Rethinking success beyond the corporate stairs in the world of design

The useful part

How AI, metrics, and career anxiety are reshaping design An endless staircase for endless metrics. Cleffmann) I was helping my direct report prepare her promotion packet when a leader said to the room, not to me: "Promoting someone doesn't mean they deserve it. They've earned it through performance and they now have more responsibilities to bear.

How it works

• Prior to my current role, I had already reconsidered how I wanted to progress and moved into a different role in a different industry.
• Most people in my current workplace don't know: the title on my internal profile doesn't match the one in my head.
• Sometimes an ex-colleague calls me by my old title or assumes a scope I no longer have, and I don't correct them.
• Not because I'm hiding, but because I'm not sure what the correction would be.

What to take from it

Upwards and downwards." She heard encouragement.

Details worth keeping

Planning a linear ten-year ascent assumes the steps will remain stable. Same words, same room, two different frequencies. That was the moment I realised the staircase isn't broken.