Core value · Success family
Ambition
Aiming high
Also covers Advancement
What does ambition mean as a core value?
Ambition as a core value means aiming high and wanting to keep advancing, whether in role, scale or impact, and putting in the effort to get there.
The next level is always somewhere in view. Ambition is wanting more from your life and work than where you are now: a bigger role, a harder problem, a business that grows, an impact beyond your own circle. For you, aiming low feels like wasting what you could do. You think in terms of trajectory and advancement, and in your head you’re usually a few steps ahead of your current job.
What does ambition look like in practice?
- You ask your manager what it would take to reach the next role, and then set about doing it.
- You apply for things you’re not fully qualified for yet.
- You set goals that make other people raise an eyebrow.
- You seek out people a few steps ahead of you and ask how they got there.
- You turn down a comfortable offer because it would cap where you could go.
When is ambition overplayed?
Ambition can make the present feel like a waiting room. You’re always halfway to somewhere else, so you don’t enjoy what’s already good, and people around you can start to look like stepping stones. It can push you to take roles for the title more than the work, or to measure yourself constantly against peers. Healthy ambition keeps aiming high and stays anchored in who you want to be along the way. One way to keep it honest is to ask yourself, every so often: higher towards what?
Often confused with
Ambition vs Drive
Drive is the energy that keeps you moving. Ambition is the direction: aiming somewhere high enough to need that energy.
Ambition vs Achievement
Achievement is reaching the goals you set. Ambition is about how high you set them in the first place.
Ambition vs Growth
Growth is becoming more capable or wiser, whatever your position. Ambition is usually about reaching further, in role, scale or influence.
Questions to sit with
- What are you aiming for that you haven’t told anyone because it sounds too big?
- What would you be content with if you let yourself, and what stops you?
- Who has paid a price for your ambition, and did they get a say?
More values in Success
Achievement, ambition and coming out on top.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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