Ladders vs webs

What if the career “ladder” is the wrong metaphor altogether?

We’ve been taught that a successful career means moving up. Promotions, bigger titles, pay bumps — all climbing rungs on a single, upward path. It’s all quite inflexible and rigid.

Instead of a ladder, how about a web? In a web:
🕸️ You can move sideways, towards, away — depending on what the moment calls for
🕸️ You can weave new threads (or weave old ones together)

Take a decision one of my clients — let’s call him Aki — was exploring over the past few weeks:

Aki has been working in the same sector since he stated his career ten years ago, working his way up the ranks. But recently, he’s found himself longing for something new and challenging.

When his current organization gave him a heads-up about potential downsizing in a couple months, he decided to take matters into his own hands and put himself out there for a new role.

At home, a toddler will soon be joined by a new baby. He and his partner are excited — but also, understandably, have some nervousness. The family’s finances requires income from both parents. The financial uncertainty was casting a cloud over what would otherwise be a moment of pure joy.

After some coaching to shift out of unhelpful mindsets and taking targeted action in the job market, Aki is now in the enviable position of choosing between two offers.

Offer 1️⃣ : A role with less responsibility than he has now, with a mission-driven organization in a sector that is completely new for him. Supportive culture and manager, inspiring work. Salary: regression to what he was making four years ago.

Offer 2️⃣ : A role with a client of his current employer. Same sector, 20% pay increase. Predictable, a known quantity. Arguably higher flexibility in the short-term due to Aki’s existing social capital with the client.

In our coaching sessions, we dug into:
🔹 The values he wanted to anchor his next chapter around — across all spheres of life
🔹 The ripple effects of this decision on his partner, his kids, and mid- to long-term family goals, including financial ones
🔹 How to reframe this to himself not as a step back, but as a long-term pivot toward values alignment in his career
🔹 Engage and disarm the inner voice telling him that if he made less money, he was “less of a man”
🔹Challenge the limiting belief that a career should always be a linear progression up an organizational or sectoral hierarchy

Ultimately, Aki said yes to the role that reflects the future he wants to build — not just the resume he already has.

He’s embraced thinking about his career not as a ladder, where it’s “up or out” — but a web: complex, multifaceted, interconnected.