The Case for Corporate Jobs & Why Staying In Them Isn't Stupid

Plus, what you don't know about the people who tell you to leave them.

Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash

A new client scheduled a call to talk about her career.

Three weeks later, on the day of our first session, she was laid off.

Sadly, she’s not alone.

According to layoffs.fyi, as of March 27th, 40,482 tech employees have been laid off across 71 tech companies in 2026. That’s in addition to the 125,000+ in 2025, and 152,000+ in 2025.

And that’s only in Tech.

According to the ADP® Employment Report, while some sectors show gains, like education and health services (+74,000) and small businesses (+30,000), those are offset by losses in professional/business services (-57,000) and large companies (-18,000).

So what’s a senior leader to do?

Is it worth it to stay in corporate, where even if you’re the one rearranging the deck chairs, it still feels like you’re a cog in a system that is not fully in your control?

Is a sabbatical or a fractional role a better route? What about a wholesale change, going back to school, or becoming a solopreneur?

These are the questions I’m hearing from senior leaders.

My overall answer is: all of these paths are valid, and any one could be the right choice for you.

But I’ve noticed a trend. All the job cuts, AI frenzy, geopolitical challenges, and the hype about the creator economy have turned light-weight FOMO into deep anxiety and fear.

Corporate leaders, once confident that they were climbing the right ladder, are now wondering if they chose the wrong jungle gym or playground. They aren’t just worried that they are not on the fastest track; they’re worried they are climbing on top of quicksand. And they’re wondering whether they somehow missed the memo and should be opting out of the corporate track and creating a completely different path.

As one of those corporate leaders who has chosen the solopreneur path and is often posting on social media about my post-corporate journey, I want to dispel some myths (kill a little FOMO) and reinforce why most of my clients are staying on the corporate track, and why I support it.

(Even if you know all of this already, it’s worth seeing it in black and white, written down, before you make your decision on what’s next.)

Money, money, money.

Let’s be honest, this is the number one thing senior leaders worry about.

Private schools, college, vacations, retirement, a mortgage, energy bills, and of course, keeping up with the Joneses. Some of these are valid reasons, some less so, but all of them result in the same issue: you need more money, not less.

And a corporate job fills this need better than any other path.

The reality is that if you’re a senior leader, you’re probably earning at least $200K in cash comp (at a smaller, perhaps private firm), and some of you are earning well beyond $500K. It’s not just the money — the regularity and predictability of it.

Replacing that income through a creator business or side hustle isn’t just hard; it will take years for most people. And even if the annual sums add up, you might have a level of lumpiness that will make you break out in cold sweats every few months.

But this isn’t the full picture of why people stay in corporate roles. The entire list of monetary is much longer, especially if you’re at a big, publicly traded firm — the ones most people love to hate.

Here’s what I personally experienced and what many of my clients grapple with:

• Cash Compensation: It’s the dollars and the predictability.

• Cash Bonus: Less predictable but a great upside.

• Equity: Public companies give you the most liquidity, but the dream pitched by start-ups can feel just as attractive if your stake is large enough.

• Matching 401Ks: Essentially free money that compounds tax-free.

• Healthcare Benefits: Premiums now cost $20-60K+ a year for a family of 4, and it’s only going higher. If your company covers any portion, don’t underestimate that value.

• Food, Travel, Perks: These may not feel like essentials, but they add value, and if the annual trip to the U.S. Open box or the golfing gala is something you enjoy, don’t forget to add that in.

When you tally it up, you might have to add an additional $50-100K or more to your cash compensation to capture the full value of staying in a corporate role.

When I made two significant choices to reduce my income, in both cases, I weighed the above carefully in my mind for several weeks, and if I’m honest, maybe months. These decisions weren’t just about how much I could live with, but about what I was going to be able to provide for my family.

