CASE STUDY 2 : EU] 2 {30 EIARKS) Taking a Second Look at the Career Ladder The notion of a business career being a straight vertical ascent om the bottom to the top is so embedded in our thinking that it has its own wellused metaphor: climbing the corporate ladder. The basic idea is that you join the workforce after college, you work hard for 3D, 4!] or 5D years and you are rewarded along the way with positions of increasing responsibility and reward. There's just one small problem with this whole ladder idea: It has never been true for millions of business professionals and it often doesn't work out even for those whose believe in the promise of the continuous career progress. Simple arithmetic will tell you that the continuous climb simply can:t work for most people there just aren't enough high level jobs and the number shrinks dramatically with each step up the ladder. A major corporation with, say, ill employees might have l executives position om the vice president level up to the CEO. Even if only 113 percent of these employees (5,000) aspire to reach the upper levels, 4,9 of them aren't going to make it. The numbers don't tell the whole story: either. Many employees have other priorities and demands in life, om raising families and dealing with health issues to continuing their education and exploring di'erent career specialties along the way. In other words: millions of employees are unwilling or unable to maintain a straight climb up the ladder and reward systems built on a steady climb aren't going to do much to motivate this people. As consultant Bruce Tulgan puts it, "Paying your dues: moving up slowly and getting the corner office that= s going away. In 1D years: it will be gone.\" Cathy Benko is one of many executives who has been pondering this dilemma. As vice chairman and managing principle of Deloitte LLF'= a diversied accounting, consulting