How AI, metrics, and career anxiety are reshaping designAn endless staircase for endless metrics. Planning a linear ten-year ascent assumes the steps will remain stable. When corporate staircases twist into unpredictable loops, real career resilience comes from knowing when to step off the track. (image source: Cleffmann)I was helping my direct report prepare her promotion packet when a leader said to the room, not to me:“Promoting someone doesn’t mean they deserve it. They’ve earned it through performance and they now have more responsibilities to bear. Upwards and downwards.”She heard encouragement. I heard a warning. Same words, same room, two different frequencies. That was the moment I realised the staircase isn’t broken. It’s just not the same object for everyone on it.Prior to my current role, I had already reconsidered how I wanted to progress and moved into a different role...