This week's Employment Digest blog cites a Wharton Business School article in which executive coach Monica McGrath says that middle managers are increasingly reluctant to take the next step in their careers because the corporate ladder is not as appealing as it used to be, and the price to climb it is too high.  What may be happening, suggest McGrath and others, is that people are setting career paths based on their own values and definitions of success. They are not burned out or dropping out; they are not going back to school and changing careers; they are not having a mid-life crisis. Instead, they are redefining how they can keep contributing to their organizations, but on their own terms. Rather than subscribe to the ‘onward and upward’ motto, they are more interested in ‘plateauing,’ unhooking from the pressure to follow an upward path that someone else has set.

This is a fascinating trend, isn’t it?  I’ve certainly noticed it to be true in my own situation.  In 2004, for example, I “unhooked” from an upwardly mobile position as a PR Manager in a Fortune 500 company so that I could spend part of my workday writing, which has always been my greatest passion.  I still consult for a PR agency on a part-time basis, but there’s no doubt that I have strayed from the path of being a senior vice president by age 35.  I’m am ambitious person by any stretch of the imagination, and yet the sacrifices (being chained to my “Crack-berry” among others), simply don’t seem worth it.  I enjoy the life balance I have now.  I love the people I work with and the contributions I make at the agency, but my hours and the money I get paid for those hours are limited.  In exchange for giving up PR glory, I get to spend a few days each week writing my new book and this blog. 

And yet, here’s the thing.  Sometimes, my career choice makes me uncomfortable.  I have derived much of my identity over the last 8 years from being a competent and skilled PR professional.  What does it say about me if I’m willing to take a step back before becoming as successful in that field as I can possibly be?  I was raised with the idea that one should climb the ladder at any cost, but I, like millions of others apparently, have rejected that view in favor of other priorities.  I can only imagine that this scenario will get more complicated when my husband and I decide to have a child.

What do you think?   How much does advancement in your day job contribute to your overall sense accomplishment and self-worth?