“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
― John Adams, Letters of John Adams, addressed to his wife
I climbed a corporate ladder and found a strange pattern along the way.
When I started out in corporate world, I was in my late 20s and at the very bottom rung of the ladder. I was hungry, ambitious, and driven to learn from those around me, and I asked for guidance and advice as much as I could.
Specifically, I wanted to learn from the women who had climbed that same ladder before me.
I wanted their advice. I wanted them to like me. I wanted to be like them.

But when I sought them out to connect, they brushed me aside. What the hell?
The longer I was in corporate world, the more I started to understand:
The women who had climbed the ladder before me did so in a very different environment. While I was dealing with sexism and ageism and general mysogyny, they had it much worse 10-15 years ago.
These women (at least in the environment I was in) had to fight their way up the ladder. They were often the single woman in the room while men in power treated them horribly.
In order to survive in this old-school toxic environment, these women had to become like the men around them - including sometimes sexist, ageist, and callous.
It was no wonder that when these women saw the next generation of women leaders starting to enter the workforce behind them, rather than offering a helping hand down the ladders they built from scratch, they kicked the ladders down.
Since they had to fight and abandon their values, so would we.
Since they had to get paid less for the same jobs as men, so would we.
Since they had to sacrifice parts of their lives to succeed in this environment, so would we.
And I feel for these women. And I disagree with them.
So while I had to fight and scramble my way up ladders that I had to rebuild from scratch myself, I decided that I would also offer a hand to those behind me on the journey. We’re much stronger as a whole when we support each other along the way.
Have you noticed ladder-kicking in your workplace?
How are you offering a hand to women on the journey behind you?
What do you think we can do collectively to better uplift each other?
Join the conversation below!
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