The biggest promotion? Your life

It’s wild how we’ve turned “career progression” into this relentless climb, as if we’re all scaling some mythical mountain where the air is thin but the LinkedIn bragging rights are rich.

We ask people, “Why are you applying for a lower-level role?” like they’ve just admitted to committing a felony. As if it’s unthinkable that someone might want… less. Less stress, fewer 3 a.m. Slack pings, fewer “quick calls” that last an hour and solve nothing.

Some folks don’t want to be the VP of Everything forever. Maybe they’ve already proven they can run the show. Maybe they’ve been the fixer, the hero, the one putting out fires while missing birthdays and dinners. And now, they’re choosing to step back because they actually want to live.

Imagine someone saying:

“Yeah, I left my executive role because I want to pick up my kids from school without checking email in the car line.”

Or:

“I want to work as a coordinator so I can finally write that novel or take a pottery class without feeling like I’m betraying the hustle gods.”

But instead of seeing this as wisdom, we label them “flight risks.” We assume they’ll bail the second a bigger title winks at them from across the metaphorical bar. We treat balance as a dirty word and curiosity as career suicide.

Meanwhile, we worship people who say they’re “hungry to rise” — even if they’re one iced coffee away from a full-scale meltdown. We high-five burnout disguised as ambition. We glorify “grind” culture until it spits people out like chewed gum.

We forget that humans are not built for endless upward motion. We’re not elevators. We’re living beings who deserve seasons of rest, reflection, reinvention. Sometimes growth means stepping sideways. Sometimes it means stepping back entirely so you can rediscover what actually matters.

But until we change this narrative, people who choose “less” will keep getting flagged. “Too experienced,” “not ambitious enough,” “overqualified” — all code for “We don’t trust your reasons for wanting peace.”

The truth? Those folks might be the most self-aware candidates in the room. They know that life isn’t just about how high you climb, but how deeply you live.

So instead of asking, “Why would you take a step back?” maybe we should start asking, “What are you hoping to gain in this season of your life?”

Because the real success isn’t the title on your business card. It’s whether you’re actually present for your own life. It’s whether you go to sleep proud of who you are, not just what you do.

And that — that’s the promotion no job description can offer.