I think part of the issue is people assuming that everyone MUST want to move upwards. Like... it's the next logical step for a person to want to move up the chain: from worker to manager, to district manager, eventually owner.
But I always think of growth like plants.
Aspens grow tall to reach the sun, for sure. But dandelions grow deep, understanding themselves fully so that if some misguided fool tries to uproot them they'd have to try damn hard. And then there's thyme and other creeping plants, which spread themselves out so much that if you chop a part of it off it roots wherever it can find dirt to root in.
It's okay not to have lofty dreams. You know what kind of plant you are better than anyone else.
This reminds me of a business problem called The Peter Principle that’s been written about for years but few businesses have been willing to make changes because of it
The concept is that a worker is really good at their job, so good that they clearly deserve better compensation for all they bring to the company, but business is structured so that the only way to get more money is to be promoted to a higher position. A new position comes with new job requirements, but not everyone is going to be right for those. Example: an amazing computer programmer might be useless at managing staff, but if you promote that programmer to head of the department they’ll be required to manage staff. It seems like the best thing for everyone, the company included, would be to put that employee back in their original job and let them keep the higher salary since they clearly do the job well enough to deserve it. However companies want those lower level jobs to be seen as undesirable so workers will feel upper staff deserve their higher wages. Because of this, putting the employee back in the job they’re right for is considered a demotion, so instead companies let the employee keep the upper level job they’re bad at forever or until they have just cause to fire them. Clearly the company was better off with them in the job they were good at, but the illusion of hierarchy to justify higher waged employees is more important
Just because capitalism says everyone should climb the corporate ladder doesn’t mean it’s actually the right thing for everyone
Pity the employees whose supervisor was Peter Principled into their job. First job out of college, I was technical/clerical support for a group of engineers on a construction job. We were a tiny part of a massive project. The supervisor was an older man who was a really smart ENGINEER but he should never been a project manager. Didn’t have the skill set to be a boss of anyone. The other engineers just nodded and said Sure, Hank, and then did what actually needed done, and corrected his instructions to me so I knew what I really needed to do. It was frustrating and maddening.
Unfortunately Hank had accepted the promotion and got stuck doing a job he was awful at — he was still there when I left the company...probably was there until he retired.