Ambition has many faces:

Early in my career I had an Assistant Manager working for me who was exceptional.

The kind of person you build a site around.

She even won Assistant Manager of the Year.

So naturally… I kept trying to promote her.

Year after year I’d encourage her to take her own site:
“You’d crush it.”
“You’ve earned it.”
“It’s the next step.”

She refused every time.

Finally I asked her why.

And she told me the truth:
She didn’t want more responsibility.

Not because she couldn’t handle it.
Not because she lacked ambition.
But because her #1 priority wasn’t work.

She wanted to be a grandma.

Her grandson needed her, for school, for life, for stability, and she didn’t want to take on the stress of running a site if it meant she had less of herself to give at home.

That conversation permanently changed how I think about leadership.

I’m wired differently.

I do have that hunger gene. I want to build. I want to improve. I want to redefine what excellence means.

But not everyone is built like that.

And honestly? That’s not a weakness.
It’s a different definition of winning.

Leadership isn’t about pushing everyone upward.

It’s about learning what matters to people… and building roles that let them thrive there.