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Ambition is one of the most defining forces in human affairsa psychological engine that propels individuals beyond the realm of survival into the arena of creation, disruption, and transformation, and significantly predicts educational attainment, career success, job performance, and income. At its core, ambition is the refusal to accept the status quo, the internal pressure to stretch personal limits and societal boundaries. In a way, the best way to understand ambition is as the inability to be satisfied with ones accomplishments. Ambition fuels leadership by pushing individuals to take responsibility, imagine alternatives, and mobilize others toward a vision. Ambition underwrites entrepreneurship as the catalyst for risk-taking, persistence, and the stubborn belief that a better way is not only possible but necessary. Without ambition, innovation stalls; with it, people challenge orthodoxy, break conventions, and solve problems that others resign to fate. Across disciplines, from science to art to politics, historys breakthroughs are seldom the product of complacencythey are the residue of restless, ambitious minds. The world, to a large extent, is the output of ambitious people. It is shaped by those who couldnt sit still, who werent content with inherited limitations, and who felt compelled to act on their ideas, no matter how unlikely or unpopular. From the first controlled fire to the latest generative AI models, progress has never been evenly distributedit has been driven by individuals and groups with an outsized appetite to leave a mark. Ambition transforms dissatisfaction into momentum, and imagination into infrastructure. It explains not just who rises to lead or invent, but why civilizations expand, technologies leap forward, and cultures evolve. While it must be tempered by ethics and collective concern, ambition remains an irreplaceable force in the story of human progress. Everything in moderation And yet, like all powerful traits, ambition is best expressed in moderation. Too little, and individuals driftuntethered from purpose, passive in the face of opportunity. Too much, and ambition can metastasize into obsession, crowding out humility, collaboration, and even moral judgment. When ambition becomes unbounded, it stops serving the individual and begins demanding sacrificeof relationships, values, and long-term well-being. It can distort self-perception, encouraging people to see themselves not as contributors to a shared cause, but as lone heroes in a zero-sum contest. Teams suffer when ambition eclipses empathy: the pursuit of personal achievement starts to undermine trust, cooperation, and psychological safety. A competitive drive that ignores others needs doesnt just alienate colleaguesit weakens the very foundation of high-functioning organizations. Unchecked ambition often bleeds into greed, an insatiable hunger not just to succeed, but to dominate. As Gordon Gekko infamously said, Greed is gooda provocative mantra for the high-octane world of finance, but a dangerous philosophy when applied indiscriminately. Greed erodes the social contract. It justifies exploitation, tolerates unethical shortcuts, and treats people as a means to an end. In leadership, this can result in toxic cultures, short-term thinking, and spectacular failures. Companies driven solely by ambition without constraint may grow fast, but they often implode fastertoppling under the weight of hubris, burnout, and scandal. The WeWork Case Adam Neumann, cofounder and former CEO of WeWork, is a textbook example of how unbridled ambition can lead to spectacular collapse. Neumann started with a compelling vision: to elevate the worlds consciousness through a coworking space company that promised to redefine the way people live and work. His charisma and relentless ambition helped WeWork grow at breakneck speed, attracting billions in venture capital and inflating its valuation to nearly $47 billion at its peak. But Neumanns ambition quickly outpaced operational reality. He expanded into housing (WeLive), education (WeGrow), and other ventures with little strategic coherence. Reports surfaced of erratic behavior, conflicts of interest, and a corporate culture driven more by Neumanns personal mythos than sound governance. In 2019, when WeWork attempted to go public, its financial inconsistencies and Neumanns questionable leadership style came under scrutiny. The IPO failed, Neumann was forced to resign, and the companys valuation plummeted. His ambition wasnt the problem in itselfit was that it became delusional, detached from execution, and ultimately corrosive to the companys sustainability. Neumann exemplifies how visionary drive, without discipline or humility, can become a liability rather than an asset. In short, the healthiest ambition is grounded in purpose, tempered by self-awareness, and balanced by a commitment to collective success. It lifts everyone, not just the one climbing the fastest. So, while it’s generally better to have than to lack ambition, here are three proven ways in which an excess of drive or motivation can harm your career and negatively impact others. 