Managing A Career

Layne Robinson
  • 5.0 (3)
  • CAREERS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

I help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with years of experience, the knowledge and insights I share can show you how to position yourself for growth and career advancement.

  1. A Keg of Ketchup Will Make You Rethink Your Career

    4D AGO

    A Keg of Ketchup Will Make You Rethink Your Career

    I was reading a post on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7423016998617473025/) by Jason Feifer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfeifer/), the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine. In a recent article, Jason was interviewing Gary Vaynerchuk (https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk/) about how marketing has changed, specifically through a redefinition of the mid funnel. The traditional idea of a funnel still exists, but where and how momentum is created has shifted.   In the post, Jason shared a story that stuck with me. Heinz once posted a simple image on Instagram about a fictional keg of ketchup. It wasn't clever. It wasn't polished. It wasn't even particularly strategic. It was, by most standards, a "stupid" idea.   But it caught.   The post went viral, and instead of ignoring that signal, Heinz leaned into it. They took what worked, refined it, and eventually turned that one throwaway idea into a full marketing campaign tied to the Super Bowl. A joke became a brand moment.   What really hit me was this; the exact same approach can unlock your own career growth.   I've talked about marketing yourself before, all the way back in Episode 018, Selling Yourself (https://managingacareer.com/18 ). At its core, marketing is about understanding the needs of your customer and aligning your product to those needs. In your career, the "customers" are the leaders who influence your advancement, and the "product" is you.   Traditionally, career growth follows a familiar funnel. You build awareness through visibility (Episode 081, Visibility - https://managingacareer.com/81 ), you demonstrate value over time, and eventually that narrows down to the "purchase" decision; a promotion, a bigger role, or expanded scope.   But this is where Gary's insight becomes so useful. The traditional funnel doesn't work the same way anymore. In the modern world, social has become the mid funnel. That means you don't have to start with a perfectly crafted brand or a fully formed strategy. You can start by testing ideas.   Simple ideas. Rough ideas. Even ideas that feel dumb or unfinished.   If an idea hits, you work it in the lower funnel; executing, refining, and proving it delivers results. Once it's proven, you expand it upward, where it becomes part of your reputation and your brand.   That's exactly what Heinz did with a silly idea about a keg of ketchup…and it's a playbook most professionals never realize they can use.     When it comes to their careers, most people have traditionally focused on the ends of the funnel; either the upper funnel or the lower funnel.   In the upper funnel, the goal is recognition. You bring big ideas to meetings. You look for moments to contribute something bold. You try to get your name and your thinking in front of leaders who matter. There's an element of performance here; a desire to stand out. At its worst, this looks like jumping up and down and shouting, "NOTICE ME!"   In the lower funnel, the belief is almost the opposite. You expect your work to speak for itself. You execute…and you execute well. You hit deadlines. You deliver quality. You take pride in being reliable and consistent, trusting that results will eventually turn into recognition.   In reality, both ends of the funnel matter. Living exclusively in the upper funnel without execution comes across as fluff and self-promotion. Living exclusively in the lower funnel without a personal brand (Episode 043, Personal Brand - https://managingacareer.com/43 ) feels invisible, no matter how good the work is.   But in a modern marketing world, it may be time to try something different.   Instead of starting at the top or grinding endlessly at the bottom, start in the middle.   Work the mid funnel first. Test ideas in low-risk ways. Put thoughts, perspectives, and small experiments into the world and watch how people respond. If something resonates…if it creates pull rather than push…then you scale it.     In marketing, Gary's point was simple. Organic social media is where you test ideas cheaply and quickly. You don't overthink them. You don't turn them into million-dollar campaigns. You post, you watch, you learn.   At work, your mid funnel works exactly the same way…it's just not called social media.   At work, it's the water cooler; real or virtual; where you run an idea by a peer. At work, it's a small demo shown to a single stakeholder. At work, it's an informal focus group that pokes holes in a broken process.   At work, the mid funnel is small experiments and low-risk initiatives you try before you ask for permission and before you allocate real resources.   