In the end, I resolved that my family and I didn’t need more. In fact, we were going to be just fine living on less. But it was only because I had pursued earning more money earlier in my career and because I knew what mattered more to me than money: more aligned purpose in how I spent my days and more recently, more agency over my time.

Wanting money isn’t being greedy. Choosing how much and aligning that with your values and what matters most to you — that’s the real question.

Status is real.

As a proponent of sourcing your worth from within, this one is a strange one for me to write about. But I’d be lying if I didn’t.

Status is something that most people have valued at one time or another. How much you define your self-worth by it is where most people get into trouble.

Rely on it too much, and you start to make decisions based on other people’s values rather than your own. Ignore it, and you will find it hard to navigate almost any community of people you want to belong to.

But the fact that it matters? Well, unless you are a full-on recluse, it does.

• Brand: When you are associated with a well-known company (with some reasonably positive cache), you are viewed more positively. It’s the power of notoriety and association bias.

• Credibility: Association bias… again. When you work for a larger business with a proven track record, you’re viewed as more talented, smarter, and more successful. You may be all of those things, but this is about how you’re viewed before someone knows you — when you haven’t demonstrated any of it. This is the power of a name-dropping the right corporate name.

• Awareness: A larger organization often translates into a larger platform from which to build your personal brand. The company's reach helps propel your reach. Speaking events, conferences, and industry associations all help you build your notoriety, which can open doors to new opportunities in all aspects of your life.

• Budget: When you hold the purse strings, you hold the power. Vendors want your business, partners want to collaborate, and people orient to your needs. It’s not actually about you; it’s about your role. But it still feels nice to have people mold to you.

• Title: I hate this one, but even I have to admit: words have meaning. Titles should probably mean less than they do, but they convey so much: the years of work, the evidence of accomplishments, the responsibilities bestowed, the acknowledgement from people more powerful than you. You shouldn’t be defined by your title, but it’s also OK that you value it and all it represents.

• Team: When you are the leader and manager of others, your decisions have a broader impact. That’s real. The size of the team you are responsible for can have significant meaning. In addition, there’s followership, whether people want to work with you again enough to “follow” you to your next role. This isn’t just nice; it can mean the difference between struggling to find great talent and bringing them with you everywhere you go.

Appreciating one or all of these status “symbols” doesn’t make you a status-seeking leech. It’s OK to see the value in some or all of them because others see value in them. It means you’re human and that you’re willing to be honest about what actually matters to you.

For your long-term well-being, the more you can source your self-worth from the inside, the less likely you’ll overindex on the importance of these external measures of success.

And if you want to continue to operate successfully in the business world, these aren’t just symbols; they are real assets.

Building community and your network is easier.

Status is one thing, but there is something else that comes with having a group of people around you: community. When you spend nearly 50% of your waking hours with the people you work with, and you can find common ground, relationships naturally form.

Outside of your family, you likely won’t have that much interaction with anyone else (maybe sad, but definitely true). These people become confidantes and friends. They become your support system. Not every job will offer this, but many will. It’s one of the top things retirees miss: the sense of being part of a larger group with a shared purpose.

Even if community isn’t meaningful enough for you (or you haven’t found a friendly one at your organization), you know I am a huge proponent of nurturing your network. Corporate roles make this so much easier.

When people know you, and you know them, there’s more trust. And trust is the only currency of business that truly matters outside of money.

You know this already in your own career. Most senior leaders earn the promotion, get the new job, and learn about an exciting new company all through one source: their network. I landed my last 3 company positions all through connections.

As you progress in your career, your relationships matter in all aspects of your work. They become your pathway to funding, to experts, sourcing talent, and business opportunities. It’s how I built multiple teams — hiring past colleagues — and it’s how I’m building my current business, which is 80% referral-based.

The easiest way to expand your network? Through affiliations.

Alumni and community groups are great, but it’s even easier when you wear the same logo and share the same mission and goals. People actually respond to your outreach. It’s part of your job to get to know others in the organization, which reduces the cringe factor. And larger corporations also host more group events (trainings, celebrations, annual and quarterly meetings) and will send you out to industry events to further build your connections.

