Does ambition have a place in today’s corporate culture?
I have been asking myself this question a lot of late. Ambition is not something I lack and if anything, I have it in droves. There is always something more to achieve, another goal, another level. I get bored so easily and without the consistent challenges (both self-inflicted and work-inflected) I would simply go out of my mind!
But does ambition have a place? It feels that we are once more returning to the older method of working – where each person had their skillset, their mindset and came in, sat in the cubicle and got the days work done. The image below is the one that comes to mind. We all have our little space and no one dares to attempt to move out of it.
The advent of the open office plan should have put paid to the notion that we could never aspire to the corner office. It should have facilitated the idea that we could learn more from watching our peers and interacting more with them. It was the illusion that we are all equal and therefore able to utilise our ambition and grow both as individuals and as a company.
My own experience in this is that we are very much going back to the “you fit in this hole and therefore you should stay there” scenario. It doesn’t matter that you can change your shape and make your cubicle bigger – the corporate would prefer it was kept “just so”. Conformity.
And if I go much further I will rant wildly… Not the place.
I would love to know your thoughts on this. Please share.
Neuroses Undefined 