I just got offered a promotion to Director and turned it down. The pay rise was not life altering money for having to deal with more political BS in my public sector position. I have had my turn around the management merry go round in the private sector, I be done with that. Not to mention that my department has some long time running HR issues that previous Directors have not addressed.
The Executive Director was surprised, but told me he understood when I explained that I didn't think my personality was a great match for internal politics and I, and my clients, are much better off having me out there doing the frontline work. I am really good at my current job, the only time I am unhappy with it is when dealing with polital BS, which I am sheltered from when doing the actual value added work.
He then went on to tell me that his next option is someone who isn't quite right for the job (our Director needs to be client facing), and to top it off, he is going to retire in 2-3 years so may not want to make such a big career switch. I quietly sat there and giggled to myself....he has no clue of my life plans.