Mid-funnel career moves aren't about being loud. They're about being observable.   For an individual contributor, this shift can look subtle but powerful.   Upper-funnel you says, "We should completely rethink how our team reports metrics." Lower-funnel you says, "I'll just keep updating the same spreadsheet every week." Mid-funnel you says something different; "I'm going to redesign one version of this report for one stakeholder and see if it helps them make decisions faster."   That's it. No announcement. No steering committee. No permission slip.   You test it. You watch how people react. You collect feedback. If it flops…nobody cares. If it works…now you have signal. And that signal is everything.   In Jason's post, the next step was moving into the lower funnel. When something works, you refine it, optimize it, and amplify it. This is where most people hesitate at work, because amplification feels like self-promotion.   Here's the reframe. You are not promoting yourself. You are promoting a proven result.   Lower-funnel career moves look like this; sharing outcomes, not intentions…documenting impact, not effort…making it easy for others to reuse what worked…letting managers and peers see the before and after.   This is where "I tried something" becomes "this created value."   If you redesigned that report, now you send a quick note to your manager; "I tried a small tweak with one stakeholder. It cut their review time in half. I think this could scale." That's lower funnel. You're not asking for praise. You're offering leverage.   Gary called the final step "sending it up to brand land." In career terms, this is when your work becomes part of how people talk about you…even when you're not in the room.   Upper-funnel career outcomes look like this; being asked to present your approach…being pulled into bigger initiatives…your idea becoming "the way we do things now"…leadership referencing your work as an example.   And here's the key insight. You don't start here. You earn your way here through mid-funnel testing and lower-funnel proof.   People who skip straight to the upper funnel sound strategic but feel ungrounded. People who stay forever in the lower funnel feel reliable but forgettable. People who master the mid funnel become unavoidable.     Now let's talk about leaders; managers, directors, and executives; because the mid funnel doesn't just get ignored by individuals. It often gets quietly killed by leadership.   Most leaders don't do this on purpose. They do it because they're trying to be efficient, decisive, and risk-aware. Ironically, those instincts are exactly what shut down the mid funnel.   Upper-funnel leadership sounds like this; "Bring me bold ideas. Think bigger. Be more strategic." Lower-funnel leadership sounds like this; "Just execute. We don't have time to experiment. Stick to the plan."   Both sound reasonable. Together, they create a trap.   When leaders only reward fully formed ideas or perfectly executed work, they leave no room for testing. People learn quickly that half-baked ideas aren't welcome. Small experiments feel dangerous. Early signals never surface. So instead of learning cheaply, teams either stay silent or wait until something is "big enough" to justify the risk.   That's how innovation slows down without anyone realizing it.   Mid-funnel leadership looks different.   Mid-funnel leaders invite rough drafts. They ask, "What did you try?" before asking, "Did it work?" They create space for pilots, prototypes, and small bets that don't require a business case or a blessing from three layers up.   For a leader, working the mid funnel might look like this.   Instead of asking for a full rollout plan, you ask someone to test an idea with one customer or one team. Instead of demanding certainty, you ask what they learned. Instead of shutting something down because it's incomplete, you help shape it into something testable.   The signal this sends matters. It tells your team that learning is valued. It tells high performers they don't need permission to think. And it gives you better data to make better decisions.   Leaders who protect the mid funnel don't just get better ideas. They get better people. Because the people who know how to test, learn, and scale are the same people who grow into strong senior leaders themselves.     This mid-funnel approach works -- at any career level -- for one simple reason. It aligns with how decision-makers actually think.   Leaders don't want big risky bets from people they don't trust yet. They want small proof points that reduce uncertainty. Mid-funnel activity reduces risk. Lower-funnel amplification builds confidence. Upper-funnel exposure creates opportunity.   This is how promotions really happen. Not from one heroic moment…but from a pattern of tested ideas that scale.   The big lesson from Heinz wasn't the ketchup keg. It was the courage to test something small…notice the response…and then go big with confidence. Your career works the same way.   Stop w

