Your Career Is A Jungle Gym, Not A Ladder
CEO, award-winning writer, producer, and multimedia journalist, Pattie Sellers, is credited with saying, “Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder.”
If you’re a professional woman trying to work your way up the “corporate ladder,” consider this powerful reframe instead.
When climbing a ladder, there is one way up and one way down. You can only get to the top of the ladder one way, and that way is up. You are either on the ladder or off the ladder, moving up or moving down.
Doesn’t that sound… limiting?
Plus, when you’re on a ladder, most climbers are stuck looking at the butt of the person above them.
If you view your career as a ladder, you’re restricting yourself from a great deal of creativity, joy, and risk-taking that could lead to new opportunities and unique experiences that could positively impact you and your career.
You can only move up the ladder when the person above you gets off the ladder. Or when they move up a rung, you finally get to move up a rung, following the order of the ladder.
This restrictive “ladder” view of your career is clearly stifling.
Instead, it’s time to start viewing your career as a jungle gym.
Jungle gyms offer more creative exploration than ladders. They are wider, with more options to get to the top– no more straight up and down. The jungle gym benefits everyone because you can be creative as you move around and have fun along the way.
The jungle gym is particularly beneficial for women in the corporate world. The jungle gym helps women who are just getting started in their careers, getting blocked by outside barriers, or reentering the workforce after taking some time off (hello, motherhood).
The ability to create a unique career path for yourself isn’t possible with a ladder. With a jungle gym, on the other hand, there could be occasional dips, detours, and even dead ends. And that’s okay, because it’s not the end of your career! In fact, it opens up even more opportunities with a greater chance for diversifying your skills, experiencing unique opportunities, and feeling more joyful and fulfilled along the way.
Sheryl Sandberg, current COO of Meta Platforms and consistently ranked one of Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women, describes her career as a jungle gym scramble. After working for Larry Summers in the U.S. Treasury Department for 5 years, Sandberg accepted a role as the VP of global online sales & operations at Google. At the time, Google was a new company, only 3 years old, young but growing.
Sandberg’s pivot to Google could’ve been seen as her taking a step down the corporate ladder. However, seeing the immense potential in Google and in the technology industry, Sandberg made a move on her career’s jungle gym. She took a risk, and boy did it pay off, paving the way for her to become Facebook’s COO 7 years later and eventually becoming the first female member of their board of directors.
Dozens of my life coaching clients have told similar stories. These are corporate women who have been open to risk-taking, to exploring the jungle gym of their careers (and lives!), knowing that there’s not just one path up and down.
I have clients who have…
Quit her full-time corporate job to turn her side hustle into a full time business
Switched from working at a large bank to a small start-up, where she gets more support, responsibility, and recognition
Come out of retirement to launch the small business she’d always dreamed about
Asked a company to create a new role specifically for her because it was a great match for her skills
…and so much more!
Your career options and opportunities are endless. Don’t let the idea of a stuffy “corporate ladder” keep you from taking risks, trying new things, and getting creative. Instead, view your career as a jungle gym.
