The Great Step Back™: A Strategic Realignment
The Great Step Back™ is not a retreat, nor is it a rejection of ambition. It’s a deliberate, high-agency movement reshaping how people approach work, wealth, and well-being.
Mischaracterized as early retirement or a Gen Z quirk, this shift is neither a pause nor a protest—it’s a plan. It’s about redefining success on terms that prioritize clarity, control, long-term impact, and most importantly, opportunity.
The Core of the Movement: Agency Over Autopilot
High earners—executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs—are stepping back from systems that no longer serve them. They’re rejecting:
Broken compensation models that reward presence over performance. Someday, this model of compensation will be taught by future thought leaders as one of the tipping points and culturally criminal mistakes of modern times.
The notion of rewarding mere attendance, akin to meeting KPIs, echoes the flawed practices of Soviet-era Russia, where effort and results were disconnected from rewards.
History shows this model was unsustainable and ineffective. We pay people the same amount of money for doing the same job without accountability for productivity. And, we wonder why people are leaving the traditional work model?
Titles tethered to unsustainable demands—3 AM Slack pings, PTO that, when taken, turns punitive upon returning to the office, the expectations to onboard and perform in remote organizations without onboarding and rituals, and cultures that penalize excellence while shielding mediocrity.
The myth of "more is better", opting instead for curated careers that align with their values, earning goals, investment strategies and experiences.
Embracing self-imposed austerity to build a portfolio that enables opportunity, choices and calm. Living well belone one's means and thriving in the downsized feeling like you've just won the golden ticket.
This isn’t about working less; it’s about working better. It’s a calculated realignment, driven by those who recognize that time, not money, is the ultimate currency.
A Philosophical Anchor: Lessons from Atlas Shrugged
In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the world’s essential contributors—engineers, innovators, builders—walk away from a system that exploits their competence. They don’t leave in anger but with clarity and quiet, choosing to create value on their terms.
The Great Step Back™ echoes this ethos, though less dramatically. High earners and our emerging ambitious aren’t vanishing; they’re recalibrating. They’re producing—quietly, sustainably, and with precision—outside the confines of outdated structures.
The Portfolio Career: The New Blueprint
As Professor Lynda Gratton of London Business School noted, the future of work lies in portfolio careers—dynamic, multi-stream professional lives that reject linear ladders and rigid retirement timelines. High earners are embracing this model, asking not “What’s my next job?” but “What’s my next stream?”
In practice, this could look like:
Consulting 20 hours a week for an established organization or a local start-up.
Leading a local organization's marketing strategy.
Providing fractional leadership for reduced compensation and a robust health and retirement plan.
Mentoring emerging leaders or building a SaaS side project.
Training for a marathon or summering in Scotland, all while maintaining a high level of earnings in tandem with the new standards of austerity.
Their lifestyles reflect this clarity:
Living in a modest "starter" home, rejecting the “house on the hill” status trap.
Choosing mortgages that align with lean, intentional budgets. Mortgage payments that resemble car payments. Instead of a mortgage that resembles a luxury vacation.
Superfunding 529 plans to secure their children’s futures instead of funding every extracurricular activity and gadget.
Trading the part-time job block of hours you're spending on social media for fitness and learning.
The Healthcare Exodus: A Case Study
The Great Step Back™ is already reshaping industries. A 2023 Morning Consult study found that 27% of healthcare workers (this is not limited to RN's) plan to exit the field, driven not by fear of automation (McKinsey predicts 30% of revenue cycle roles will be automated by 2030) but by exhaustion with inefficiency and rigid models. (Let that sink in if you work in revenue cycle or finance.)
The sharpest minds are stepping back now—not to retire, but to build smarter solutions, from telehealth ventures to consulting practices that leverage their expertise without the grind.
Redefining Work: A Challenge for Employers
For organizations, The Great Step Back™ demands a reckoning. High earners are no longer swayed by vague promises of “flexibility” or flashy titles. Smart and the much-needed entry-level worker is not dazzled by "opportunity" when they are risking their lives trying to punch a clock on time because childcare is an hour away, or they are subject to the bad manners of a worn-out leader.
Rewriting the job description:
Is this role a 1099 contract, a 20-hour portfolio project, or a 60-hour leadership commitment?
Does the PTO policy respect the role’s demands?
Can the work be done asynchronously, or outside the 8–5 desk-bound model?
And, eventually...Create a compensation model based on productivity, not title.
Even in fixed-schedule fields like nursing or law enforcement, innovation is possible—smarter shift designs, autonomy within structure, or incentives that reward impact over hours. Clinging to outdated control mechanisms risks alienating the talent that drives results and is necessary to sustain our communities.
The Social Media Trap: Keeping Up with the Joneses. (Is it time to move?)
The phrase comes from a 1913 comic strip titled Keeping Up with the Joneses by Arthur R. “Pop” Momand. In the strip, the characters constantly try to keep pace with their neighbors—the unseen "Jones" family—who are always one step ahead.
The average adult spends 2 hours and 23 minutes daily on social media, over 16 hours a week consuming curated lives that fuel comparison. Even if you spend half of that time scrolling, it's the equivalent of letting twenty-dollar bills fly through the air. Because that kind of self-imposed time theft in the battle cry of self-care and me-time will cost you in compensation, intelligence, and poor health outcomes at some point in the future.
The (proverbial) Joneses (and yes, they are horrible people), with their performative wealth and endless highlight reels, are not your friends.
They’re not building community or showing up for the messy or joyful, or boring human moments that matter. They aren't inviting you over for Friday dinner and meaningful conversations.
High earners and those who earn are stepping back are choosing life over likes:
Dinners without phones.
Work that respects their time.
A dedication to the 4F's - First, (that would be yourself), Fitness, Finances, Family.
Weekends that restore rather than recover.
Never looking to retirement after creating a 100-year career on their terms.
This shift isn’t minimalism; it’s discernment—curating time and energy for what delivers real value.
The Executive’s Breaking Point
In executive coaching, the refrain is universal: “I’m done. I want something different. I'm tired of the politics. The sacrifice isn't worth the lifestyle. I want my time back."
Done with late nights, moving targets, and unspoken expectations. Done with 70-hour weeks masquerading as “flexible.” Done with relocating families for a title and a 9 PM call that was more of a complaint and a criticism.
This isn’t quitting—it’s clarity. It’s the moment high earners realize they don’t need everything they’ve been told to chase. Less becomes more when it’s the right less.
The Great Step Back™ in Action
This movement is about:
Doing more of what matters: High-impact work, meaningful relationships, personal growth.
Doing less of what drains: Bureaucracy, status games, performative busyness.
Saving more, spending smarter: Building wealth without lifestyle inflation. Opting for experiences over momentary purchases.
Asking better questions: What am I building, and who is it for?
It’s a sign of relief, a recognition that success doesn’t require exhaustion.
Your Next Move
For high earners and the motivated, The Great Step Back™ is both a personal strategy and a competitive edge. Audit your:
Career path: Does it align with your 4 F’s™?
Organization: Are you enabling or stifling agency?
Team structure: Do job descriptions reflect reality?
Finances: Are you saving and investing with intention?
Schedule: Is it designed for impact or inertia?
For leaders, this is a recruitment advantage—a chance to build teams that attract the best by offering clarity, flexibility, compensation based on productivity, not title, and respect for time. For individuals, it’s a blueprint for a life that works now, not in 30 years.
The Great Step Back™ is happening—quietly, powerfully, and on purpose. It’s not a luxury; it’s leadership. Join the movement, and redefine what success means for you.
