I had no idea, but that didn’t matter — I could deal with that later).

Fast forward 10 years and I was still in consulting. I was still telling myself I would ‘see if I could do it’ but just in more senior positions. Under it all, I still had no idea when I would leave consulting, or what I would leave for. No surprise in hindsight considering I had never once taken the time to consider that question properly as I was always too busy with work.

And anyway, I was good at what I did, was decently paid, and felt a genuine connection with the people I worked with. I didn’t hate what I did, I just wasn’t that bothered by it either.

One more push.

And so, I did what I had always done — I moved up again and accepted a position as Partner at a global agency. The prospect of building something, or nurturing the next generation, of experiencing what it meant to be a leader… My ego’s desire to ‘see if I could do it’ again was high. I would never know if I never tried.

The first few months flew by. Of course, there were teething issues, but none that I thought I hadn’t encountered before. I swept aside those small, nagging frustrations — they were just things I had to overcome and learn to adapt to.

I’ll tell you something about those small, nagging frustrations. After a while they stop being small, and they start to become all that you can see. Somewhere over those 18 months, a balance tipped, and I found things sliding downhill — fast. That corporate ladder suddenly became a greasy pole, or perhaps a high enough ledge to jump off.

After nearly 2 years I was in a dilemma. I wasn’t in a position to complain. First off I don’t like complaining, secondly I was a business leader — it was my job to solve those problems. The reverence of being ‘the new guy’ had faded. I was now a part of the problem, who else if it weren’t me should be responsible for solving the problems I saw? But I also felt limited in my arsenal — and more importantly my desire — to solve things.

I learned a valuable lesson (looking back) to listen to those nagging signs. If they are allowed to persist too long they will have a very real impact. First at a psychological, then emotional, behavioural and left long enough, physical.

Small steps — in the right direction.

Getting out was the first step.

I handed my notice in December and stepped into the unknown. I had never known not working before. And I had a poor mindset, two kids and a pandemic to deal with.

I would make a list of small tasks I would achieve each day, in each of the areas I cared about (mind / body / spirit / relationships / community / wealth / career). I would celebrate those small achievements.

• I cleaned up my financial situation, read and applied the learnings from RESET (David Sawyer) and did some useful Udemy courses. I was doing something meaningful and learning. After 37 years I finally created and started budgeting properly to start managing my income (non-existent) and outgoings (at least I knew what these ones were).
• I joined the ‘5am club’ and started taking accountability for my personal and mental wellbeing. I had ‘accountability buddies’ who we used to keep each other honest every day.
• I joined Toastmasters, a public speaking group that gave me a sense of accomplishment, community and unexpectedly a mentor that I came to truly value.

I was developing better habits in areas I sorely needed to.

Bad habits are easy to form, but hard to live with. Good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with.

Learnings and reflections

1. Listen to your body. These things don’t suddenly hit you, they eat away at you and ‘creep’ up on you. The reason you ignore them is they’re not big enough.
2. Be accountable for the promises you make to yourself. That ‘2 years’ was a half-empty promise I made to myself — made in earnest, but easily forgotten.
3. It’s not quitting — it’s looking after yourself.
4. The most important conversation you have is the one you have with yourself.
5. Pain is a motivator — it motivated me to get better. And it’s spurned a desire to learn and develop.  
6. Career progression vs. career direction: know the difference.
7. READ BOOKS — we have the unique opportunity to learn from others. Experience is the best teacher, even if that’s other people’s experience.