Simply put, being in the corporate world makes it easier to broaden your relationships and strengthen your network, an asset that is hard to measure and takes time to build. And yet, when you deploy it, you realize how essential it is to your success and how grateful you are that you have it.

You get to stay in your lane (sort of).

OK — money and connections. That should be more than enough reason to stay in corporate for most people. But there is one more reason worth highlighting on why staying is the better choice for many people: focus.

When you’re a corporate cog with a certain purview assigned to you, it can feel stifling if you want to spread your wings into other domains out of curiosity (I was always wondering what it took to lead in a different function) or frustration (difficult colleagues always inspired my inner land-grabber). But the boundaries of your role definition can also be freeing when it allows you to focus on just one bucket of tasks.

As someone who is now the receptionist, accounts receivable, brand strategist, and legal (to name just a few of the hats I wear), it can be hard to juggle all the different contexts and tasks.

AI, global freelance talent, and the plethora of digital tools available make it easier. But cognitively, you still need to understand the value of each domain enough to determine whether and how you will address it. That takes time and mental load.

Sure, the freedom to choose when and how is wonderful. And if you’re aiming to stay small, many tasks may not matter all that much at all. But, at a minimum, you will need to directly oversee your marketing, sales, product or service delivery, billing, and bookkeeping. It’s not rocket science, and for many (if not most) leaders, it will be a hard transition.

What corporate haters don’t share on social media.

There are many reasons why the corporate world deserves the ire of the masses. And when you read about all euphoric post-corporate journeys of creators, here’s what most won’t share:

• How much is in their bank account: Most have a healthy, if not substantial, financial cushion before they start: Family money, a huge payout from a transaction, the # of years they’ve been earning big and saving more

• How much income they have from other sources: The people making the biggest bets or sustaining the process the longest? They have existing, ongoing sources of income: A spouse or partner, investments throwing off cash, a side business they’ve been cultivating for years, Board seats paying out $100K+ a year + equity

• How much experience they have doing the work and failing at it: They tout their hundreds of thousands of followers or million dollar earnings, but what you don’t often hear is how they were writing for 10 years before they went viral and the several entrepreneurial attempts that failed,

• Profit vs. revenue numbers are often opaque: Yes they might have pulled in several million dollars, which is impressive. But over how many years, and how much did they spend achieving it. You don’t hear about the $100K+ they’ve spent on courses and coaches, the $60K they spend on a social media agency, or even the $40K they spend on the executive assistant. These deflate the story, so they most won’t share it.

• How hard is it to deal with unpredictable revenue streams: The months sweating it out and biting their nails about whether they need to start the job search, the credit card debt they rack up along the way

• How many hours it takes to build: You see them sipping cocktails and traveling the world. But you don’t see the months (or years) of nights and weekends building, testing, and missing the mark. Even with the help of AI, the work is significant. AI accelerates what you know. But most solopreneurs don’t know much when they are formulating their ideas — that’s what takes time.

• Collaborating with the right people at the right time: Referral networks, expert agencies, and other insider tips can transform a business. Learning what these are and finding the “right” people is more art and luck than science and systems.

• They don’t have children or caregiving responsibilities: If you look under the hood, many of these creators (not all) don’t have a family to support or care for, or they didn’t when they started their business. The hours and routines they kept aren’t far more difficult if you have other life responsibilities.

For me personally, I don’t often share that I benefit from years of saving much more than spending, a husband who still has a modest income, and some generational wealth that is both not mindblowing and is more than enough to give me the room to build out my practice at a sustainable pace.

You don’t need to have all of the above to feel financially secure to explore the world outside of corporate work, but if you don’t have at least one or two of these elements, you will face what most do: a reckoning in a year or two that will have you back on the job market.

