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TO ADVANCE OR TO LIVE: THE NEW DILEMMA OF PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS.

This is reflected in a recent newspaper article, which describes how an increasing number of qualified workers are choosing to turn down promotions in order to preserve their quality of life.

For decades, career advancement has functioned as the backbone of working life. More responsibility, higher pay, greater status: an apparently unquestionable equation. Yet what we are witnessing today is a breakdown of that psychological contract between employee and employer. Not because ambition has disappeared, but because its object has changed.

The traditional narrative of success —linear, cumulative, almost automatic— has lost its credibility. Why? Because the cost associated with promotion is no longer perceived as reasonable. Those who refuse to move up the ladder are not unmotivated individuals, but people who have made a conscious calculation: the salary increase does not compensate for the loss of time, mental well-being and personal life. At its core, it is a rational decision.

At this point, it is worth dismantling a common misconception: we are not facing a less committed generation, but rather professionals who are more demanding about the meaning of their work. The fact that six out of ten employees no longer aspire to promotion does not signal apathy, but a redefinition of the concept of progress. Growth is no longer measured solely in vertical terms, but also horizontally: greater autonomy, better balance and stronger alignment with one’s values.

The real issue lies less with workers and more with an organizational model that has become obsolete. Companies continue to operate under an industrial logic —rigid hierarchies, intensive control, promotion as a reward— in a context where knowledge, creativity and well-being are the true assets. The result is an increasingly evident mismatch: more is demanded, but not proportionally more value is offered.

Particularly telling is the stagnation of salaries at mid- and senior-level positions. If a promotion entails an average increase of less than 10% while multiplying workload and pressure, the decision to reject it is not only understandable, but predictable. In economic terms, the incentive has ceased to function. And when an incentive fails, the system that sustains it begins to break down.

Yet there is an even deeper factor at play: the search for purpose. New generations —and increasingly, not-so-new ones— do not simply want to work; they want to understand what they are working for. When that connection is absent, employment becomes a cold transaction, easily replaceable or deliberately limited. In that context, promotion loses its appeal because it adds intensity, but not meaning.

Companies that have grasped this are experimenting with different models. It is not merely a question of offering flexibility or remote work, but of rebuilding the employee value proposition. Salary transparency, career paths that are not necessarily hierarchical, less intrusive leadership and above all, a clear narrative about the impact of work. When employees perceive that their work has meaning, ambition does not disappear: it transforms.

That said, this phenomenon should not be idealized. There is a risk that this “rejection of promotion” could evolve into a form of structural conformism if organizations fail to respond. An economy cannot function without leadership, without individuals willing to take on greater responsibility. The question, therefore, is not whether people want to advance, but under what conditions they are willing to do so.

And therein lies the real challenge: to redesign promotion as an opportunity for holistic development, not as a disguised penalty. Advancing should mean growing without giving up living, leading without sacrificing personal identity, earning more without losing everything along the way.

What is at stake is not a passing workplace trend, but a cultural redefinition of success. For years, we were taught that to move forward was to move up. Today, we are beginning to understand that, at times, moving forward also means choosing where not to move up. And that, far from being a sign of weakness, may well be the most sophisticated form of professional intelligence.