#446 Career Minimalism versus Maximalism: How the New Work Divide Redefines Leadership - article by Niels Brabandt
Career Minimalism versus Maximalism: How the New Work Divide Redefines Leadership
By Niels Brabandt
The debate about what defines a “career” has rarely been more polarised. On one side stand those who insist that ambition demands endless effort, the long hours, the constant availability, the sacrifice. On the other, a generation questions whether the relentless hustle is worth it, choosing balance and security over burnout and perpetual competition. Between these two poles lies a tension that is reshaping corporate culture: career minimalism versus career maximalism.
The Rise of Career Minimalism
“Career minimalism” has entered the workplace vocabulary as younger professionals, notably Generation Z, redefine ambition. Their approach prioritises mental health, security, and a life beyond work. To many executives, this sounds like a euphemism for lower commitment. In reality, it reflects a rational response to economic and social conditions that no longer reward loyalty or overwork.
When job security is uncertain, housing unaffordable, and pensions unreliable, working harder no longer guarantees stability or advancement. It is little surprise that balance and peace of mind have replaced hierarchy and status as markers of success.
This is not a fringe idea. Platforms such as Glassdoor now track discussions about career minimalism, proving that it has evolved beyond a social-media meme. Yet many leaders still dismiss it as laziness, a fatal misunderstanding. Such a view ignores the structural shifts driving this mindset and risks alienating the very talent companies claim they cannot find.
The Return of Career Maximality
On the opposite side stands career maximality, the drive to do more, achieve more, and accept the risks that come with ambition. For many leaders, this was the default model for decades. It built industries, created wealth, and still inspires those who thrive under pressure.
But maximality cannot exist in a vacuum. It requires reciprocal commitment. Ambitious employees need environments that reward initiative, not with vague promises of “we’ll talk about it next year,” but with tangible outcomes: promotions, meaningful projects, fair compensation, and trust.
As I learned early in my own career working for British and American firms, extra effort paid off because those organisations offered visible returns. When companies fail to provide that clarity, they drive even their most motivated people toward minimalism. Gratitude alone does not pay rent, nor does it retain talent.
When Organisations Create the Problem They Complain About
Too often, businesses lament a “lack of motivation” without recognising their own role in creating it. When employees are asked to work beyond their contract, assume additional duties, and deliver complex projects without recognition or development opportunities, they disengage. Not because they are lazy, but because the exchange has become one-sided.
Similarly, when leaders refuse to modernise, insisting that “it worked before the pandemic”, they ignore a fundamental truth: the world of work has changed. What once functioned by default now requires intentional design. Workplaces must be worth showing up for, whether on-site or remote.
Balancing Minimalism and Maximality
The challenge for leadership today is not to pick sides but to design organisations where both approaches can coexist. Some employees will always seek stability and predictability. Others will pursue growth, mobility, and risk. The task of modern leadership is to create structures where both profiles can thrive, and to recognise that both are essential for long-term success.
That means acknowledging the different currencies of motivation. For some, it’s salary. For others, it’s autonomy, impact, or learning. Leadership that fails to offer any of these options will lose credibility and capability alike.
The Real Question: Circumstances, Not Attitudes
The key insight is that minimalism and maximality are rarely matters of personality. They are outcomes of environment. People respond to the systems in which they work. A fair, transparent, opportunity-rich culture encourages maximality. An opaque, exploitative, or stagnant one drives minimalism.
Executives who complain about “entitled” young workers often reveal more about their own leadership gaps than about generational trends. Instead of judging ambition or restraint, organisations should ask a more strategic question: What conditions do we create that make one or the other the only rational choice?
The Leadership Imperative
For leaders, the message is clear. Stop viewing career minimalism as a threat, and start seeing it as a signal. It reflects how people perceive the deal you offer them. If your best employees are disengaging, the problem is not their work ethic; it’s your value proposition.
The companies that will win the future are not those that glorify overwork or romanticise sacrifice. They are those that understand that ambition and well-being are not opposites but interdependent. Sustainable leadership means enabling both: the safety to choose balance and the opportunity to pursue excellence.
About the Author:
Niels Brabandt is the Founder and Owner of NB Networks, an international expert on Leadership, Organisational Culture, and Sustainable Performance. His insights appear in leading publications including Handelsblatt, Forbes, and The Guardian. Learn more at www.NB-Networks.biz.