1. Ambition can inhibit peoples prosocial drive When the desire to get ahead outweighs the instinct to get along, ambition can corrode social cohesion. In team environments, overly ambitious individuals may hoard credit, prioritize visibility over contribution, and treat colleagues as competitors rather than collaborators. This undermines trust and psychological safetytwo bedrocks of effective teamwork. For example, a rising executive who constantly angles for the spotlight may alienate peers and demoralize subordinates, even if their individual output is impressive. Over time, the cost of such interpersonal friction outweighs the benefits of raw performance. In the long run, organizations thrive not on lone stars but on networks of mutual respect and cooperationboth of which ambition can quietly erode if left unchecked. 2. Ambition can amplify antisocial traits like narcissism, aggression, and entitlement While a healthy dose of drive can motivate people to aim high, excessive ambition can inflate the ego and distort moral reasoning. Narcissistic leaders, for instance, often begin their ascent with impressive confidence and visionbut as their ambition grows, so does their sense of superiority and disregard for others. This can lead to toxic behaviors like manipulation, bullying, or a refusal to accept criticism. Take the case of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos: her ambition to revolutionize healthcare was laudable, but her unwillingness to admit failure or accept limits led to deception and collapse. When ambition aligns with antisocial traits, it stops being a virtue and becomes a liabilityboth for the individual and the system theyre part of. 3. Ambition can harm personal relationships, wellbeing, and life outside work Ambition often demands trade-offs, but when those trade-offs become sacrifices, the consequences can be severe. People driven by intense professional goals may neglect family, friends, and self-carebelieving that success justifies the costs. This mindset is especially common in high-stakes environments like consulting, finance, or tech startups, where long hours and relentless competition are normalized. Over time, the neglect accumulates: relationships fray, health deteriorates, and a creeping sense of emptiness can set ineven after major achievements. A partner who misses birthdays for business trips or skips vacations for product launches may eventually find the corner office far lonelier than expected. True success requires integration, not imbalancesomething ambition doesnt always encourage. Research consistently shows that moderate levels of ambitionas opposed to extremely high or low levelsare most beneficial for long-term well-being, work-life balance, and sustainable career success. In the famous words of Seneca, It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. A more sustainable strategy Indeed, people with a healthy dose of ambition tend to have clear goals, a sense of purpose, and enough drive to stay engaged and motivated. But unlike the hyper-ambitious, they are less likely to sacrifice personal relationships, sleep, or mental health in pursuit of constant advancement. They are also more likely to value balance, practice self-care, and define success in broader terms than just titles or paychecks. This makes them not only happier individuals but often better colleagues and leaders. Moderately ambitious individuals are also more likely to stay grounded in reality. They can be ambitious without being delusional, motivated without being obsessive, and confident without being overbearing. As a result, they tend to make better long-term decisionsfor themselves and others. Rather than chasing every opportunity or competing with everyone around them, they focus on meaningful progress, both professionally and personally. In a world that often glamorizes extreme ambition, it’s worth remembering that the good life is rarely lived on the edge of burnoutand that sometimes, aiming for enough is the smartest and most sustainable strategy of all.It is also clear that de-emphasizing ambitionor the importance we give to itcould help in many areas of life, including business. For example: 1. We tend to overrate ambition, especially when selecting leaders In many organizations, leadership potential is judged through the lens of visibility, assertiveness, and a hunger for advancementclassic signals of ambition. We rarely pause to ask whether that ambition serves the group, or merely the individual. As a result, we often confuse confidence for competence, and ambition for ability. Research consistently shows that traits like humility, integrity, and emotional intelligence are more predictive of effective leadership than raw drive or self-promotion. Yet job interviews and promotion processes still reward those who lean in, speak up, and outperform peersoften selecting the loudest rather than the wisest. This opens the door to narcissistic leaders who crave power for its own sake. As Plato warned, a person who wants to govern should not. 2. Ambition is frequently mistaken for talent, even in roles that demand competence over charisma Think of professions where precision, reliability, and