Your Career Isn't a Ladder
Why Your Career Isn't a Ladder—It's an Education in Perspective
Lately, I've been having a lot of conversations about careers.
Some are with my kids. Others are with my nieces and nephews. Many are with talented young professionals on my team as they navigate internships, graduate school, Individual Development Plans, promotions, and first jobs.
The conversations are remarkably similar.
"What should I do next?"
"Should I take this opportunity?"
"Am I making the right decision?"
"What if I make the wrong move?"
Sometimes they're asking these questions before they've even had the chance to fully learn the role they're already in.
It reminds me how much we all want to control our careers. We want certainty. We want to know that every decision is the right one and that each move will take us exactly where we're supposed to go. It also reminds me of elementary school gym class.
The Rope and the Ladder
Many of us remember that thick rope hanging from the ceiling. The assignment was simple: climb to the top, ring the bell if you could, and climb back down. There was only one direction.
- Up.
- Then down.
- No exploring.
- No changing course.
- No moving sideways.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped thinking about ropes and we started thinking about ladders. We began to believe success should be just as linear, climbing one rung after another, always moving up, never stepping sideways, never taking a step back. I've never liked that analogy.
Because careers aren't ladders.
They're built through experiences that change the way you see the world. When I look back at my own career, it certainly didn't resemble a ladder.
Expanding My Perspective
I actually started in sales. When I entered the biotechnology industry, my first role was in Human Resources. Before long, I found myself in manufacturing, not because I had planned it, but because I was curious. Leaders around me saw something in me that I hadn't fully seen in myself. They gave me opportunities to learn, and I said yes. I didn't realize it then, but those opportunities would shape the rest of my career. Looking back, my résumé probably confused a few people.
Human Resources, Manufacturing, Program Management, Regulatory, Quality, Customer Engagement, Engineering, Technical Operations...
On paper, some of those moves probably looked sideways. At the time, there were moments when I wondered that myself.
Was I drifting? Should I be climbing faster? Was I making the right decision?
It wasn't until much later that I realized I wasn't changing directions. I was expanding my perspective. Then life taught me that lesson again.
Starting Over
After twenty-seven years with one company, I unexpectedly found myself starting over. I launched my own consulting business, not because it had always been the plan, but because life had handed me a chapter I hadn't written for myself. If I'm honest, I struggled for a bit.
For years, my career had been part of my identity. I had invested myself in building organizations, developing people, and leading through change. When that chapter closed, I questioned whether I had somehow fallen off the ladder. Looking back, I realize I hadn't fallen at all. I had simply reached the end of one ladder that was never meant to define me.
That season became one of the greatest gifts of my career. It reminded me that titles come and go. Organizations change. Leadership changes. What remains are your values, your character, your relationships, and the perspective you've earned along the way.
Every role changed the way I saw the world. Human Resources helped me understand people. Manufacturing showed me what execution really means. Regulatory and Quality changed the way I think about trust. Customer Engagement reminded me who all this work is ultimately for. Engineering taught me to think in systems. Technical Operations brought all of those experiences together.
One of the things I love most about Technical Operations is that it reminds me every day that breakthrough science is only the beginning. It takes people with different expertise, different perspectives, and different ways of thinking to transform an idea into something that safely and reliably reaches a patient.
No one succeeds alone. Neither does any leader.
What Will This Experience Teach You?
Today, when a young professional asks me whether they're making the "right" career move, I usually answer with a question of my own.
What will this experience teach you that you can't learn where you are today? That question has guided far more of my career than any title ever has.
Looking back, the moves that once seemed sideways became the experiences that prepared me to lead across an entire enterprise.
I thought I was changing careers. I wasn't. I was expanding my perspective. A ladder may help you climb higher. Perspective allows you to lead farther.
Life is short. Wear the heels.