    13 min
  2. Fast to Decide, Slow to Act - MAC125

    JAN 27

    Fast to Decide, Slow to Act - MAC125

    "Be quick to decide…but slow to act." This isn't just a pithy saying you nod along to and forget; there's real weight behind it. It's a quiet strategy that shows up again and again in fast career growth and strong professional reputations. If you've ever watched someone get promoted and thought, That seemed sudden, there's a good chance this was part of the story. From the outside, it looks like an overnight decision; behind the scenes, it's anything but. They were making clear decisions early, then deliberately working the back-channels; socializing ideas, pressure-testing assumptions, and building confidence in the outcome before taking visible action. This week, we're taking a deeper look at how this strategy actually works…and how you can apply it at any stage of your career.   Most professionals make the mistake of reversing the adage. They sit with a decision; weighing possibilities, scanning for trouble spots, and searching for more data to increase confidence in the "right" answer. This approach feels responsible. Thoughtful, even. The intent is good; no one wants to make a bad call; especially one that's visible. So the decision gets pushed later and later; right up to the point where it can't be delayed any further.   Then something subtle but costly happens. Once the decision is finally made, the switch flips. Action has to be immediate because there's no runway left. The plan is announced in an email or unveiled in a meeting; fully formed and already in motion. Almost instantly, resistance shows up. Concerns are raised. Questions surface. The data gets analyzed and reanalyzed. Stakeholders ask why they weren't involved sooner. From the perspective of the decision-maker, this feels like friction or second-guessing. From everyone else's perspective, it feels abrupt. And even when the decision itself is solid, it's now at risk; not because it's wrong, but because people haven't had time to absorb it.   This resistance isn't politics in the way most people mean it. It's not sabotage, or ego, or a hidden agenda suddenly emerging at the worst possible time. It's a predictable organizational response to surprise. Humans don't resist decisions; they resist being surprised by decisions that affect them. When a fully formed plan appears without warning, people instinctively shift into evaluation mode. They ask questions not because they oppose the outcome, but because their brains are trying to close the gap between what just happened and how did we get here. The more consequential the decision, the stronger this reaction becomes. What feels like friction is often just the organization doing what it always does when it's caught flat-footed; slowing things down to regain a sense of understanding and control.   Back to the adage. "Be quick to decide, but slow to act." The first thing to internalize is that deciding is not the same as announcing. Many professionals conflate the two; assuming a decision only exists once it's public. In reality, the decision is simply the moment you stop debating and start moving forward. It's the point where second-guessing ends. Where hesitation fades. Where you stop asking should we and start asking how do we position this. Deciding early creates internal clarity; and that clarity is what allows everything that follows to be intentional rather than reactive.   Once that decision is made, action doesn't mean immediate implementation. There is a critical phase between the decision point and the execution point; and this phase is where careers quietly accelerate. Instead of rushing to roll something out, high performers use this time to socialize the decision with the people who have influence over whether it succeeds. They invite pressure. They ask for pushback. Not to abandon the idea, but to strengthen it. They win over influencers early. This signals competence. It signals leadership. It builds momentum before anything is formally announced. And when the decision finally reaches the wider group, it no longer feels abrupt; it feels inevitable. That's when things take off.   Before going further, there's one detour worth taking. Jeff Bezos popularized the idea of one-way door and two-way door decisions. One-way door decisions are difficult or impossible to reverse. Two-way door decisions are easier to unwind. Both types should be decided quickly; but one-way door decisions demand a longer, more deliberate socialization phase. This is where assumptions get challenged, risks get surfaced, and the decision gets reinforced. When a decision can't easily be undone, that strengthening process isn't optional; it's what makes the eventual action durable.   Let me offer a concrete formula you can use at any career level. It's deliberately simple; because complexity creates hesitation. Decide. Seed. Shape. Act.   First; Decide. This is internal work. No audience. No deck. No Slack message. You decide what you believe should happen and why. Not perfectly. Not with all the data. But clearly enough that you could explain your reasoning if someone asked. If you can't articulate the logic in two or three sentences; you haven't actually decided yet. You're still circling. Decision is the moment you stop debating and start orienting everything that follows.   Second; Seed. This is where buy-in quietly begins. You choose two or three people who are adjacent to the outcome. Not necessarily the formal decision-makers; often influencers matter more. You bring the idea up casually; one-on-one; low pressure. Your language matters here. You don't say, "Here's what I think we should do." You say, "I've been thinking about something and I'm curious how you see it." You're not selling. You're observing. You listen for reactions. You note hesitation. You ask follow-up questions. This isn't about convincing anyone; it's about mapping the terrain before you start moving across it.   Third; Shape. This is where the idea evolves; not to water it down; but to make it land. You incorporate language others used. You surface and address objections before they show up in a public forum. You refine the timing, the scope, or the framing. At this stage, people start saying things like, "Yeah, that makes sense," or, "I hadn't thought about it that way." When that happens; something important has shifted. The idea is no longer just yours; it's becoming shared.   Finally; Act. Now; and only now; do you formalize. Now you send the email. Now you propose the plan. Now you ask for the decision. And here's the tell that you've done this well; the meeting feels anticlimactic. People nod. The questions sound familiar. The outcome feels obvious. That's not luck. That's preparation.   This formula works at every career stage; it just shows up a little differently depending on where you sit. Early in your career, seeding might mean a conversation with a senior teammate or a manager you trust. You're learning how decisions ripple through a system before you trigger them. Mid-career, seeding tends to happen laterally. Peers matter more than titles at this stage; and alignment sideways prevents painful escalation problems later. If you manage a team, seeding is about emotional readiness. You decide direction quickly; but you give people time to process before expecting execution. Different roles; same rhythm.   Now let's talk about why this feels so uncomfortable. Being slow to act pushes directly against your ego. You don't get immediate credit. You don't feel productive in obvious ways. There's no visible progress you can easily point to. But here's the tradeoff. You gain credibility. You reduce resistance. You increase follow-through. Careers aren't accelerated by motion; they're accelerated by outcomes that stick. And outcomes that stick almost always feel slower on the front end.   Careers don't stall because people lack ideas. They stall because ideas arrive too fast and land too hard. Be quick to decide; because clarity is power. Be slow to act; because people need time to come with you.   If this episode helped you rethink how you push ideas forward; share it with someone who's smart; capable; and moving faster than their influence. Subscribe if you haven't already. Leave a review if this podcast has helped you navigate work more clearly. I'm Layne Robinson. And this is Managing A Career.