Keywords:
Niels Brabandt, leadership, sustainable leadership, organisational culture, career minimalism, career maximalism, Generation Z, work-life balance, leadership strategy, corporate culture, NB Networks, management, employee engagement, workplace motivation, New Work.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
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Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
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Podcast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Let's talk about career today. And of course immediately. In most settings, immediately an argument starts because there's either one extreme saying, oh, you have to work hard and you have to work a lot. Without that you're never going to make career, etc, etc. And the other extreme is saying, oh, sorry, I need work life balance and I actually don't want to work that much. And it must be possible to actually have a career and earn lots of money when I only show up for 15 hours a week from my home, not travelling anywhere. And usually that argument never leads to anything.
There's one aspect which needs to be discussed right now because it's coming up and it's getting more and more relevant. And that's the term of career minimalism. Career minimalism is our topic of today. And when we look into it, it actually came from the discussion with one of the younger generations, in this case Gen Z. And by the way, just in case someone says, okay, I know minimalism, is maximalism really a word? Just to let you know, it's not. It is usually minimalism versus maximality.
It's just minimalism and maximalism sounded better. So no worries. I'm fully aware that maxim maximality is the correct term. I'm going to quote sources here, as I usually do. It's all covered in Germany under the Urhebericht and Sitiricht and fair use under the English and American law. So when we talk about career minimalism and maximality, the first aspect we need to talk about is what is the background. And the background is an ongoing discussion which is more and more prevalent, more and more omnipresent discussion, where people say, I don't think that this term of hustling around and working a lot is really the right thing.
I chose a different path. We are not talking about quiet quitting, where people do the bare minimum, which is in their working condition, where they basically say, no, not that much today. That's not the one, that's not the one. So we talk about what is the background now, where does it come from? And the background actually is a meme for the ones who are not on social media. That much a meme is, to oversimplify it a bit, it's basically a picture on the Internet with text on it. And then there is a certain pun or a certain twist which becomes relevant.
And that's why it goes viral. And lots of people see it. Usually memes are quite short. And there was one meme which is basically a screenshot out of an article which was Hovering around especially Gen Z and younger generations very frequently in the last month and that is this one. And of course when we look into it, when it says workplace economy has shifted, we all know that yes, there is less job security. Yes we've seen layoffs in the job market and of course Gen Z is affected by this and then shifts and this is a bit too extreme here, it basically says in the article they all shifted. Not everyone shifted, but a large amount of people shifted to career minimum capitalism which as it is defined means that people say balance and security is more important and the basically non stop hustle is not really for me.
So ambition is to have the safety and security. And the first issue here is that immediately other generations deny the discussion. I just gave two speeches last year in southern Germany's largest fair and expo regarding talent and that's the personal Messemunschen. It's in Munich, just happened last week, gave two keynotes there, two speeches there. And immediately, immediately someone stood up and said I have a question or I have a statement. And then yeah, what do you want to say? And they said yeah, that's just an Internet picture, right?
We don't have to deal with that. It's, it's just young people talking nonsense. It's basically just humour. Nothing of that is real. Nothing of that is real. Okay, here's the update of course, by the way, that was a person owning a company, 140people worker, there's a three digit amount of people working for him and he was complaining not not finding talent anymore. Well this oh so not relevant thing is already discussed on Glassdoor which is the largest platform worldwide for evaluating your employer.
So when it's picking up there you can say it is very much relevant because otherwise it wouldn't be on there. So it is not only Gen Z by the way, it is Gen Z and other generations younger than Gen Z. Very important here is that it really doesn't help when you start the discussion from the point of saying, and that is how it usually starts, look, you're all entitlement thinkers, you're all lazy, you only want to have money and you don't want to work for the money. You have to earn to get something but you don't want to earn anything, you just want to have cash and then leave. Not helpful. When you think that the attitude of young people in general is they're all lazy, then you really are stuck in basically somewhere in the 1990s with your discussion and the attitude and the conflict arising needs to be discussed on A factual level, because anything else does not lead to anything. So when we talk about minimalism and the maximality of career.
So career minimalism means that people say, I like when my job is safe and secure and I like when I have a certain control over the hours. So most likely you're not going to be an in field salesperson then. But for example, when you say, well, career minimalism, does this mean that suddenly public service has an advantage over free enterprise? I mean, we pay more in free enterprise, don't we? And yes we do. However, I mean not in every country, but in most countries. And minimalism here means that people say, yeah, I earn a bit less, but it's safe.
