Rethinking Career Success: Who Makes the Rules Now?

What happens when the career you’ve worked so hard to build is no longer the only thing you want to pursue?

For a long time, the rules of professional success seemed relatively clear: work hard, get promoted, take on more responsibility and keep moving forward. But what if, at some point, you want something different? Does that make you less ambitious? Or does it simply mean your definition of success has evolved?

AI is changing how we work and what we can accomplish. People across generations are questioning established career models, while life itself has a way of challenging even our best-laid plans.

Perhaps it’s time to ask not only what a successful career looks like, but who gets to make the rules.

When life changes the definition of success

I spent over 23 years in financial services, including eight years on Boards of Management across European markets. I genuinely enjoyed my work, the challenges and the people I met along the way.

At the end of 2025, I decided to take a career break in 2026 to focus on starting a family. It wasn’t a sudden decision. We had been trying for years while I was working, but it simply hadn’t worked out. Maybe some of you reading these words know exactly what I’m talking about.

At some point, I realised I needed to decide what mattered most at that stage of my life. Life is short, and not everything can wait. My ambitions hadn’t disappeared, but my priorities had changed.

Different generations, or different rules?

We often talk about generational differences at work. Younger professionals supposedly want flexibility and purpose, while older generations value stability and career progression.

But I wonder whether the real difference is not what we want, but how comfortable we feel questioning the rules.

When I started my career, openly saying that a promotion wasn’t my priority would have felt unusual. Today, I hear younger professionals challenging assumptions that many of us simply accepted.

Does that mean one generation has it right and another wrong? Of course not. Experience brings perspective and judgement, while fresh thinking challenges habits that may no longer serve us. Both are important, especially in a world changing as quickly as ours.

Can AI change more than how we work?

AI is making it easier to learn new skills, test ideas and do things that once required much more time, money or specialised knowledge. Perhaps its most interesting impact on careers, however, is that it can make changing direction more accessible.

This year, I joined motif AI, a Swiss fintech startup, as an intern.

Yes, an intern, after eight years on executive boards. And I love it.

I’m learning from people with different backgrounds in an environment that is completely different from what I’m used to, while bringing my own knowledge and experience to the table. It’s a good reminder that experience and curiosity aren’t opposites, and that being a beginner at something doesn’t erase everything you’ve learned before.

I also rediscovered my passion for writing. Together with my husband, I published our first children’s book. I also completed my debut novel.

Technology offers new possibilities, but we still need to be willing to explore them. And organisations need to look beyond job titles and conventional career paths when recognising talent.

Who gets to define success?

As I prepare to become a mother for the first time at 45, I don’t have a detailed five-year career plan.

I still love business, leadership, technology and learning. I may return to an executive role one day, or perhaps I’ll discover something entirely different. I’m comfortable not knowing yet.

But this conversation is bigger than individual choices. Employers also shape what career paths are possible. If we want people to keep contributing through different stages of life, we need to rethink how we value experience, support career transitions and create opportunities to learn.

So here are three questions I’d love us to explore:

• What can different generations teach each other about ambition and career success?

• Can AI help us create genuinely new career opportunities, rather than simply become more productive?

• What should organisations change to make nonlinear careers a real option, not just an inspiring idea?

I’m looking forward to exploring these questions with Adelheid Moxon and all of you at Rethinking Career Success: Different Generations, Smarter Tools, New Rules on 1 December in Zurich.

Because perhaps the most important question isn’t how high we can climb.

It’s what we want our careers to make possible in our lives.

About the author

Dr. Agata Przygoda is an international business leader with over 23 years of experience in financial services, including eight years on executive boards across European markets. In 2026, she stepped away from her executive career to focus on starting a family while exploring AI, entrepreneurship and creative writing.