Coming soon: The Ambition Recession

A new essay series is on the way.

I’ve been trying to write an essay about ambition - which, if you follow me on LinkedIn, you will have picked up on from this car rant.

I came out swinging in the video, but I’ve since found myself in a rabbit hole of wondering, and everything I’m reading, seeing and doing is giving me a new angle and something else to think about.

My current hunch is that ambition is on a downward curve. That somewhere between the pandemic, the recession, Gen-Z irony, existential crises, news oversaturation and liberal guilt, we lost the will to strive. I’m wondering if a barrage of bleakness on our screens, and the looming threat of climate change and AI-driven job removal, there’s a broader vibe of what’s-the-fucking-point getting around out there.

I’m curious about what that means, and how evenly the trend is distributed. What happens when a culture gives up on trying hard?

I’m asking questions like:

• Has ambition fallen out of fashion?

• What are the social, cultural and economic forces behind the curtain?

• What are the ethics of ambition, and it’s extended family, hustle, productivity, et al?

• What have we said and thought about ambition throughout history, and how does that affect us today?

• Is it more acceptable or desirable to be ambitious if you come from a certain class, culture, social strata, industry or political ideology?

• If so, what are the costs and consequences of that stratification?

I’m doing that thing where I go to write a small piece and end up pouring weeks into it and having to throw most of it away to write a piece that’s still pretty long (I’m looking at you, What the AI Bros Won’t Tell You, and you, Scrolling is the New Smoking.)

So this time, I’m experimenting with a series, and letting myself get lost in the complexity and contradiction for a while. I’m in Greece right now, bouncing around on holiday, so I might be mildly erratic with my pub schedule while I let my curiosity take its course.

If this interests you, make sure you’re subbed, and if you think you know other people who will be keen on reading what I come up with, make sure you forward this on to them.

For now, it’s 40 degrees, so I’m off for a siesta.

See you soon,

AM