There is never a single thought of I'm going to be laid off or I'm going to lose my job or everything is going to be so bad I don't know how to find a new job. No, that doesn't work. The minimalism means that these people say my security and the balance and the peace of mind is more important. Very important is you sometimes push people into minimalism even in free enterprise. Why? Because you say you should do this, this, this, this, this. And then people say, well, these are all large projects.
May I ask what's in it for me at the end of the year? Maybe a salary raise and a promotion. And then people go, yeah, you know, we, we, we can talk about that at the end of the year or so, the economy is tight and maybe, maybe we talk about that next year and not this year. And yeah, there might be a salary raise at some point. I can't give you a date though, and there might be a promotion, but I can't tell you which one so far. And that is pushing people into minimalism because when you say, oh, we're all so thankful, we always say thank you when they work more. Thank you.
Never paid the rent. Surprise, surprise. So sometimes people don't want to go for minimalism, but in experience, in your organisation, they are basically pushed into minimalism because, because they say, I was motivated. And then the leader says, do this, do this, do this, do this. And by the way, you're not getting anything extra, despite the fact that nothing of that is defined in your working contract and you have to get into this topic all by yourself.
Good luck from here. I need it by tomorrow, 8am on my desk. The minimalism is something where you sometimes push people into because the circumstances you present are not attractive enough. I just give you a very simple example of one discussion we had on LinkedIn where one HR leader said, we do not need to make our offices attractive. It was no problem to show up at work before the pandemic. So why do you need remote work now? Okay, just bit of an update.
When you say it worked before the pandemic, here are the news. It's now after the pandemic. Maybe you missed out on that. When you say back in the days, basically you can cut off the phrase right there. Back in the days we had xyz. Yeah, but we're not back in the days, we are today. So be sure that you do not end up as being an organisation complaining about people going into minimalism, career minimalism.
But at the same time you are the ones pushing them into it. On the other side you have the maximality. The maximality means people work long hours. Of course there are legal restrictions on that. There are maximum hours, except when you are on a reasonably high level. Then there's no protection usually anymore about the hours. Still, the maximality is people want to work.
However, again, you then have to offer them attractive options. So when you say, oh yeah, we have more tasks, just do the same task 10,000 times more. Maybe in the beginning they do that, but then they will sooner or later say, what about something more interesting? Bit of a change. Salary, raise, promotion, preferably both. And when you then say no, just keep doing the same, then people will stop going for maximality. Maximality means that you offer something in return.
I can tell from my experience when I started working in the 1990s, where the job market was very tight, I worked long hours, but because I wanted to. And besides the fact I knew if I don't perform, there are 10 people at the door taking my job by tomorrow. And I also knew I worked for a British employer first, then for an American one. And every single time I volunteered to do more, there was almost immediately a return. Of course, not immediately like I do it on Monday and I get something back on Tuesday. But when I performed well during the year, at the end of the year, there was something in there. I got extra paid vacation, I got bonuses in payment and I got a promotion.
I got a different title with additional project which were very interesting and excellent for my cv. I got international travel. I work basically all over the globe meanwhile. So all of that was a return which I wanted to have. And by the way, the return is always something very personal. Some people say I primarily want money. Some people say I primarily want spare time, so days off.
Some people want career, international travel. They're very different. However, this maximality and is something which you can only claim when you offer something attractive in return. If you do not offer anything. And that is the conclusion here. Often minimalism and maximality is not defined by people's attitude, but by the circumstances in which they are. Which is shocking enough in today's economy.
People are motivated and get moved into minimalism because they simply say it's not worth the effort, no one does anything in return, no one says even thank you, or people want to go for maximality. And you say, oh, there are no jobs free, we're not hiring, there's nothing in there for you. And of course then no one is going for maximality. Remember in the other episode we talked about wifi, wiify, what's in it for you? And people are wondering, what's in it for me? So of course when you say do X, you have to serve the what's in it for you? And when the what's in it for you say thank you, that's okay for once, maybe twice, maybe even three times.
But when it becomes the norm that they help and get nothing in return, they will very quickly say, that is not really a good deal here. So the conclusion needs to be minimalism and maximality, number one priority has to be the circumstances need to be right, that people can thrive in both. Because let's face it, suddenly we are in a situation where people say public service looks good, bit less money, but you know, safe job, especially in some countries like Germany, assigned for a lifetime, can't be fired, and you can only be moved around in the state where you live, so it's not far. And when you live in states such as Berlin, which is a city state, you can only be moved around inside the city you live. So, wow, how cool is that? So there you are. So suddenly public service becomes a competitor to free enterprise and you need to become more attractive.
