How workers are re-defining professional ambition

How workers are re-defining professional ambition Peter Cirilli Traditionally, we aspire to climb the career ladder – but our definition of success is evolving into something increasingly personal. “Career goals have taken a back seat as employees wrestle with the need to balance work with family life, mental health and wellness,” wrote the accompanying report’s researchers. “Everyone who I told was overwhelmingly supportive and many said they were in awe of my courage to try something new and follow my dream, even if it meant less money and lots of uncertainty in the short term.” ‘No longer about the pay cheque’ Gian Power considers himself to be part of a cohort of young people – broadly defined as millennials and younger, or those born after the early 1980s – whose interpretation of professional ambition has evolved in recent years. “Many are choosing not to climb career ladders that have the potential to cause significant harm to their spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing.” Getty Some young workers are prepared to trade long hour, high-salary roles for work that they find more meaningful, experts say The “Great Resignation”, a term coined by Anthony Klotz of Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School in May this year, has in recent months gathered pace, culminating in what some have termed a full-blown labour market loyalty crisis. “Particularly these younger workers must understand that they’re going to have to live with the longer-term consequences of the choices they make today when it comes to working hard and earning money,” she says.