The Weekly Wednesday: Negotiating Too Close to the Sun
But is it Really a Problem?
This Wednesday’s Music
Negotiating Too Close to the Sun
I am leaving this one open to everyone this week. I think it is a good topic for future planning.
📉 Too Good to Leave, Too Bored to Stay
We all want to win the negotiation. To walk out of that salary talk like a legend, clutching an offer so sweet it makes other professionals weep into their LinkedIn feeds.
That’s exactly what happened to one particular high-performer I know. Let’s call them Alex.
Alex didn’t just negotiate well. They crushed it. Retirement options, locked-in raises for four years based on performance, remote flexibility, and a salary that was 20% higher than the market before the first raise.
But here’s the twist. Alex can’t leave.
Not because they’re loyal. Not because they love the mission. But because no other company will match what they're currently making, and they know it.
Worse? The job isn’t growing them anymore. They’ve mastered it. No new challenges, no meaningful mentorship, no fresh tools or ideas. It's career purgatory at six figures.
It’s a lesson for all of us: Winning the negotiation doesn’t mean winning the career. Sometimes the best-paying job is the most expensive, because it costs you time, momentum, and growth.
If you're in this situation, it’s worth asking: would you rather be comfortably stuck, or slightly underpaid and moving forward?
🧭 Is This a Real Problem?
Yes — and more common than most people think.
When professionals secure a compensation package significantly above market rate, they often find themselves in what's known as a "golden handcuff" scenario. The pay is excellent, the perks are undeniable, but the cost is hidden: career stagnation.
On paper, everything looks great. But under the surface, something critical is missing — skill development, learning opportunities, fresh challenges, or even a healthy feedback loop. Over time, this imbalance can erode a person’s long-term value in the job market. Their current salary may be secure, but future readiness quietly declines.
In some industries, especially in fast-moving tech, education, or innovation-driven roles, staying too long in a role without change can actually lower your desirability to future employers. Hiring managers aren’t just looking at what you earn — they’re looking at what you’ve done lately and what you’re building toward.
So yes, it’s a real and structural career trap. It’s not caused by greed or laziness, but often by smart people making rational decisions… and then getting stuck by their own success.
🔄 Strategy: Change the Type of Job or Career Path
If your role is paying too well to leave — but offering too little to grow — it might be time to stop thinking about lateral moves and start thinking about transformational ones.
Rather than chasing a similar role at another company (which likely won’t match your current pay), consider shifting into a new type of role or career path altogether. Think of this as a long game: you may take a temporary pay adjustment, but you’re investing in new skills, networks, and opportunities that restore your trajectory.
Here are a few angles to explore:
Adjacent Roles: If you’re in a deep technical role, maybe it’s time to step into product strategy or solutions architecture. If you’re in operations, explore analytics or transformation teams.
Industry Shift: Take your experience and apply it in a new sector — education, sustainability, AI, policy. Different industries often value your existing skills in fresh ways.
Start Building: Use your evenings or light workload to start a side business, nonprofit, content channel, or app. This gives you both creative energy and exit leverage.
Reskill with Purpose: Learn a skill that unlocks new doors — not just because it’s trendy, but because it changes what kind of roles you’re eligible for. Think security, data, automation, or leadership training.
The key here is agency. When you feel stuck, the instinct is to wait it out or hope the next promotion resets the clock. But real growth often comes when you leave the ladder you're on and find a new wall to lean it against.
Next year, in August, don’t just subscribe to repeat the same cycle, subscribe and push me to help you level up, or even jump out and into something else.
And remember, having ten years of experience and repeating the same year ten times are not the same.