The metaphors we Career by
written by Johann L Botha
When I say Career who thinks ladder?
The career or corporate ladder is more a metaphor, than an actual theory — it is a familiar way of trying to make work life seem ordered and meaningful. Career psychology has long since outgrown this tired image. Since the 1970s, it has imagined careers as self-directed journeys, values-led choices, shifting portfolios, unfolding stories, and paths that crisscross organizational boundaries.[1]
And still the ladder persists, endlessly recycled on my socials. Why? Maybe, as Lakoff and Johnson (1980) remind us, we live by metaphors.[2] They are our conceptual scaffolding, helping us grasp the vague by comparing it with the tangible. Career is elusive, so we picture it as something solid: a ladder to climb up. “Up”, itself a directional metaphor, describing the feeling of success and happiness; “down” describing sadness, loss and defeat. Ok, sometimes Big Corp leaves nothing to the imagination, turning metaphors into literal high-rises.
Imagination plays with metaphors; fantasy clings to them.
Metaphors are comparative images we use in our imagination — they can open fresh perspectives. But when we cling to one, imagination hardens into fantasy. The popular image of career as a ladder traps us this way: we start to believe that the only way forward is up, in salary and status. In truth, careers are far more diverse, winding, and multifaceted than that single image allows.
“Metaphors are not just in our language; they structure our thought, and by changing our metaphors we can change how we experience and act in the world” - Lakoff & Johnson
Next time you feel stuck in your career, consider this: perhaps it’s the image, not the reality, that holds you back.
To help us get unstuck, here is a list of career metaphors playfully arranged as rungs on a ladder [3]— not to climb higher; hear me out…
I propose a career descent — a move many may find hard to imagine. I recon Icarus would agree with me, if only he hadn’t gone full human torch, that going up is overrated.
We go down, to get our feet back on the ground.
Not a bad place to be dealing with the uncertainty of future job prospects. A descent is not a defeat but a grounding. Ground, once again, works here as a metaphor: a place of humility, of presence, of rooted connections to what matters most in our lives.
[1] For example Protean Career, Boundaryless Career, and Career Construction Theory
[2] Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press
[3] For a deeper exploration try Inkson, K. (2004). Images of career: Nine key metaphors.
