Ambition as a Developmental Opportunity

Ambition can be a powerful force, driving your career and helping you leverage the work of others to advance your organization. But if you don’t manage it well, ambition can do much more harm than good. It is also intricately related to other managerial strengths that can become weaknesses. That’s why you must put ambition into a larger developmental context, where it plays out with other management characteristics such as self-awareness and empathy, and with essential organizational activities such as collaboration, teamwork, and visioning.

To put it into context, engage in a formal process involving a valid and reliable 360-degree evaluation, followed by a carefully conceived and supported development plan. This is an ambitious undertaking, but for many managers—and very likely for you—that’s a positive.