THE LIE OF SUCCESS: You Were Not Promoted. You Were Repositioned

Promotions that feel like punishments.
“Congratulations. You now get to drown with a better title.”

Glen emerged from his military career as a Major. Nice dude. He was surprisingly “unmilitary” in bearing. We reminisced about trivial shared experiences like inedible rations. I exited as a conscript who served his term, but Glen was a career officer for much longer. He echoed that idea: when they needed you to stay, they promoted you. More responsibility without more privileges.

Glen found himself in a stagnant pool, floating with other Majors. Enough rank to make new recruits squirm, but no command, or movement. My last memory of Glen was him searching for car spares. His little Ford Focus was a mess. He looked like a man still marching years after the parade had ended.

Glen never said these things outright. But this is what he left me with. Some new rations.
People don’t respect you more when you’re promoted. They fear the rank. You move closer to the fire. You become easier to contain. You earn a bit more, but therapy is still expensive. You’ll hear how clichés echo. New doors will open for you. But there’s more crap behind more doors.
Glen was a pragmatist. Remember, you initially move for more money. Not everyone’s a surgeon, where promotion means sharpening a craft, going from stitching wounds to thoracic surgery. The motivator isn’t always mastery. Sometimes it’s survival.

Interesting how many new brooms come from other companies. One morning there’s a new manager, a new CEO. Some figured it out. Move up, yes, but also move away. If you can.
Success is not always up. Sometimes it’s out. Staying in a toxic system for a better title isn’t loyalty. It’s slow self-erasure. Opting out isn’t cowardice. It’s clarity. You’re not being left behind. You’re stepping out of a race that ends in exhaustion.

The system does not care how long you served. It only cares how long you stayed useful. Then it forgets you.

So, Matt, should I never opt for promotion when it gets presented to me?

Dude, you can’t ask that from me. You have to figure that out for yourself. Because you already know the answer. Now, you can just look at it with a bit more honesty and a bit more clarity, and then you’ll know what you’re letting yourself in for, without naively saying, “this promotion will be brilliant.”