Very important here as well is that the implementation of all of this. So when you now say, how do I get this implemented, number one priority, get the circumstance in your organisation, right? If you are now not someone who's leading in an organisation, but you're listening to this because you want to serve your priorities perfectly fine, get your priorities sorted. And that is something which doesn't happen overnight. You're not sitting here listening to my podcast and say, yep, three minutes and here we are. I went into the working world first in public service, and I figured out that is not for me. I did this fortunately during university very early.
So I figured out that's not for me. Tested Jobs at university also said, also not for me, tested jobs in free enterprise and said that's for me. And I knew this is going to mean longer hours. I mean anyone who says on Instagram, oh your job is so nice, you're in London now and I'm in London right now when I, when I re record this. Yeah. Because I only put on Instagram when there is Big Ben and I say to this, this day I do this or tomorrow I do that. And that's of course a nice picture.
Just as a piece of information, I'm not standing at Parliament Square looking at Big Ben eating porridge and baked beans, getting paid for that. No. But I'm not going to put on social media a meeting desk and saying, yeah, today we have this budget adjustment meeting. It's going to be four meetings this week of an hour each with four to 12 participants and discussions and negotiations and. And on the other end you would be basically, this is narcotics on social media then. So it's nothing, it's nothing I put on there because no one's interested in it. Very important is find your priorities.
When you're listening as a person who wants to focus on either the one or the other, you're not really sure minimalism or maximality. Get your priorities sorted. I at a quite early stage said I want to have a career and then you. I need to work long hours and I want to work long hours because there is a certain connection. I do not want to convey the core message of you need to work long to make a career. That is not necessary in all circumstances. However, there is a connection between the amount of hours you invested and the amount of experience you get.
There is no fast forward for experience. When you work 20 hours a week and someone else works 40 hours a week and you both work properly, then the person with 40 hours will most likely have double or even more the experience, probably double, triple, quadruple, the network, etc. Etc. Etc. So there is a connection. Get your priorities sorted. Don't do it in five minutes, sit down, make a pro con list, go into your inner dialogue, reflect on your life and then make a decision.
By the way, I can tell you because I like to work and I like to work a lot. My partner knows me like that. But other partnerships before didn't survive my job. Both two other relationships clearly were massively affected by my job and that didn't work out in the end and we split amicably fortunately and my, my partner now never knows me any different than in the situation of I like to work and I like to work a lot and we plan all of this together. You need to get your priorities sorted and very important is when you now say, okay, my priorities are I want to work 10 hours a week from home, don't want to study, I don't want to do vocational training, I just want to sit at home at the computer doing stuff, you know, office stuff, something, and I need really good payment because I want to have a nice flat. There's a difference between want and get, want and get. Always check for what do you want and what is it that you get?
Because when you say you want xyz, you have to check for what are the prerequisites for that. So, for example, what kind of experience do you need, what kind of education do you need, what kind of qualification and also what amount of risk are you willing to take? I decided for self employment because I was willing to take the risk. And of course when it works, that's big fun. And when suddenly you work and there's a global pandemic and everything gets shut down, I can tell you that is not so much fun as a self employed person. So the risk is on you. Always check for what experience do you need, what is the education you need, what is the qualification you need and what is the risk?
Experience is something which always helps and that is something where most employers look for, do you have experience in the industry, in the working field, et cetera, et cetera. Education is important. If anyone still today says, oh, you don't need education, it's all nonsense, blah, blah, blah. These are usually people who failed education. And of course education can be updated and there are flaws in the system. No one says that it's not, but there are lots of ways how you get education on site or online, fully accredited. Please don't do the motivational inspirational online class, because these are worth nothing.
So you need education because certain jobs have a certain qualification you need to have. You can't become a doctor by the YouTube university, you can't become a dentist by saying, I read lots of book about dentistry, you need a certain qualification. And when you want to become a dentist and you either go for employment in the UK and the NHS or you go for self employment in your own practise, that's a different level of risk. Experience, education, qualification, risk, these four are the ones you need to check up front and when you then draw the conclusions, get your priorities sorted and then move in the way of either minimalism or maximality, and everything comes with a price tag and the consequence. But every single choice is yours and you are absolutely right that any choice is only yours to make. If you do it right, just as we discussed here, then everything is going to turn out well for you as an organisation or as an employee or self employed person and I wish you all the best putting that in real world practise. And when you now say I think I need to discuss something here, I think I have about 48 points on my mind right now.
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