--- title: Forget Climbing the Career Ladder. Start Weaving a Working Life Instead description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/charter/forget-climbing-the-career-ladder-start-weaving-a-working-life-instead/ author: Michelle Peng article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-15T10:30:00.309Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-14T22:33:14.301Z article:section: Charter og:title: Forget Climbing the Career Ladder. Start Weaving a Working Life Instead og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Sep 15, 2026 10:30 AM UTC  llustration by Charter · Photo by Getty/Giovanni Bortolani  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Sep 15, 2026 10:30 AM UTC As a stagnant job market and AI disruption reshape career opportunities, leaders across industries are rushing to eulogize the career ladder and identify its replacement. Career progression is now a jungle gym, Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin recently [told](https://www.reuters.com/markets/on-the-money/climbing-career-jungle-gym-how-lattice-ceo-sarah-franklin-found-her-superpower-2026-09-04/) Reuters. It’s a climbing wall, [say](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-disruption-corporate-white-collar-career-ladder-linkedin-exec-advice-2026-4) LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky and chief economic opportunity officer [Aneesh Raman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aneeshraman/). Instead of climbing up, workers scramble sideways, diagonally, and downwards to find their next opportunity. Or maybe it’s a piece of luggage, where “every single thing you learn goes into this suitcase \[and\] you pull it out at different times when it becomes relevant,” Pfizer’s [Anne Kennedy Dotson](http://linkedin.com/in/anne-kennedy-dotson-8362128/?skipRedirect=true) [said](https://www.charterworks.com/the-rise-of-the-portfolio-career/) at Charter’s June New Employer Brand Summit. It's no wonder workers are growing tired of the ladder metaphor, says [Lynda Gratton](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lynda-gratton), a professor at London Business School. For many, there’s now no guarantee there will be a next rung when you reach for it or that the one you’re currently standing on won’t crack beneath you. Sign up for Charter's newsletter to get the handbook for the future of work delivered to your inbox. Email Address You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our [Terms of Service](https://www.charterworks.com/terms-of-service/) and [Privacy Policy](https://www.charterworks.com/privacy-policy/). “The real fundamental problem with the ladder is that you think the only way is up, and if you haven’t gone up, then you have failed,” says Gratton, author of the recent book [_Living the 100-Year Life_](https://bookshop.org/p/books/living-the-100-year-life-how-to-build-a-career-that-lasts-and-a-life-you-love-lynda-gratton/db3fc09cc36d2ac0). Across white-collar workplaces, many employees are responding to this new uncertainty by freezing in place. [The separation rate](https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/american-workers-have-slammed-the-brakes-on-switching-jobs-767c45d1?mod=careers%5Fmore%5Farticle%5Fpos1), a government statistic that measures how many workers leave their jobs both voluntarily and involuntarily, is hovering around its lowest levels in nearly 20 years. Meanwhile, the [reservation wage,](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-06/labor-day-2026-is-a-reminder-job-openings-are-scarce-for-american-workers?srnd=phx-management-work) or the lowest compensation workers will accept to take a new job, hit a [record high](https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/sce/labor?stream=top#/expectations-job-search16) in July, a sign that workers are less willing to leave their current roles. As a result, many workers feel stuck reaching for a rung that isn’t there, looking for their next foothold and finding only smooth granite, or rooting around in a suitcase for something they forgot to pack. While staying in place might feel like stagnation, that doesn’t have to be the case, argues Gratton. In _Living the 100 Year Life_, she encourages workers to think of their careers as a woven tapestry, defined not by discrete roles but as a continuous pattern composed of different colored threads. She identifies eight threads that contribute to a fulfilling, sustainable career. The four threads that support productivity at work might be described as skill mastery, self-reflection and self-knowledge, technological fluency, and cooperation. The other four—friendship, intimacy, calm, and adventure—might seem unrelated to work on the surface, but Gratton argues they nurture the whole worker, allowing us to show up to work as our best selves. “Over a working life you will strengthen these threads, neglect them, repair or reweave them,” writes Gratton. “No one else has your exact pattern. Your fabric is uniquely yours.” Without leaving a role, workers can find new challenges by focusing on different capacities, which helps fight off the feeling of stagnation and build a more sustainable career as lifespans grow longer. We spoke to Gratton about what individuals can do to strengthen the threads in their career tapestry and how their employers can help. Here are some of our top takeaways: **Ask, ‘Which threads am I strengthening?’** For Gratton, building a career that lasts starts with allocating your time well. She recommends regularly asking yourself, “In the last hour or two, did I strengthen any of my threads? Did I dedicate time to building my mastery by deepening my skills or expertise? Have I collaborated with others to deepen my ability to cooperate? Did I deepen my relationships or pursue activities that cultivate calm or adventure?" **Schedule time to tend to your weaving** Gratton encourages workers to identify threads in danger of fraying and carve out time for them in your calendar. She gives the example of a CEO who blocks two hours twice a week to go on a long run, which gives her the sense of calm required to rest, reflect, and lead amid uncertainty and change. Cisco, meanwhile, explicitly creates time for employees to build mastery with its “Time to Grow Program,” a monthly four-hour time block dedicated to skill building. “Although we’ve always been an organization that focuses on continuous learning, without having a dedicated time block, it tends not to happen,” says [Kelly Jones](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellykjones), the tech company’s chief people officer. **Conduct low-stakes experiments** “Focus on experiments that help you to discover more about yourself and build more,” recommends Gratton. That might mean taking on a short-term project with a team in a different department, making time to try new AI use cases, or taking a sabbatical to pursue a project outside the normal bounds of your work. Managers play a crucial role in helping workers identify, pursue, and reflect on these experiments, says Gratton, from introducing them to leaders in different functions to identifying lateral moves that might help them extend their skills. Doing so, says Gratton, helps workers look beyond the next rung of the career ladder and ask instead, “How do I make it something wonderful? How do I build a career that lasts and a life that I love?” says Gratton. **For more on longevity at work, read our** [**case study**](https://www.charterworks.com/a-case-study-for-redesigning-work-for-longer-careers/) **on security-technology company Verkada. Read our** [**book briefing**](https://www.charterworks.com/lynda-gratton-redesigning-work/) **on Gratton’s 2022 book,** [**_Redesigning Work_**](https://bookshop.org/a/664/9780262544986)**, and order** **_Living the 100-Year Life on_** [**_Amazon_**](https://www.amazon.com/Living-100-Year-Life-build-career/dp/1399432958) **_or_** [**_Bookshop_**](https://bookshop.org/p/books/living-the-100-year-life-how-to-build-a-career-that-lasts-and-a-life-you-love-lynda-gratton/db3fc09cc36d2ac0)**_._** --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: The Future of the Entry-Level Job](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6988913/the-future-of-the-entry-level-job/)  ### The Future of the Entry-Level Job [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6988913/the-future-of-the-entry-level-job/) [Open article: How to manage better and boost your career as the job market levels off](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6977723/how-to-manage-better-and-boost-your-career-as-the-job-market-levels-off/)  ### How to manage better and boost your career as the job market levels off [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6977723/how-to-manage-better-and-boost-your-career-as-the-job-market-levels-off/) [Open article: Why You're Probably Asking the Wrong People for Career Advice](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6288273/braintrust-career-advice-framework-meaningful-work/)  ### Why You're Probably Asking the Wrong People for Career Advice [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6288273/braintrust-career-advice-framework-meaningful-work/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/forget-climbing-the-career-ladder-start-weaving-a-working-life-instead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/forget-climbing-the-career-ladder-start-weaving-a-working-life-instead/"},"headline":"Forget Climbing the Career Ladder. 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