# Stop climbing the wrong career mountain

> A former Morgan Stanley wealth manager argues that chasing money and status leaves us anxious, exhausted, and unfulfilled.
- Title: Stop climbing the wrong career mountain · Fastcompany
- Summary: A former Morgan Stanley wealth manager argues that chasing money and status leaves us anxious, exhausted, and unfulfilled.
- Keywords: morgan stanley, wealth management, career success, personal fulfillment, leadership, work culture, Fastcompany
- Source: Fastcompany — https://fastcompany.com/91624559/stop-climbing-the-wrong-mountain-leadership-wealth-happiness
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: morgan stanley, wealth management, career success, personal fulfillment, leadership, work culture
## A director leaves Wall Street
In November 2015, Matt Ludmer left his position as a director of wealth management at Morgan Stanley to start a new wealth advisory firm based on a radically different idea of wealth.
## His first breakfast workshop
Ludmer hosted his first breakfast workshop in a midtown Manhattan hotel suite. His guests included a senior partner at a private equity firm managing more than ten billion dollars and the head of a major…
## The message he delivered
Ludmer told his guests they were chasing the wrong prize. He worried they would laugh when he used words like heartfelt and holistic to describe a better approach to wealth.

> You're chasing the wrong prize.
## Why he left finance
For years Ludmer had privately suspected he was climbing the wrong mountain. Working on Wall Street showed him an industry built on glorification of money, privilege, and power, with relentless pursuit of richer clients and…
## A wider problem
The issue extends beyond finance. Modern life trains all of us to pour most energy into careers, even when the payoff is anxiety, exhaustion, and a nagging sense that something essential is missing.
## The faulty vision of success
We are overinvested in a faulty vision of success that pushes us constantly toward achievement, often at the cost of health, emotional well-being, and relationships. So many of us are climbing the wrong mountain.

> So many of us are climbing the wrong mountain.
## What the wrong measures tell you
When net worth, title, and achievement are your only gauges, they can only tell you how high you have climbed.

> They can't tell you whether you're on the right mountain, the one that's right for you.
## Key takeaway

A wealth manager who left Morgan Stanley says modern success metrics of money, title and achievement measure only how high you climb, not whether you are on the right mountain for you.