    10 min
  3. How to Partner with AI instead of being replaced by it - MAC124

    JAN 20

    How to Partner with AI instead of being replaced by it - MAC124

    When it comes to AI, a lot of professionals are still telling themselves the same story; "I'll get around to learning it when I get the chance." That mindset made sense when AI felt like a curiosity…or a distant threat that might someday take everyone's jobs. But that phase is already over. AI is no longer a hypothetical technology sitting on the sidelines; it's being quietly woven into daily workflows, baked directly into the tools you already use, and increasingly embedded into what managers and companies expect from their employees. At this point, AI isn't going away. The real question isn't whether you'll work alongside it; the question is whether you'll treat it like an adversary…or learn how to turn it into a coworker, even a partner.   This isn't about becoming an AI expert or reinventing yourself as a technologist. It's about learning how to incorporate AI into the way you already work. The most useful way to think about AI is as someone you delegate to. You hand it the mundane, repetitive, and energy-draining tasks…the first drafts, the summaries, the pattern-spotting…so you can spend more time on work that actually creates value. When you stop seeing AI as a threat to your job and start treating it like a member of your team, something important happens. You gain leverage. And that leverage is what allows you to move faster, think more strategically, and quietly leap ahead of peers who are still hesitating.   Over the past year, companies have been quietly recalibrating roles. The expectation is shifting; humans are being asked to focus on judgment, problem-solving, and relationship-building…while AI handles more of the foundation work underneath. We've seen this pattern before. It happened when spreadsheets replaced manual accounting ledgers; when email replaced the fax machine; when cloud storage replaced file cabinets. No one lost their job because of the spreadsheet. They lost their job because they never learned how to use it. What we're watching now is simply the next version of that same cycle.   Here's the shift most people still haven't internalized. AI isn't replacing jobs wholesale; it's replacing tasks. And careers are usually built on task mastery. If the bottom half of your tasks can be automated, then the only way to stay competitive is to own the top half at a higher level. That's why treating AI as a coworker is so powerful. You become the supervisor; the editor; the critical thinker; the strategist. AI becomes the junior analyst, the assistant, the execution engine underneath you. And this is where promotions actually come from. Leaders notice the people who produce more, produce better, and produce strategically. Increasingly, AI is how you get there.   If you're early in your career, AI becomes a force multiplier. It allows you to deliver senior-level polish while you're still learning the job itself. The people who rise fastest in entry-level roles over the next few years won't be the ones trying to "prove themselves" by doing everything manually. They'll be the ones using AI to create leverage. Your real focus should be on understanding the why behind the work; then learning which tasks actually matter, when they matter, and how to guide AI to do the execution underneath you.   If you're mid-career, the expectation shifts toward breadth. Your company assumes you can operate outside your narrow lane…but that's often where burnout begins. AI gives you a way to expand without drowning. It can help you run competitive analyses, prepare presentations, review data, or draft communications so you can show cross-functional value. The classic mid-career stall comes from being overworked and under-leveraged. AI addresses that directly. You already understand the core of your role; AI helps you stretch into the edges without losing control.   If you're senior or managing a team, this may be the most important category of all. Leaders who learn to orchestrate both humans and AI will outperform those who don't. If your team is using AI but you personally aren't, you'll eventually lose credibility in how you model productivity, judgment, and decision-making. Senior leaders don't need to be the most technical person in the room…but they do need to demonstrate how human insight and automated support work together at scale.   Every career stage benefits from this shift. The risk only appears when someone ignores it and hopes it will blow over.   Once you recognize that the world is changing, the next step is obvious. You start looking for where AI can actually help you in your day-to-day work. A simple way to do this is to borrow the same filter leaders use when they delegate to junior team members.   Ask yourself three questions.   