A few years ago, 69 percent of executives and managers considered themselves extremely ambitious in their professional lives.
Today, only 40 percent consider themselves extremely ambitious.
This is a fundamental shift in attitude, which could have a profound effect on business, as people begin to balance their lives
more holistically, bringing a different perspective to the workplace.
Though the reasons vary, many say they are reallocating their
time and energy on what matters to them now. “A few years back,
my drive was very high,” says one manager. “I’m not sure if it’s
burnout, family commitments, satisfaction with my current postion, or being near the top of the ladder that has slowed the ambition level, but it definitely is not what it used to be.”
“In the last two years I have been marginalized to the point that
I have lost any ambition for my present job,” says one manager. Says
the fifty-six-year-old CEO of a small company, “The recession
makes me feel like a boxer who knows he’s losing in the twelfthround.” Says another manager, “The decline of ambition is less the
wisdom of age and diminishment of expectations than it is weariness of the battle both within the firm and in the face of external
forces.”