The Illusion of Ladders
Yesterday I finished reading Burn Ladders. Build Bridges: Pursuing Work With Meaning + Purpose. The author provides a framework for what I have been practicing in my livelihood for the past 30+ years.
A more fitting title, without the alliterative B, might be Ignore the Illusion of Ladders. Build Bridges. Never Burn Ladders. Practice a conscious indifference to the illusion of ladders, but don’t burn them. Sociopathic ladder climbers at the top of an imaginary hierarchy profit from our belief in ladders.
But here’s the thing:
Ladders do not exist for most people!
Your new promotion, your highfalutin title, your year-end bonus, or that yearly bump in salary are little more than the death rattles of late-stage capitalism. For me they’ve been hollow compensation and worse, disappointing distractions.
First you must imagine it, then, over time, you must nurture your own work-life fulfillment.
I learned about the illusion of ladders during my first corporate job. I was a talented upstart who reported to someone who was, at best, a self-interested ladder climber. He was mostly grumpy, but occasionally took glee in his capacity to put a yoke on my potential.
It was a big pill to swallow, but I left that job on good terms. I have not reported to anyone since. I realized it was up to me to seed and feed my fulfillment as a builder and as a collaborator. I asked, What was I building and who was I building it with?
This freed me to seek fun people to work with and to focus on pursuing my craft.
