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Tax professionals I speak with regularly often ask a very fair question around career progression:
“Will there actually be room for me to progress in this organisation?”
The reality is that tax career paths can sometimes feel very linear, particularly in industry environments. Often, progression only happens when something structural changes, like a reporting manager moving on. Furthermore, for a long time, many of us have been taught to believe:
If I work hard enough…
If I am talented enough…
If I consistently deliver good work…
Everything else would take care of itself. It feels fair. Logical. Comforting. But career progression is rarely a level playing field. It’s human. Which means it’s shaped by perception, relationships, visibility, and context. Most importantly, by how clearly other people can see the value you bring.
That’s why I think a better question to ask yourself is:
“Am I willing to be uncomfortable?”
Growth rarely happens inside comfort zones. The professionals who consistently progress are often the ones willing to stretch themselves, taking on unfamiliar projects, broader responsibilities, leadership opportunities, or challenges outside their defined remit.
And there’s another important reality: Being valuable and being seen as valuable are not the same thing.
Quiet excellence alone often isn’t enough. The world doesn’t automatically notice your contribution simply because it exists. If people can’t clearly point to what you do, why it matters, and how it connects to business outcomes, they may overlook it, not maliciously, just naturally.
Ironically, stepping into discomfort is often what creates visibility. It’s often through those uncomfortable moments that organisations begin to see leadership capability they hadn’t recognised before. In many cases, senior positions are not planned in advance; they are created because someone demonstrates value beyond their current title.
That said, there’s an important distinction between healthy discomfort and genuine chaos.
Discomfort can drive growth. Chaos often does the opposite.
We see chaos during mergers, restructures or periods of severe instability, situations where people lose control over inputs, outcomes, and direction. Those environments can lead to low growth, low performance, and burnout rather than meaningful development.
The key is finding environments that challenge you constructively, not environments that simply exhaust you.
So where does that fall within your career plan?
Step 1: Identify the signs that indicate whether you need to step out of your comfort zone at work.
Are you too comfortable?
Are you no longer learning?
Have you become highly efficient but no longer challenged?
Step 2: Overcome fear and self-doubt in the workplace.
Growth often requires visibility, difficult conversations, taking ownership, and putting yourself in situations where success is not guaranteed. That’s where capability expands. That’s where confidence develops.
And very often, that’s where career progression begins.
If you want to have a 1:1 confidential conversation about your tax or treasury career, contact Kate Flanagan at kate.flanagan@barden.ieor Aideen Murphy at aideen.murphy@barden.ie.