What I wish someone had handed me at 24.
The unwritten rules of the corporate world, from the side of the table that decides. What to do, what to say, and how the game is actually played. A progressive series: start at one.
You're not alone, and it isn't a talent problem.
Nearly everyone I've promoted, and everyone I've had to say "not yet" to, has felt at least one of these.
Your work is good and nobody seems to notice.
You deliver, your manager knows it, and the promotions go elsewhere.
You were passed over and nobody can say why.
"Needs another year on stakeholder management" is true, and tells you nothing.
The advice you've read doesn't match what you see.
Because most of it comes from people who have never had to decide who gets promoted.
It isn't a talent problem. It's a map problem. The rules exist, they're just unwritten. I sit in the room where they're applied, so I wrote them down.
Read it in order. Each post builds on the one before.
Short posts, five to six minutes each. Every one ends with what to do this week.
How promotions really get decided.
The meeting you're not in, who speaks for you, what they need, and what to do when the answer is "not yet".
The meeting you are not in
Promotions are decided in a room you never enter, by people who mostly know you second-handYou work hard, your reviews are good, and the promotion still hasn't come.
6 min read→02Good work that nobody sees is a hobby
Work only counts toward promotion if someone who decides has seen itYou deliver, your manager knows it, and it still goes nowhere.
5 min read→03Your manager is your advocate. Give them a case to make.
Your manager argues your case in the room. The quality of the case is mostly up to you.You like your manager, but you are not sure what they say about you when you are not there.
5 min read→04Keep an evidence file. Memory is not on your side.
Promotion cases are built from specifics. Specifics are collected during the year, not recalled at the end of it.Review season arrives and you can't remember what you did in February.
4 min read→05Five questions to ask your manager about your promotion
Most promotion criteria are never written down. You find them out by asking the right questions.You want to be promoted but have never actually asked how it works.
6 min read→06Promotions confirm what you already do. So start doing it.
The room promotes people who are already operating at the next level. The title comes after the behaviour, not before.You are waiting for the title before you take on the responsibility.
5 min read→07Mentors give advice. Sponsors give promotions.
A mentor talks to you. A sponsor talks about you, in the room, when you are not there.You have people who help you think, but nobody who speaks for you when it counts.
5 min read→08When the answer is “not yet”
A “not yet” is information. Most people treat it as an insult and learn nothing from it.You were passed over, and you are deciding whether to be angry or useful.
5 min read→09Managing up is not sucking up
Managing up means making your manager's job easier in ways that happen to make yours visible.Your manager is busy, distracted or new, and your work keeps falling through the gaps.
5 min read→10When staying stops working
Sometimes the fastest promotion is a different employer. Know the signs, and leave well.You have done everything in this series, two cycles have passed, and the answer is still no.
6 min read→How the game is actually played.
Politics, influence and visibility, without becoming someone you don't like.
Politics is just interests you haven't mapped
How to disagree with someone senior, and be thanked for it
Saying no without saying no
The three kinds of visibility, and the one that counts
How to ask for feedback so people actually tell you
Running a meeting people want to come back to
Negotiating your pay without burning anything
Working for a difficult boss
Your first team.
You were promoted for being good at the work. Now you lead the people doing it.
Your first one-to-ones
Inheriting a team that has checked out
When your best people keep leaving
Giving feedback that lands
What you'll know, and be able to say.
Not theory. Things you can use in your next one-to-one.
- What actually gets said about you in the promotion meeting, and the three questions the room is really asking
- The one-page case your manager needs from you, and when to hand it over
- The five questions that reveal how promotions work in your team
- How to operate at the next level before you have the title, without stepping on anyone
- The difference between a mentor and a sponsor, and how sponsors are earned
- What to do in the four weeks after a "not yet", word for word
- The weekly note that makes a busy manager fight for you
- How to tell a slow promotion from a dead end, and how to leave well
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The guide is Part 1 condensed to five pages, with the five questions, the evidence file and the script. Tick the second box and you'll also get Part 2 as it's written.