I’ve had several recent conversations with clients who are pursuing promotions they don’t really want—simply because the next title feels like the only path to progress.
Year-end is the perfect time to pause and ask a different question:
Do you truly want the next rung… or do you want something else entirely?
A director at a biotech company felt pressured to move into a global head of operations role. Her peers were advancing to the next rung, so she assumed she should too. But in retrospect, she realized something important: while she excelled at leading her team through change, she really didn’t want to manage a larger organization. She wanted more strategic influence, not more direct reports.
Once she said that out loud, everything shifted.
She partnered with stakeholders to lead cross-divisional initiatives, gained visibility on high-impact projects, and expanded her influence—without changing her title.
💡That clarity helped her stop chasing someone else’s definition of success and start shaping a role that fit who she was becoming.
So how do you get to that level of clarity?
Start with your values and goals. Look back at the past year and ask yourself:
🤩What energized you?
😫What drained you more than you expected?
These aren’t soft questions—they’re data points that inform your next career decision.
As you reflect on this, consider:
Role progression and career progression are not the same thing.
⭐A new title might give you status, but expanded scope, influence, or skill depth often has a far bigger long-term impact.
And then, be honest about your capability gaps.
😣Where did you struggle the most?
📈Which feedback themes showed up repeatedly?
Your future opportunities will be shaped not by what you intended to learn this year, but by what you actually strengthened.
A few reflections to guide your year-end career retrospective:
🎯 When did you feel most alive in your work—and why?
🎯 If titles didn’t matter, what work would you want next year?
🎯 How would your choices change if you prioritized fulfillment over comparison?
Three steps to take in Q1:
✅ Bring your insights into your 1:1 conversations
✅ Choose one strategic skill to deepen and align a project to it
✅ Shape your role intentionally—one conversation and one boundary at a time