expertise are paramountpilots, surgeons, financial advisers. In these roles, would you rather entrust your life or money to someone highly ambitious, or someone quietly excellent? In reality, you often cant have both. The most ambitious professionals may focus more on personal brand-building and career climbing than on mastering their craft. Yet our hiring and evaluation systems tend to reward the ambitious candidate: the confident speaker, the impressive résumé, the person with a five-year plan to reach the top. This obsession with upward momentum blinds us to quiet competence. Ironically, many of the best performers are not those obsessed with being someone, but with doing something well. 3. Finally, ambition is often directed at the wrong goalsthose that serve ego more than others Many high achievers are not driven to make things better, but to be seen as better than others. Their goals are status-enhancing, not impact-driven: more power, more wealth, more recognition. This kind of ambition justifies any meanscutting corners, sidelining colleagues, or exploiting loopholesso long as the outcome advances their image. In this light, ambition becomes less a force for progress and more a zero-sum race for supremacy. Organizations and societies pay the price: innovation stalls when energy is spent on internal jockeying, teams fracture under self-serving leadership, and trust erodes. True ambition should be oriented toward contribution, not domination. But too often, we reward the latter and wonder why so many leaders fail to elevate anyone but themselves. When Enough is Enough Ambition is a powerful tool, but like any tool, it can become dangerous when misused or overvalued. In a world that equates relentless drive with virtue, we risk promoting the wrong people, building the wrong cultures, and pursuing the wrong goals. We forget that ambition is not inherently nobleit simply magnifies what already exists. In the right hands, it catalyzes innovation, service, and progress. In the wrong ones, it fuels ego, exploitation, and eventual collapse. The challenge, then, is not to reject ambition, but to recalibrate our relationship with it: to stop treating it as an end in itself, and start seeing it as a means to something greater. This requires a collective shift in how we define successnot as the ability to outshine others, but as the capacity to uplift them. We need to stop conflating ambition with leadership potential, charisma with competence, and visibility with value. Its time to reward the quietly excellent, the others-focused, and the impact-driven. The future will not belong to those who climb the fastest, but to those who climb with purposeand bring others with them. As my colleague and friend Amy Edmondson and I have argued, ambition may drive history, but only wisdom, humility, and interity ensure that it drives us somewhere worth going.
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E-Commerce
Continuing from the year of yeehaw, professional bull riding is having a moment on TikTok. Since the beginning of this year, Professional Bull Riding (PBR)the largest bull riding league in the worldhas gained 650,000 followers across its social media platforms, Mashable recently reported. Thats just 200,000 fewer than they gained throughout all of 2024. Mitch Ladner, PBRs social media lead, told Mashables Christianna Silva that most of this growth comes from followers between the ages of 18 and 35. On PBRs TikTok, which is nearing 3 million followers, many recent videos tap into viral trends and audiowith a cowboy twist. Aligning our chakras, one caption reads, but instead of a sound bowl, its a can of Monster Energy and a meat stick. Whoever is in charge of your page is so Gen Z chronically online coded, and I LOVE IT, reads a comment beneath a recent video. The sport itselfwith rides lasting a maximum of eight secondswas practically built for short-form video. The goal is simple: Stay on the bull using just one hand and both legs (touching the bull with the second hand means disqualification). Now its finding fresh traction with a new TikTok audience. Cowboy culture, too, is enjoying a broader resurgence. From fashion trends like coastal cowgirl and cowboy core to Beyoncés Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album and tour, 2024 earned its year of yeehaw nickname. Today, cowboy hats and boots are everywhere. Pinterest reported an 8,700% spike in searches for country glam in 2024, while searches for Western style outfits rose 418%. A RealReal report also showed searches for vintage Levis denim and fringed leather up nearly 70%. Still, we may not have hit peak cowboy. In January, a PBR event sold out Madison Square Garden for three consecutive daysthe first time in nearly 20 years, according to Mashable. Founded in 1992, PBR is leaning into its Gen Z moment. “Our mantra is: Be cowboy,” PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason told Mashable. “It doesn’t matter where you live, what you drive, how you dress, the color of your skin, or your gender. If you live honestly with integrity, hard work, and an appreciation for the history and heritage of America, you’re a cowboy.”