I don’t say this to be negative. I say it because I’ve seen it. It’s been the case for 90% of the people I’ve met, or of the ones I've dug under the hood to better understand their circumstances. The 10% exists, and that could be you, but those aren’t odds I would personally take, so why would I guide you to do differently?

The kernels of truth worth considering.

There are aspects of the social media content firehouse worth taking the time to reflect on.

The one I guide my clients to, and what helped me most in my career, was: acknowledge who you are today and the season you’re in.

For example, if you’re finding that the deep analytical skills you honed and enjoyed early in your career are no longer as interesting to you and that you’re craving more public speaking and interpersonal development, maybe it’s time for a change.

Or, if you were able to put in long hours when your kids were young, but as they’ve gotten older and you’re now caring for your parents as well, you need more flexible hours and, frankly, less time working, perhaps it's time to dial it back.

I had a long and fulfilling corporate career because I kept acknowledging both what I wanted to delve further into and when I needed to adjust my capacity (sometimes reluctantly), and made the shifts I needed.

I changed roles and industries the way that some people change their clothes. Every 6-12 months, I had a new role. Every 3-5 years, I switched industries. This philosophy allowed me to leave when a role or company was no longer right for me and gave me renewed energy by trying on another role, another company, or another industry.

If you continually take on or stay in roles and work in companies and with people who drain you, no amount of money will cover the cost of your despair and the cost on your health.

Some semi-final thoughts.

I don’t know that I said anything novel or particularly insightful in this post. I wasn’t trying to.

I was simply hoping to help those of you who have felt the heightened sense of anxiety and are spending more time than is useful ruminating about whether you should be staying in the corporate world.

If you find yourself spinning again, try breaking the pattern with one of these DO’s:

DO Savor a job that you enjoy.
Nothing lasts forever, so love while you have it.

DO Build a vision for what you enjoy and explore it.
Enjoy the discovery process and worry less about the destination.

DO Save more money than you spend.
Money is the baseline for optionality.

DO Learn how to let go of what no longer matters.

DO Be flexible about the industry, role, and title.

DO Be more entrepreneurial, be willing to test, fail, and learn.
This is what will separate those who find fulfillment and those who get stuck.

DO maintain relationships.
They are the foundation for a good life (and a great career).

If you found this post valuable, you can support my work by sharing it, adding a ❤️ to it, or leaving a Comment.

I write these posts every week because in this season of life, I’m choosing to only work with a few clients at a time, but I want to support so many more. Your support helps me reach more leaders who might benefit. Thank you!

Want more from me?

If you’re feeling that something needs to shift in your career, here are some past pieces that you might find valuable:

• Make a Plan to Break Free from Your Golden Handcuffs Before It’s Too Late — a counterpoint to this piece.

• Generate Life-Changing Wealth Without the Risks of Entrepreneurship — if you really want to shift from employee to owner, this is a good read.

• The Surprising Way to Reclaim Your Power After a Layoff — for anyone who is navigating the moment after.

• Longing vs Fear: The Real Battle Behind Your Career Crossroads — another way of viewing what

If you want to see all my most popular posts, here’s a shortcut: Career, Leadership, Mindset.

Working with me.

I don’t take on more than a few clients at a time so that I can be laser-focused on their needs. I’m happy to report that a few clients have landed new roles or have found a clear path forward, so I’m opening up a few spots for new clients:

• Individual Leaders - If you’re feeling like the playbook that has worked in the past isn't serving you anymore, but you aren’t sure what’s next, I’m opening up 3 spots for execs who need a true thought partner and someone who’s been in their seat.

• Leadership Teams - If your leadership team is no longer feeling in sync or on track and you’re not sure what is happening or how to shift it back into high gear, I’m helping one new client to go deep: diagnose, coach you and your leaders 1:1, and facilitate group sessions to reset and revamp how you work together.

If this sounds like you or your team, book a free consultation to explore if working together makes sense.

Thank you for reading!

May you lead without limits,