Ambition wears different faces depending on where you are in your journey. Early on, it can push you to chase every opportunity, sometimes at a cost. Later, it can evolve into something quieter, more grounded, or even swing the other way around.
A recent lunch with a friend and client led me to reflect on this. It felt fitting to look into how ambition evolves and share it with you. From a restless need to prove yourself, to the quiet confidence that keeps you in the bigger rooms you’ve now entered. You go from chasing validation, to commanding respect.
Lesson of the Week: Ambition Evolves
Quiet Confidence in Action
My friend and client built a successful company from scratch, ran it over two decades, and gradually retiring from it, turning her focus to acquiring existing businesses in new industries. Her track record can be measured in tens of millions, yet what struck me most was her calm and enough-ness.
She knows what she wants, doesn’t compromise on her standards, and “fires fast” when the situation calls for it. She has learned to embrace being seen as “difficult”, “bossy” or even being called the B word when the work demands clarity and decisiveness. She’s successful and despite her business acumen, she no longer feels the need to broadcast her successes. Her confidence is grounded, beyond external validation. It was a powerful thing to witness.
The Hustle Mindset
I know the other side of this calm confidence too well. I recall after my first daughter was born going back to work, to cover the Grand Prix de Montréal, with Aston Martin when she was just three weeks old - insert face palm 🤦🏾♀️ here.
That hustle mindset meant that I couldn’t afford to miss it, or so I thought. Maybe it was just FOMO creeping in. Yet, it never occurred to me that I could skip it. That’s the place Boris Strauch describes in his book, Never Enough: when ambition turns into a treadmill where no milestone is ever satisfying. I was hooked on external validation back then.
How Ambition Evolves
Since working with, and being close to high achievers, I’m reminded that ambition is meant to constantly evolve as you reach new goals. In its early form, it may push you to prove and overextend yourself, because you need tangible results, a sort of seal of approval to prove your worth. With time, it can shift into a much quieter confidence, one that redefines what “enough” looks like for you.
Respect Over Likeability
This level of mature ambition often leads to valuing respect over likeability. People-pleasing loses its grip when you’re grounded in who you are and what you’ve accomplished.
Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO of Ariel Investments and author of The Color of Money: The Surprising Facts About Money, puts it clearly:
“As a leader, you’re not going to be liked all the time… but if you do it right, you will be respected.”
Whether we take my client on this, or Anna Wintour decisiveness, or even Steve Jobs infamous bluntness, their exponential impact on culture and business is undeniable. Playing nice to be liked is not a business plan.
A Framework for Evolving Ambition
See where you are today, and what shift might serve you next:
Proving & Hustling. You’re chasing wins, moving fast, yet every milestone doesn’t feel “enough.”
→ Pause. Define what “enough” looks like in this season, and celebrate the wins as you go.Quiet Confidence. You know your worth and don’t need to broadcast it.
→ Use this grounding to expand your influence, not to shrink it.Earned Respect. You understand how being respected can be more effective than being liked.
→ Lead with clarity over consensus. Playing nice is not a business plan.
Final Word
Ambition evolves. It shifts and matures over the seasons. The power lies in moving with it rather than restricting it.
Stay Corageus,
Noëlly Sam