Picture a building with dozens of ladders leaning against it. Some go halfway up. Some go all the way to the roof. Some have wide rungs — big jumps between levels. Some are narrow — slow, incremental steps. Most people grab the first ladder they find on day one and start climbing. They never look sideways.
That's the mistake.
Inside any large organisation there isn't one career path. There are dozens. Local roles and regional roles. Functional ladders and commercial ladders. Corporate centre ladders and frontline business ladders. Each one moves at a different pace, reaches a different height, and rewards different things. And most people have no idea the other ones exist.
Your ladder isn't your career. It's just where you started.
Not all ladders go to the same place
Some functions are fast tracks to senior leadership. Others are deep specialist paths that plateau early. Some regions are where the real decisions get made — where the business is growing, where the investment is going, where the visibility is highest. Others are comfortable but quiet. Safe but slow.
Early in your career you probably don't know which is which. That's fine. But the sooner you start paying attention — talking to people on other ladders, understanding where they lead, how fast they move, what they reward — the sooner you can make deliberate choices rather than just going where the current takes you.
A lateral move onto a faster ladder isn't a step backwards. It's often the smartest move you'll ever make. The title might be the same. The pay might be similar. But the trajectory is completely different.
Sometimes a sideways step is the fastest way up.
The ceiling you didn't choose
Here's something nobody says out loud: your boss's ceiling is often your ceiling too.
If your manager isn't growing — if they've been in the same role for five years with no sign of moving — the space above you is blocked. You can be brilliant. You can deliver everything asked of you. But if there's no room at the top of your ladder, you're not going anywhere.
This isn't about blame. It's just reality. And the answer isn't to wait, hope, or complain. The answer is to look at the other ladders.
A different function, a different region, a different business unit — one with a leader who's on the move, who's growing, who's pulling people up with them. That's the ladder you want to be on.
How to read the ladders around you
Start by mapping what's actually available inside your organisation. Which functions are growing? Which regions are being invested in? Where are the senior leaders coming from — what paths did they take to get where they are? That's your roadmap.
Then look at your own ladder honestly. Where does it go? How fast do people move on it? What does the person three levels above you look like — and is that who you want to be in ten years?
If the answer is no — or if the answer is "I can't even see three levels above me" — it's time to start thinking about which ladder you jump to next. Not impulsively. Not out of frustration. Deliberately.
The jump
Jumping ladders feels risky. You're leaving familiar ground, known relationships, a reputation you've built. But here's what's actually risky: staying on a ladder that's going nowhere while convincing yourself patience will fix it.
The best career moves often look strange from the outside. A regional role when everyone expected a head office promotion. A functional switch that looks like a detour. A smaller title on a bigger ladder. People won't always understand it. That's fine. You're not climbing for the audience. You're climbing for the destination.