Career Quoridor

Managing your career is like playing a game of Quoridor.

Quoridor is a board game in which you have to move your piece from one side of the board to the other side to win.

The catch is that you and your opponent can place walls to block each other.

You start your career thinking you can climb a career ladder linearly, i.e. working hard for promotion to get to the next level, eventually leading you to a senior role.

After moving a few steps ahead, you realise that you may encounter a wall blocking your path forward, forcing you to decide whether you want to stay at the same spot or move laterally.

Sometimes moving laterally opens up new paths forward, but sometimes you get boxed in, forcing you to unwillingly go backward, trying to see if there is a new path forward around that corner.

In a game of Quoridor, you will always move your piece, because you have a clear overview of the board (e.g. where is the end of a wall segment) and you will tell yourself that this is just a game. No big deal if you lose it.

But in a career, most people may decide not to move their piece at all, no matter how boxed in they are. Is it fear? Is it a sense of comfort? Or may be career is not everything in their life.

Although sometimes we may all wonder, what if I had taken that leap of faith back then?