Your Career Path Doesn't Have to Be a Straight Line episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 27, 2026 · 9 MIN

Your Career Path Doesn't Have to Be a Straight Line

from Harvard Business Review · host HBR

Your Career Path Doesn't Have to Be a Straight Line 2 May 2022 --- You may think of your career as a ladder–you can go up, or down–but a better analogy might be a rock climbing wall, where going sideways, or even backwards, can be how you find your unique route to the top. KeyAnna Schmiedl, global head of culture and inclusion at Wayfair, explains what real-life rock climbing taught her about defining career advancement for herself. 00:00 “When I say career development, what do you think?” 00:30 It can’t just be that there is one path for everyone. 01:23 Rock walls are scary: How do I start climbing? 02:30 What if you don’t know your strengths? 03:35 Going backwards or sideways is okay. 05:05 There is no one “correct” path. 05:47 Here’s an alternate model of success. 06:24 You can actually define what success means to you. Follow Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters #HarvardBusinessReview #CareerPath #YourCareer Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 27, 2026

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