Your career is a climbing wall, not a ladder.

I came up believing in the ladder: put in the years, earn the next rung, repeat.

Open to Work argues AI has turned the ladder into a climbing wall. The holds aren't fixed and there's no single sanctioned route. Why spend twenty corporate years reaching what a startup might get you to in two? The most fulfilled people stop waiting for the next rung and build their own route. That's lateral moves, calculated risks, their own way to the outcome right there!

Stop asking "what's my next rung?" Ask what outcome you're actually climbing toward — and the most direct hold you can reach for, even if it's sideways.