Advancement expands the opportunity to help others. That is its reward.
- Michael Amenta
- Jul 2
- 5 min read
Our pets have something to tell us: your power isn't about you.
Years ago, I saw an overdue promotion coming so, naturally, I did a little jig, threw on some nostalgic jams, and air boxed for a minute.
Then I looked down and saw this face, Atlas’ face.
Can you see his message? It's not about you.
Atlas - dearly departed - was my family, and he had the distinct ability of knowing what's valuable in life: being together, seeing a friend, getting outdoors and moving, and a healthy flow of treats.
But surely career advancement matters too? According to a McKinsey survey, 85% of executives and upper management said they're living their life's purpose at work. However, this falls precipitously with rank: only 15% of frontline managers and employees agreed, and nearly half of them actively disagreed.
Our jobs contain multitudes of opportunities for human connection through experiences, collaboration, partnerships, self-improvement, and the production of impact, but these benefits are being concentrated at the top.
Opportunities seized or squandered
Atlas was in the shelter system for 16 months before we finally got him — due in part to a missing leg and trauma around other dogs. When we saw his profile, my wife and I searched for legitimate reasons we couldn't take him and found none. We had no other pets, were blessed with enough resources, and my remote work ensured Atlas didn't need to be with other dogs in day care.
In retrospect, we couldn't be happier that we stretched to take this more difficult case, rather than hoarding our power. We deeply felt the impact we had on his life, as well as the inspiration we provided to others who saw us. "God bless you" was a common shout out by strangers on the street—who wouldn't want such celebrity treatment just for hanging out with your best friend? I used to struggle to understand how many parents of special needs children demonstrate such satisfaction as caregivers despite the difficulty of that role, but this is no longer a mystery. As long as one's resources are adequate to the challenge, caring for someone that truly benefits from your support is immensely gratifying.
Unfortunately, power is often viewed through the lens of what it can provide for oneself. This is evident at the extremes when power is unconstrained. As Katrin Bennhold reported from Making a Career in Dictatorship, individuals who selfishly want to get ahead are often the instruments of oppressive regimes because they exclusively operate in service of job security and rank. More broadly, areas where prosperity is not equitably shared exhibit higher rates of mortality, crime, and physical and mental illness, and lower rates of community and well being, as demonstrated by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in The Spirit Level.
At work, leaders who view leadership as something to protect, rather than something to deploy, are visible to their teams. At the extreme, this manifests as abuse of power or favoritism that generates lawsuits. In lower doses but in aggregate, it hurts employee engagement, which infects performance of the team and organization.
This behavior may not even benefit those who treat advancement selfishly. For unhappy people, income doesn't increase happiness beyond a level that comfortably meets basic needs. When power is used for others, however, well-being compounds. In Give and Take, Adam Grant demonstrates how "otherish givers" turn out to be both happier and more successful than those who treat advancement as something to accumulate. And for those who already feel purpose, contentment keeps rising with success. Prosocial behavior also benefits personal health and longevity and improves quality of life in the communities we live.
How purpose spreads
Some may argue that their career doesn't afford them the opportunity to serve others, so their personal mission is to earn more money that may enable them to be in service of others — even if that's sometime in the future. However, small opportunities abound for helping junior colleagues find purpose. The same McKinsey report found that frontline managers and employees were ten times less likely than executives to have had opportunities to reflect on their purpose, nine times less likely to have had a manager foster purposeful work, and three times less likely to say they see a connection between their work and the purpose of the organization.
Fortunately, the same study identifies what breaks this pattern: "When employees at any level say that their purpose is fulfilled by their work, the work and life outcomes they report are anywhere from two to five times higher than those reported by their unfulfilled peers." The study's authors make several recommendations to enable this: foster the purpose of the organization, encourage teammate reflection on how their work contributes this purpose, personally connect with colleagues and help them feel psychological safety, and host group sessions to connect with customers and colleagues.
Employees can also take steps of their own to make their vocation a "calling", rather than a "career", since those who do report vastly higher rates of feeling rewarded. The "calling" group also report much lower confidence that they'll rise to a higher level in five years, but simultaneously show significantly lower levels of regret — indicating the tradeoff may be worth it.
This outlook transition can simply start from a determined mindset. In the same McKinsey study, parents were 1.6x more likely to feel purpose at work, which seemed to arise from parents actively shaping their careers into callings. As one focus group participant explained: “Being a parent has made my priorities more clear about my impact on the world. I want to make my children proud.”
The message in Atlas' eyes
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. -Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, adapted from Sutra of 42 Sections
Is the tradeoff worth it: to spend 40 years of our working lives with less intrinsic rewards and more regret in exchange for the potential for higher rank and income?
Atlas' eyes were portals to understanding merit and rank for me. I probably won’t look fondly on a promotion upon my deathbed, but I may register opportunities I've created out of leadership to develop teammates and help partners.
Promotions come with an inherent choice: to spread the increased power or to consolidate it. What if we made the choice to see these advancements as not about us; rather, as privileged opportunities to build mutual prosperity; to help others grow; to light more candles? What if we saw leadership as an opportunity to impact the lives of those who are inexplicably living on the same floating rock in a limitless void of space?
Beware of the flattery of elevation. Take praise with a moment of gratitude, and then with a large grain of salt and a quick transition to something else. Believing the hype is the path toward embracing a self-centered interpretation of personal advancement, which can become addictive and isolating.
So the next time you're flattered, give it the Atlas test. Keep your jig under ten seconds, and then recenter yourself by exploring how this specific opportunity unlocks your ability to create purpose for others.