Agency is the drive to play a game you created. Chart your own path. Forget politics. Work when, how, and where you want. Lean in—to your unique “why.”

Ambition is the drive to play games that others have created. Climb the corporate ladder. Play politics. Work long hours. Lean in—to corporate feminism.

The antithesis of ambition isn’t mediocrity, or underperformance, or laziness. The antithesis of ambition is agency.

As a recovering perfectionist and Type A high-achiever, I wish some wise mentor sat me down early in my career to explain the difference between ambition and agency.