As coaches, the most challenging career cases we deal with don’t involve a micromanaging boss, a dead-end job, or being passed over for promotion. The most complex and saddest cases involve employees who are trying to plan their pathways but don’t know how to navigate accelerating their career while managing other important, personal considerations. We often get questions like “How many times is it ok to say no to being relocated?” or “Will I be passed over for promotion if I ask to go part-time?”, or “I love my job. Why can’t I just stay here?”

A career on your terms requires not just talent but also a strategic plan, anchored in what we call ‘The Long Game.’ By focusing on long-term goals rather than short-term wins, you can better define success, for a more satisfying and sustainable career over time.

The Long Game: A Career Strategy

The Long Game is about strategic patience and strategic planning. The concept, as discussed in our new book ‘Move Up or Move On: 10 Secrets to Develop Your Career’, emphasises that careers occur over time. For the career-minded, a strategic approach to careers is one where you use time to build a path that delivers long-term growth and fulfilment.

At any point in time, tension exists between our personal goals that we owe ourselves or those closest to us, and professional aspirations. While some can successfully manage these tensions, for many, especially women, such commitments feel like limiting factors to the pursuit of our dreams. Despite notable advances in gender equality, women still spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men.

The anxiety created by this tension is compounded when we engage in “it’s now or never” thinking.  Strategically, there is a time in your career when the right thing may be to slow down. And there are times when, despite challenges, you must push on.

Long Game thinking is the intentional review of personal and professional commitments, and how those will change over time, so you can strategically assess when to slow down, or speed up. 

This concept becomes even more tangible when we look at the career of Virginie Renaut, a French interior architect, whose journey offers a real-world example of what it means to play the Long Game. These are the dilemmas that the Long Game helps to address.

Virginie's Journey: The Embodiment of the Long Game

Virginie sees her work not just as a profession but as art. She has navigated her career with an unwavering commitment to her long-term vision. But from the outset, Virginie faced numerous challenges – both personal and professional.

Strategic Patience and Persistence

Virginie’s approach to managing these challenges was to play the Long Game. She was tempered in her ambition: taking time to build her skills, establish her reputation, and taking on projects that aligned with her values, while letting go of other opportunities to create space for her personal goals, such as starting a family. Even when faced with lucrative opportunities, she chose to wait for the right project, at the right time. 

Trade-offs, like these, are deeply challenging. And they’re complicated by the emotions surrounding our decisions. We fear missing out on opportunities, especially while peers accelerate. We fear letting others down. We panic if we think we don’t have choices or that others will judge us. The tension between competing priorities can feel overwhelming and Virginie experienced all these emotions firsthand. The difference was she played the Long Game.

When Virginie started her own agency, she knew how the demands on her time would shift. But in doing so, she took control and put herself in a position where she could manage time: when to accelerate and grow the business, and when to stay the course, rather than further negotiate personal goals. Virginie was strategic: she could work, be close to her family, and continue to grow her business, knowing that the decision was a strategic one, and that she could accelerate later, when the time is right.

Navigating Trade-Offs

To play the Long Game, ask yourself: “What trade-offs will I face in pursuing my career?” They might be challenges you face now, or they may be challenges you know you’ll face in the future.  Maybe consider a range of time horizons: what constraints are likely in two years? In five years?  Take a few moments to write down your thoughts. If constraints and challenges are reduced over time, for example, children reaching school age in two years, then slowing down today, and intentionally planning (this is key) to accelerate when the time comes, is a strategic choice. As such, it isn’t met with the same sense of loss. It is all part of the plan. 

Virginie’s story highlights the importance of recognising when to push forward and when to hold back. Even when the pressure to advance her career was intense, she understood that not every opportunity is the right one. She stayed on career-marking projects for a length of time she’d set for herself, even when it meant tough hours for a young parent. Various agencies and architects approached her with lucrative options, to which she said “no”, because it wasn’t the right time. She played the Long Game, and based career decisions on strategy rather than fear.

Redefining Success

For Virginie, success wasn’t just about financial gain or industry accolades. It was creating art and building a legacy, while meeting her personal goals. 

We commonly see those earlier in their career feeling immense pressure to progress. We guide them to strategically temper their ambition, in favour of waiting until their life circumstances provide less headwind. We've seen coachees ultimately ignore the analysis and go with their gut. And that’s OK. By thinking it through, and making an informed decision, they reduce the anxiety associated with the trade-offs we must all make. Virginie’s journey is a powerful reminder to us all, and to women in particular: your career path doesn’t have to conform to the traditional idea of progress. By playing the Long Game, you can define what success means for you, and strategically decide when to accelerate, and when to temper progress, for more meaning and fulfilment.

In Closing

Women's Equality Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made and the challenges still ahead. For women like Virginie Renaut, the Long Game isn’t just a career strategy – it’s a way of life. By focusing on long-term goals, refusing to be drawn in to emotionally destructive “now or never thinking”, and balancing personal and professional ambitions, you will create a career that is not just successful but also deeply fulfilling.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not reflect the views of any affiliated organisations.