When I started my professional career in consulting I was given a clearly defined schedule for what would be a successful career path. I was to complete my internship, get hired full time as an associate, be promoted to senior associate, progress to manager, senior manager, managing director, and my final goal was to end up as a partner in the firm. I was to do this all within a specific time period.

This path felt normal and consistent with my educational experience – linear, predictable, clear, and time bound. In fact, our modern educational systems that lay the groundwork for these infamous career ladders were created some 200 years ago by men and are infused with the same masculine principles, as are most of the systems in our modern world.

However, nothing in nature grows linearly. We are not linear creatures and neither are our thoughts, processes, and life journeys.

When I joined Nike the career path was much the same. However, being a highly innovative company, it was encouraged to network cross functionally and take “stretch assignments” within other business units or teams. This way you could engage in new work, expand your skills, and build relationships such that you could laterally move into new roles for which you weren’t typically qualified.

I loved this approach and took full advantage.

Over the course of my nearly twelve year Nike career I held eight very different roles, completed assignments in over 15 countries, worked abroad for six years, and took the non-linear approach to driving my career. I pursued interests over job titles, followed creative nudges, gravitated toward leaders with whom I resonated, and ultimately ended up gaining a lot of knowledge and experience, more so than most of my colleagues.

Despite this being a culturally acceptable practice, I was often met with cross looks and interrogative questioning. I was also met with fewer opportunities for increased ratings and thus bonus payouts. It turns out that having an undefined career path doesn’t fit the linear system. Staying within a business unit or function was far more desirable in that it allowed one to fully mature and develop within a specific knowledge set, or so I was told.

Perhaps following a specific path allows one to become more predictable, known, and categorized. And in not following that path one becomes foreign, and even threatening, to our predefined systems.

Corporate America is dominated by linear, masculine modes of thought and process. We aren’t encouraged or even allowed to experiment, explore, create, and flow with the unfolding of our curiosities, natural inclinations, and individual timing. There is fear and disapproval when straying from what is deemed “normal”. However, according to LinkedIn’s latest Workforce Confidence survey, Gen Z workers (ages 24 and under) are more likely than those in any other generation to have changed industries over the past year or be actively looking to make a switch.

More than half Gen Z, 69%, cited wanting an opportunity that better aligns with their interests and values.

And guess what? Interests and values are ever-evolving, spiraling, and multi-layered phenomena. They are feminine in nature. They ask us to reflect, reevaluate, pivot, and explore.

Employers must encourage and reward non-linear career paths. This is exactly what would allow Gen Z to thrive, thus reducing attrition and increasing attraction.

A new set of principles and systems must be established in order to bring this to life. This requires a leaning into the unknown, uncertain, and un-tested. Tactical ideas throughout the duration of the employee lifecycle could include:

• Personality assessments
• Values workshops
• Innovation / Incubator programs
• Rewards systems embedded for stretch assignments, career pivots
• International rotations
• Emotional Intelligence trainings
• Allocated time off for self exploration, expression, art, innovation projects