First; is this repetitive? If you've done a task three or more times this month, AI can probably handle eighty percent of it without much effort. Repetition is a strong signal that delegation makes sense.   Second; does this require real brainpower or just structure? Summaries, outlines, pattern detection, first drafts, and templated responses are tailor-made for AI. These tasks benefit more from organization than original thinking.   Third; is perfection required or is forward momentum enough? AI excels at creating a solid foundation that you can then refine with your judgment. It gets you out of "blank page" mode and into decision-making mode faster.   When you apply this filter, the list of tasks AI can handle becomes obvious. Drafting or revising emails and proposals. Creating first-pass presentations. Organizing information. Summarizing meetings or documents. Researching industry trends. Generating alternative solutions to a problem. Spotting risks or gaps in a plan.   And here's a simple rule of thumb. If you find yourself avoiding a task because it feels tedious, that's usually the perfect task to delegate to AI.   But those are also the tasks everyone is focusing on. If you really want to separate yourself from the pack, the shift isn't "I need to learn AI someday." It's committing to a small, repeatable experiment. One that runs every week.   Here's how it works. Every Monday, identify a single task you can delegate to AI. Keep it small. Keep it manageable. The only requirement is that it saves you time. Then, at the end of the week, document three things; what you delegated, how much time it saved, and how accurate or useful the output actually was.   This weekly experiment does two powerful things. First, it builds your personal "AI leverage muscle." You stop guessing and start learning where AI truly helps. Second, it creates evidence. Not opinions or enthusiasm…but proof that you're delivering more value than before.   Over time, look for natural moments to share those wins with your team. Not as hype, but as examples. You're not positioning yourself as "the AI person"; you're positioning yourself as someone who improves how work gets done. When promotion conversations arrive, you're no longer making vague claims about productivity. You're showing documented improvements. Leaders pay attention to employees who pilot new capabilities, measure the results, and scale what works. That signals initiative. It signals adaptability. It signals future potential. And it makes you very hard to ignore.   This is the real opportunity. AI doesn't just change how fast you work; it changes your role. Instead of asking, "How do I get all of this done?" you start asking a better question; "How do I direct the work so it meets the standard?" You become the quality controller. The human in the loop. The person whose judgment is irreplaceable.   In practice, that shift is simple. You tell AI what to do. You review the output with a critical eye. You refine the strategy. You add nuance, context, and experience. Then you deliver the final version with polish and intent.   This is how you move up the value chain. And the higher you sit on the value chain, the more protected your career becomes. The employees who stagnate over the next few years will be the ones who let AI turn into their competition. The employees who accelerate will be the ones who turn AI into an extension of their own capability.   You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be advanced. You just need to be willing to experiment. The people who win during transitions like this aren't the most technical; they're the most curious. You're not behind; you're early. And that's the best place to be.   So start this week. Pick one task you normally avoid and delegate it to AI. Even if the first draft is messy, you'll save time and build momentum. Then make it systematic. Keep a simple list of tasks you outsource to AI and update it as you learn. Track the time savings. A basic spreadsheet; three columns; nothing fancy. Over a few months, you'll have undeniable evidence that you're working more effectively, not just harder.   Share one AI-assisted win with your manager. Not in a showy way; just a quick note that signals initiative and adaptability. And get in the habit of "critical review mode." Whenever AI produces something, ask yourself; what's missing? What do I know that it doesn't? How do I elevate this? That judgment is where your value lives.   Your goal isn't perfection. Your goal is to get slightly better each week.   If today's episode helped you rethink your relationship with AI, share it with one colleague who's trying to stay ahead in their career. People need this perspective; they just don't always know where to find it. And if you haven't already, subscribe to Managing A Career so you never miss the episodes designed to help you get promoted faster and with more confidence. Every share, every follow, every review helps this show reach more people who want to take control of their career.

