The Climber, the Hiker, and the Runner

When answering the question “what motivates you?”, people tend to fall into one of these three categories

Motivation

The concept of motivation is a curious thing. It’s the invisible transitory force that, for most working adults, determines how hard they work at their day jobs. For people with hobbies, it is the magic formula that specifies how much of ourselves we commit to our interests. For those with creative pursuits, it defines the difference between a blank canvas or a blank page and a completed magnum opus.

Several years ago, I was sitting down with a team member I was managing, and we began talking about the future of his career. Like pretty much everyone I know, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to be doing in a year, let alone three, let alone ten. And so helping him chart a path toward an unknown future was a tricky endeavor, to say the least.

Eventually, we began speaking about motivation. “Instead of talking about where you want to end up,” I told him, “let’s talk about the day to day. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you think your motivation is for going into work now?”

He explained that he enjoyed his job, knew he was effective at it, and wanted to keep doing that. I was surprised, because as we continued speaking, I realized that I was quite different. Like him, I enjoyed my job. Like him, I knew I was effective at it. But unlike him, those were reasons I didn’t want to keep doing it. I was eager to do something new and different.

Then we discussed some other people we knew and tried to place them on this spectrum. We realized there weren’t just two types, but three types of people. The question being asked of each is “what motivates you?” Regardless of the substance of the work, “what is it about your day job that gets you excited to work?”

The Three Types

As I thought more about these three types, I associated them with three names: climbers, hikers, and runners.

I’m generally wary of anything that attempts to partition the world into clear-cut categories. So perhaps it’s best to visualize them as three corners of a personality triangle.

Most people, from my experience, gravitate toward one of these corners. But people are, of course, complicated. And even I (a tried and true hiker) have aspects of my identity that touch on being a runner and a climber.

So what are these three categories? What do they mean?

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The Climber

In the first category, Climbers, people are driven by what their actions unlock. To the original question of what motivates them, the answer is opening doors.

Although the name might conjure up images of a corporate climber, people who fall into this category are not driven by pride or competitiveness. Climbers include anyone who gets an educational degree in order to be eligible for a job. They include those who want that promotion or that recognition in order to increase their optionality.

For Climbers, forward progress is key. They believe that the more they accomplish, the more future opportunities will be available to them.

The Hiker

That brings us to second category: Hikers. These are people whose motivation stems primarily from doing something new, different, exciting. If a Climber is someone who gets an advanced degree because it opens doors, a Hiker is a person who gets an advanced degree because it’s something they haven’t done before.

Hikers are the people more likely to take on new initiatives than those in the other categories. They are, some might say, more easily bored. But others may say they grow excited by the act of exploration. They hike unknown trails.

So when asking what motivates a Hiker, the answer usually boils down to scratching an itch, exploring a curiosity, or checking something off a to-do list that hadn’t been done before.

The Runner

Lastly, we have Runners. These are the people who know what they’re good at, and they want to keep doing it and improving. A Runner is an employee whose answer to “where will you be in a few years” is something along the lines of “I’ll be doing this, and I’ll be much better at it.” They’re the ones who have lifelong hobbies. If a Climber gets an advanced degree to open doors and a Hiker gets an advanced degree to explore something new, a Runner gets an advanced degree because they studied the same thing in undergrad and they loved it.

Some of the most important jobs in the world require Runners. These are the people who are motivated and excited by what they know, and they want to commit themselves to executing on it. They’re not driven by what’s next (like Climbers) or what’s new (like Hikers) but by what they love.

Just a Lens

Like all frameworks, this one is only useful as a thinking tool. But I have found it helpful—in conversations with people about their careers, their passions, their next steps—to ask which of the three types they fall into. In my experience, it helps them think about what they want to achieve.

Sometimes, they don’t know which category applies to them. And in that case, I like to question whether they’re sufficiently motivated by their day-jobs or their hobbies in the first place. Then the real question becomes: which of the three categories do they want to fall into? What do they want to be driven by each day that they wake up? Is it forward progress? Is it exploration? Is it expertise?

No one of the three is the better choice or the one more likely to lead to success. I know brilliant and passionate people that clearly fit each of the three archetypes. And after all, these are only archetypes. Real people are much more complicated. But sometimes, it helps to over-simplify the world into simple buckets.

Climbers tend to look forward. Runners tend to look deeper. Hikers tend to look around.

P.S. I mentioned that I am a Hiker, although that is only true insofar as I fit that second category in this framework. I’m hardly one to actually trek into the woods on unknown paths.

What’s Next?

If you’re interested in reading more about topics related to business, tech, startups, etc., check out my newsletter, Z-Axis. Here are some articles I’ve written recently that you might enjoy:

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