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E-Commerce
The average person changes jobs every two years and nine months, according to a survey by the career advice website Career Sidekick. If you work for 40 years, that translates to about 15 jobsand 15 resignations. While the conversation can feel difficult, its important to be thoughtful about how you say goodbye, says Melody Wilding, author of Managing Up: How to Get What you Need from the People in Charge and human behavior professor at Hunter College in New York City. A lot of people boomerang back to a company, team, or manager in a fairly short time, says Wilding, who is also a contributor to Fast Company. Having strong relationships with leaders and colleagues could also be a good for getting a reference, LinkedIn recommendation, or referrals to new roles. Delivering a resignation, however, can involve heightened emotions. Resentment, frustration, burnout, and fatigue may have caused you to seek a new role or company, yet you likely have a desire for civil, diplomatic, and tactful conversation, says Wilding. Sometimes those two things can be at odds, she says. You’re not only dealing with your own emotions, but you’re also trying to project other people’s reactions. Is my boss going to be upset or ask that I leave right away? The desire to get [the conversation] right and secure your future can put pressure on you. Do the pre-work Wilding advises doing some pre-work before you deliver the news that you’re quitting. Be ready that the reaction may not be positive, especially if youre involved in sensitive work, she says. They may say, Thanks for your two-week notice, but actually you can be done today, she says. Before you exit a team and possibly lose access to your work, Wilding recommends taking stock of what youve achieved in your role. This isnt about stealing anything that’s company IP or proprietary, she says. Its updating your résumé, putting together a case study that you may want to reference in the future, updating your LinkedIn profile, and writing some posts based on what you did while you still have access to all of it. Next, put together a transition plan. While it sounds intimidating, it simply needs to be a rundown of your projects and their stages. You could also put together a guide for standard operating procedures, about how you do certain things. Wilding suggests including contact information or different stakeholders so the person who assumes the job can easily take over. Putting together a transition plan is valuable because it shows that youre thoughtful and solution-oriented, says Wilding. Prepare for the conversation After youve done the pre-work, prepare for the conversation, which should be done in person and not through a written platform, says Wilding. Virtual can be fine over Zoom, but you want it to be in real time so the person can hear your tone of voice, and your sincerity can come through, she says. Too much can be lost over email or messenger. A good rule for managing up is to not let the people above you be negatively surprised, and it applies to leaving, too. Wilding says if you go into your one-on-one and the news completely sideswipes your manager because they didn’t see this coming, they’re probably going to have a much stronger negative reaction. Instead, set the stage by saying, Today in our one-on-one, I’d like to put aside five or 10 minutes to give you an important update that I have. At least they know something’s coming, says Wilding. You don’t have to disclose I’m telling you that I’m leaving, but you can say, I wanted to discuss my trajectory here or I want to talk about my next steps in the organization. It gives them a heads up that can be crucial. Skip to the chase Most people feel some nerves when they share news that theyre leaving. While it can be tempting to make small talk, Wilding recommends fighting that tendency and jumping to the chase. Frame it from your perspective, she says. You can say, I’ve made the hard choice that it’s time for me to move on. [This date] will be my last day in this role. You can be honest and say, This wasn’t an easy decision for me or I thought about this a lot. I know it will be hard for the team. You don’t have to apologize. Keep it focused on your situation and what is right for you and your career. This isnt time to have a feedback conversation about the difficulties in the role, adds Wilding. Break the news and focus on moving forward, she says. Next, talk about how you will transition out of the role and leave the team in a good place. Having your transition plan ready provides the perfect tool for refocusing the conversation if it starts to get emotional. If they say, How could you do this? This is such terrible timing, you can say, I understand, and that is not my intention. What I think would be helpful is if we focus on how we implement this plan, says Wilding. It gives you something tangible to keep circling back to. Its important that you feel emotionally grounded going into this conversation, adds Wilding. This is not the type of conversation you want to squeeze between two other meetings, when you may be rushing from one thing to the next, she says. Also, dont feel like you need to keep talking. When we get uncomfortable, we tend to over explain, says Wilding. If you’ve had a good experience, you can say, I’ve enjoyed my time here. If it wasnt the greatest experience, you can say, I’ve learned a lot from my experience here, which is true even if you work somewhere where it’s been difficult. Then say, On this date, I’ll be moving to this company or this new team and then be quiet. When we inject strategic silence into a conversation, it projects more confidence than just rambling. Think about external communications It’s also important that you shape the narrative that’s being told about why you’re leaving and make sure its an accurate story instead of letting people fill in the gaps. Ask to be part of the communication roll out, especially if you have clients, vendors, or cross-functional partners that need to be notified, says Wilding. Ideally, hand over a transition message, says Wilding. Or, at the very least, be proactive about saying to your manager and HR that you want to be part of that communication. Wilding also recommends writing a post aout what you learned during your time there or gratitude for your team. You can use that as a jumping off point to share what you’re doing next. Throughout the process, keep your interactions healthy and strong, says Wilding. In most industries, it’s a very small world, she says. Dont bad mouth anyone. Even if you don’t end up working directly with the same people, you may have shared colleagues who come up in conversation. Put things in the past and move on. You want to be able to have a network of weak ties for the future so you can reach out for a referral, expand your network, and provide references or recommendations for others.
Category:
E-Commerce
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