    12 min
  4. Just Because You're Scared, Doesn't Mean You Do NOTHING - MAC123

    JAN 13

    Just Because You're Scared, Doesn't Mean You Do NOTHING - MAC123

    I heard a quote on a recent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast that really hit me.  It was so powerful that I had to rewind the podcast just to hear it again. It was simple, almost obvious once you heard it; "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you do nothing." The line came from a story the guest was telling about his mother. The story had nothing to do with careers, promotions, or performance reviews…but the moment I heard it, I knew it applied perfectly to work.     Fear shows up any time you're trying to grow. Any time you're pushing beyond what's familiar. Any time you're aiming for more responsibility, more visibility, or more impact. And yet, in the workplace, we treat fear like a personal defect; something to hide, suppress, or wait out. As if confident people simply don't feel it.   So this episode is about fear; not as a flaw, and not as something to eliminate. It's about fear as a constant companion if you're doing anything that actually moves your career forward. And I want to be clear upfront; this is for everyone. If you're early in your career and scared to speak up. If you're mid‑career and worried you're becoming replaceable. If you're senior and afraid of making the wrong call in front of your team. Fear doesn't disappear with titles. It just changes shape.   Let's talk about what fear actually does to careers…and what happens when you stop letting it freeze you in place.   Early in your career, fear is loud. Sometimes almost debilitating. It shows up as self‑doubt and imposter syndrome; that constant internal narration asking questions like, "Am I actually qualified to be here?" "Am I about to ask a dumb question?" "If I mess this up, will people remember it forever?" I've talked about this before in Episode 83, Faking It, because this phase is nearly universal…even if no one around you admits it.   This kind of fear has a very specific effect on behavior. People stay small. They stay quiet. They wait to be invited instead of volunteering. They do exactly what's asked…and nothing more. There's an unspoken assumption running in the background; once I feel confident, then I'll raise my hand, speak up, or go after something bigger.   But confidence doesn't come first. Action does. Confidence is built after you do the uncomfortable thing, not before it. I go deeper on this dynamic in Episode 85, Confidence Builds Confidence, because it's one of the most misunderstood ideas in career growth. Waiting to feel ready is one of the most reliable ways to stall out early.   Most people don't realize this, but the people you admire at work…the ones who seem comfortable speaking up, offering opinions, or volunteering for stretch projects…they were scared too. The difference wasn't a lack of fear. The difference was that they didn't let fear decide their behavior. Fear tells you to stay invisible. Careers are built by people who feel fear…and choose visibility anyway.   If you've managed to quiet the fear of self‑doubt, you've probably advanced into the middle stages of your career. This is where fear gets more subtle…and far more dangerous. You've built credibility. You know your job. You're good at it. And that's exactly when fear shifts from "Should I even be here?" to "What if I fail?" or "What if I lose what I've already built?" This is the kind of fear that doesn't feel dramatic. It feels reasonable. And it's the kind that can keep people stuck for years.   At this stage, fear shows up in restraint. You don't apply for the role because you might not get it. You don't challenge a decision because you don't want to be labeled difficult. You don't ask for clarity on promotion criteria because what if the answer is uncomfortable? So instead, you optimize for safety. You become dependable. Reliable. Low‑risk.   Here's the hard truth; organizations don't promote people because they are safe. They promote people because they trust them with uncertainty. Mid‑career fear quietly convinces people to protect their current role instead of preparing for the next one…and the longer that pattern holds, the harder it becomes to break.   If you manage a team or sit in a senior role, fear doesn't disappear. It just gets dressed up as responsibility. You're scared of making the wrong call. Scared of losing credibility. Scared of admitting you don't have all the answers. Scared of pushing someone too hard…or not hard enough. So leaders hesitate. They delay feedback. They avoid hard conversations. They stick with familiar strategies long after those strategies have stopped working.   And here's the irony; the fear of doing harm often creates more harm than action ever would. Teams feel the hesitation. Problems linger. Decisions get deferred instead of made. Strong leaders aren't fearless. They're decisive despite fear.   This is where that quote comes back into play; "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you do nothing." That sentence reframes everything. It doesn't say fear is irrational. It doesn't say fear is a weakness. It simply says fear does not get veto power over your actions. Fear can ride in the car…it just doesn't get to drive.   Naming something reduces its power and now that we've named your fear, let's talk about how it actually blocks career growth. Not loudly. Not dramatically. Quietly. Fear keeps you waiting for permission. It keeps you over‑preparing instead of acting. It keeps you saying yes to work that keeps you busy…but not visible. It keeps you quiet in meetings and loud in your own head afterward.   And the most dangerous thing fear does is this; it convinces you that inaction is neutral. That doing nothing somehow keeps the scoreboard unchanged.   It doesn't. Doing nothing is a decision. And over time, it's a very loud one. When leaders look around the room and think about who's ready for more, they don't just look at output. They look at how you handle the unknown; whether you freeze when things are unclear, or whether you move forward in spite of the uncertainty. Fear tells you to wait for clarity. Careers are built by people who move before clarity exists.   Let's make this practical, because motivation without application doesn't change anything. Courage at work is rarely dramatic. It's not quitting your job on the spot or delivering a fiery speech. It's usually small, uncomfortable actions taken consistently. It's asking a question even though your voice shakes a little. It's offering an opinion without a disclaimer. It's asking for feedback you might not like. It's saying "I'd like to be considered for that" instead of hoping someone notices. Courage looks boring from the outside. From the inside, it feels terrifying.   One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming courageous action should feel good. It usually doesn't. If it feels comfortable, it's probably familiar. And familiar rarely moves your career forward. The goal isn't to eliminate fear. The goal is to shorten the time between feeling fear and taking action anyway. That gap…that pause where you debate yourself…that's where careers stall or accelerate.   Let me offer a simple reframe that helps. Instead of asking "what if this goes wrong," ask "what happens if I keep doing exactly what I'm doing now?". That question is sobering. There's that classic adage that "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If you don't speak up, you remain invisible. If you don't ask, the answer stays no. If you don't stretch, you don't grow. If you don't change, neither will the results. Fear often exaggerates the downside of action and completely ignores the downside of inaction.   Managers, this part is especially for you. Your team is watching how you respond to fear; not what you say about it, but what you do when things are uncertain. If you avoid risk, they will too. If you punish mistakes, they'll stop trying. If you never admit uncertainty, they'll hide theirs. Creating a culture where people act despite fear doesn't mean chaos. It means psychological safety paired with accountability. Your job isn't to remove fear from the workplace. It's to model forward motion in its presence.   Fear can be a signal. Sometimes it's telling you to slow down. To think. To prepare. This isn't about reckless action. It's about refusing to let fear be the final decision‑maker. Thoughtful action beats frozen perfection every single time. Career growth isn't about eliminating fear. It's about deciding that fear doesn't get to decide your future. Just because you're scared doesn't mean you do nothing.       If fear has been the thing quietly holding you back, a career coach can help you work through it. If you're looking for that support, reach out through the Contact Form at https://ManagingACareer.com/contact. I'll set up an introductory session where we'll talk through your career goals and see if we're a good fit. If we click, we can schedule regular sessions to get your career moving; not just forward, but up.

