At work, we still talk about careers like they’re ladders. As if success must be a straight line upward: more responsibility, bigger title, better office.
But that old image isn’t just outdated. It can be harmful. Ladders come with an unspoken message: if you’re not climbing, you must be falling. If you experience job loss, the ladder metaphor makes you feel like you slipped off and can’t recover. If you take a step sideways, it makes you look like you stalled and aren’t motivated. If you change careers completely, it can feel like you have to start from scratch.
Most people don’t need any more pressure or extra worry about what others think, when they’re already trying to make hard decisions about their work and their lives.
That’s why I think we need a better metaphor.
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Why a quilt is a better model than a ladder
Imagine a quilt. It’s not one long piece of cloth that stretches up into the sky. Instead, it’s many pieces, each with its own shape, material, color, and history, stitched together into something useful and uniquely meaningful.
That’s what modern careers look like:
- Pieces of skill you build over time
- Patterns of work that overlap and influence one another
- Mistakes, leaps, and detours that add texture
- Priorities and goals that can shift as life changes (sometimes by your own choice, and sometimes because a square ended before you expected)
A career quilt has direction, purpose, and depth. And unlike a ladder, it doesn’t require you to constantly compare your height to someone else’s.
How to think about your own career
If you’ve been picturing your career as a ladder, it’s easy to fall into critical self-talk about where you “should” be. You might feel behind or worry that a change means you’ve lost everything you’ve worked for. The ladder metaphor leaves very little room for life’s unexpected turns, or for choices that don’t look like a straight climb upward.
A quilt gives you a different way to look at your past, and your future. A job loss isn’t slipping off the ladder, it’s simply a square that ended before you expected. A pivot isn’t failure, it’s a new piece of fabric. A sideways move isn’t stalling, it’s part of your quilt that builds depth, resilience, and new skills.
So instead of asking, “What’s my next rung?” try asking, “What do I want my next square to be?” What skills do you want to strengthen? What kind of work feels most important to you right now? What chapter are you ready for, even if it doesn’t look like a promotion on paper?
Careers don’t have to be explained in a straight line to be valid. You’re allowed to choose your next piece intentionally, without worrying about how it looks from the outside.
How to support your team members’ career quilts
You don’t just stitch your own quilt. Managers (from first-line leaders through senior executives) have an enormous influence on whether your team members feel boxed into ladders or supported in building something broader. One of the most helpful things you can do is expand the conversation beyond titles and promotions, and focus instead on skills, experiences, and growth that can happen in many forms.
If someone feels stuck waiting for a promotion, instead of saying, “You just have to wait for the next role,” a manager might say: “Let’s look at the skills you want to build and how you can grow and demonstrate them in this role so you’ll be ready when the time comes.” That feels empowering and grounded, instead of simply waiting to be chosen.
If someone shares that they’re interested in trying something new, even if they’re not 100% sure it’s for them, respond with openness: “I’m glad you let me know. Let’s think about ways you can start getting exposure – maybe by shadowing someone, sitting in on a project, or meeting a few people on that team.” This acknowledges that growth often starts with exploration, not certainty.
And if someone shifts direction entirely – for example, moving from people leadership back into an individual contributor role – your words matter. Reminding them that it isn’t a step down, but another meaningful square in their career quilt can help make that transition successful, and it may matter more to them than you realize.
Redefining success
Ladders measure success by how high you climb. Quilts measure success by what you build along the way.
When we help people (including ourselves) see their careers in a different light, we stop equating promotions with progress. We start valuing depth over direction, learning over hierarchy, and stories over status. And careers become something people shape, rather than something they endure while waiting for their turn.
Because real growth isn’t about how high you go—it’s about shaping a career that reflects who you are and allows you to contribute something uniquely valuable along the way.
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