    12 min
  5. Why Excellence Isn't Enough - MAC122

    JAN 6

    Why Excellence Isn't Enough - MAC122

    If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know I like to pull ideas from real situations… not theory, not hypotheticals, but things people are actually living through at work. This week's episode came together exactly that way. I was scrolling LinkedIn and came across a post by Ethan Evans about an engineer who had been stuck in a mid‑level role for more than thirty years. Thirty years. Not because this person wasn't talented… not because they were lazy or disengaged… but because they focused exclusively on technical excellence and didn't care what their managers thought.   That post immediately took me back to Episode 75 of this podcast, where I talked about the transition from Junior to Senior roles. Ethan's story and that episode are really saying the same thing from different angles; careers stall when the rules for promotion change, but you keep playing the game the same old way. Today, we're going to connect those dots. We're going to talk about why excellence alone doesn't get you promoted… why that first major career transition is where a lot of people get stuck… and how to reframe your work so it actually translates into advancement. Whether you're early in your career, deep into it, or managing a team of people who want to grow, this episode is for you.   Let's start with something uncomfortable but important. Most people believe promotions are the reward for being really good at your job. That belief works… for a while. Early in your career, advancement is often driven by competence. You learn faster. You make fewer mistakes. You need less supervision. You can handle a heavier workload without things breaking. That's why those early promotions sometimes come quickly; Analyst I to Analyst II. Junior Engineer to Engineer. Associate to Senior Associate. It feels linear. Predictable. And then… it just stops.   That moment is what Episode 75 was really about. The transition from junior to senior is the first time your career asks something fundamentally different from you. Not more effort. Not longer hours. Not a bigger to‑do list. Something else entirely. And this is where Ethan's post fits perfectly. His point was simple but powerful; technical excellence alone does not create business value. Promotions, especially as you move up, are not awarded for effort or purity of craft. They're awarded for impact. That's not cynical… that's just how organizations work.   If you've been rewarded your entire career for being excellent at execution, it's logical to believe the way forward is to double down. Do better work. Take on more work. Be the person who fixes everything. Be the reliable one. But continuing down that path is a trap. It's how people accidentally build maintenance careers. Ethan used that phrase very intentionally. Doing maintenance work exclusively leads to a maintenance position; stable, valuable, necessary… but rarely fast-growing or far-reaching.   And maintenance work doesn't just mean keeping systems running or lights on. It shows up in every role. It's the analyst who produces flawless reports that nobody uses to make decisions. It's the marketer who executes campaigns perfectly without ever tying them to revenue. It's the project manager who keeps plans immaculate but never challenges whether the plan makes sense. All of this is high-quality output. All of it takes effort and skill. And almost all of it is invisible when promotion decisions are being made.   Now let's layer in the junior-to-senior transition. The biggest change at that point in your career is not scope; it's perspective. Senior roles require you to understand why the work exists, not just how to do it. They require you to connect your effort to outcomes that matter to the business. And that's where Ethan's three buckets become incredibly useful; revenue generation, cost reduction, and moat construction.   These aren't engineering concepts, or marketing concepts, or finance concepts. They're business concepts. They're the lenses leadership uses when deciding where to invest time, money, and attention. And the moment you start framing your work through those lenses, something shifts. You stop sounding like someone who executes tasks well and start sounding like someone who understands the business. That's the moment you begin thinking like someone who gets promoted.   Let's walk through each of these, but through a career lens rather than a technical one.   Revenue generation doesn't mean you personally sell something. It means your work creates the conditions for revenue to grow. Early in your career, that can look like asking better questions; who uses this output, how does it help them move faster, what decision does it enable? As you become more senior, it often means prioritizing work that expands capability rather than endlessly refining what already exists. And if you manage people, this shows up as translation. Helping your team understand how their work ties to revenue matters, because if they can't articulate that connection, you can't advocate for them effectively.   Cost reduction is often misunderstood. People hear that phrase and think layoffs or budget cuts. In reality, cost reduction is about efficiency; time, risk, rework, and complexity. Junior employees contribute here by eliminating friction, simplifying processes, and automating repetitive tasks. Senior employees contribute by redesigning systems, not just operating within them. Leaders contribute by making tradeoffs explicit and aligning effort to what actually matters. If your work reduces the effort required to achieve the same outcome, that's business value. But only if someone knows it happened.   Moat construction is the least obvious and the most senior-coded of the three. This is work that creates defensibility; knowledge that's hard to replicate, processes competitors don't have, capabilities that compound over time. Early in your career, this might look like developing deep expertise in a niche area that becomes strategically important. Later, it might look like standardizing best practices or mentoring others so the organization doesn't rely on a single hero. From a leadership perspective, moat construction often looks like culture, talent development, and institutional memory.   And here's the key insight that ties this back to Episode 75. When you move from junior to senior, you're expected to shift from producing outputs to shaping outcomes. That shift is invisible if you don't name it.   This is where so many careers stall. People are doing work that creates value, but they're not framing it in a way the organization recognizes. Or worse, they're doing work that feels valuable to them but doesn't map cleanly to revenue, cost, or moat. The engineer Ethan mentioned didn't get stuck because they lacked skill. They got stuck because they optimized for the wrong scoreboard. And organizations always promote against a scoreboard… whether they admit it or not.   Let's talk about force multiplication. In Episode 75, I described the shift from doing to influencing. This is another way of naming the same transition. When your impact is one-to-one, your ceiling is low. When your impact is one-to-many, your ceiling rises. Mentoring is force multiplication. Removing roadblocks is force multiplication. Clarifying priorities is force multiplication.   And every one of those maps directly to Ethan's framework. Mentoring reduces cost by increasing efficiency. Removing roadblocks accelerates revenue. Building better systems creates a moat. But again, none of this matters if you assume people will notice on their own.   So let's make this practical. If you're early in your career, your job is to stop measuring success by volume. More tasks completed is not the same as more value created. Start asking how your work fits into one of those three buckets. If you're mid-career, your job is to curate your workload. Saying yes to everything isn't generosity; it's a lack of strategy. Choose work that compounds. If you manage people, your job is translation. Help your team see how what they do connects to business outcomes, and advocate for them using the language leadership understands. And if you're already senior, your job is to design environments where excellence naturally turns into impact… rather than hoping people figure it out on their own.   There's one more piece that makes all of this either work or fail; language and visibility. Promotion decisions are made in rooms you're not in, by people who don't see your day-to-day effort. They rely on summaries, narratives, and secondhand explanations. If the only language available to describe your work is task-based, that's how your contribution gets evaluated. This isn't about self-promotion or politics; it's about making your impact legible. Managers can't advocate for what they can't explain upward. Leaders can't fund what they can't justify. If you don't name your outcomes, someone else will… and they'll usually name the most obvious, least strategic part of your work.   And it's worth saying this clearly; excellence still matters. Craft still matters. Quality still matters. But excellence without direction turns into maintenance, not momentum. The people who continue to grow aren't abandoning high standards; they're pairing those standards with perspective. They understand where to apply their effort so it compounds. They know which problems are worth solving and which ones just keep the lights on. That combination; excellence plus impact; is what advancement actually looks like in practice.   If this episode resonated, there's a good chance you're thinking of someone specific right now. A teammate. A former colleague. A friend who's smart, capable, and quietly frustrated because they've been stuck at the same level for years. Do them a favor. Share this epis

    12 min
  6. REPLAY - Acting On Feedback - MAC074

    12/30/2025

    REPLAY - Acting On Feedback - MAC074

    As we wrap up the year and head into the holiday season, many of you are taking a well‑deserved break—stepping back, recharging, and hopefully celebrating everything you've accomplished over the past twelve months. I'm doing the same. And even though I'm pausing new episodes for a bit, I still want to leave you with something meaningful to support your growth during this important stretch of the year.   Because for a lot of professionals, the end of the year isn't just about holidays and downtime. It's also the season of annual reviews, performance conversations, and honest career reflection. It's the moment when you're asked to look back at what you've delivered, look ahead at where you want to go, and—most importantly—absorb the feedback that will help you get there.   That's why today, I'm bringing back a practical and timely episode: Episode 74 – Acting on Feedback.   Feedback only becomes valuable when you actually do something with it. Whether your annual review left you energized or a little disappointed, the key to making next year better is the same: take the feedback you've received, understand it, and turn it into action.   And that's exactly what Episode 74 focuses on. This episode digs into the part of the process most people struggle with—not receiving feedback, but interpreting it, prioritizing it, and translating it into meaningful, targeted steps. Because here's the truth: feedback is almost never as simple as the words someone says out loud. There's always context, nuance, and intent behind it, and understanding that is what unlocks real growth.   I hope you enjoy revisiting Episode 74, and I hope it gives you clarity and confidence as you step into the new year. When I'm back from the holiday break, we'll dive into fresh topics, new strategies, and more tools to help you manage and accelerate your career.     In Episode 12, I discussed some strategies for soliciting effective feedback (https://www.managingacareer.com/12).  However, feedback is only as good as what you do with it.  This week, I'm going to take a look at how you can best act on the feedback that you receive.     The first step in acting on feedback is understanding what is driving the comment.  In the previous episode, I suggested that when receiving feedback, you should ask clarifying questions along the lines of "Can you explain that in more detail?" or "Tell me more."  The goal with this clarification is to turn high-level, generic comments into something more specific.   If you receive feedback that you need to "improve your communication skills", there could be several underlying causes and each one would be addressed differently.  If the source of the feedback is because you don't provide regular updates or hold back on negative news, you may need create a weekly report that you send to your superiors; you can hear more by reviewing Episode 44 (https://www.managingacareer.com/44).  However, if the source of the feedback is based on recent presentations, you may need to practice presenting more so that you become more comfortable or you might need to work on the content of your presentations (see Episode 56 - Presenting to Leaders https://www.managingacareer.com/56).  Without knowing the underlying reasoning for the specific comment, you may not work on correcting the right behaviors.     If you've received feedback, but are unable to coax additional details about what they mean, the next approach you can take is to reach out to other people that can comment on the same topic.  Continuing on the example above, if the feedback you received is about your communication skills, reach out to those that you have presented to or that you regularly provide status to.  Ask each of them specifically about the area in question.  Look for patterns in the feedback they provide and use that insight to target your improvement.     As you consider the different elements of feedback that you have received, how does that feedback align with your career trajectory as well as your personal career goals?  Prioritize anything that advances you over things that apply to your current level.  If you've created your IDP, these items should be represented on your Assessment and Next Role sections.  Review Episodes 36 through 40 for details on your IDP (https://www.managingacareer.com/36) and if you need an IDP template, drop me a note requesting one via the Contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website (https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/).     Now that you have a list of feedback to address, talk with your mentor or coach and develop an action plan.  They can help you identify training and activities that will help you develop the skills that you need.  Be sure to define goals and deadlines to ensure that you put appropriate focus on addressing the feedback.  Episode 47 covered some goal setting frameworks that you may find useful here (https://www.managingacareer.com/47).   As you reach the identified milestones, update your IDP and discuss your progress with your leader and anyone who participated in giving you feedback.  Request updated feedback based on your progress.   A career coach can help you identify activities to address feedback.  If you need a career coach, reach out to me via the  Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com (https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/).  I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your career goals and determine if we would be a good fit for coaching.  If we are, we can arrange regular sessions to help you put your career on the fast track to advancement.

    7 min
  7. REPLAY - Communicating With Finesse - MAC059

    12/23/2025

    REPLAY - Communicating With Finesse - MAC059

    I hope you're finding a little space to breathe as we head into the final stretch of the year. This is the season when everything seems to converge at once—deadlines, holidays, planning for next year, and of course, the annual review cycle. And because I'm taking a few weeks off, I'm replaying some of my favorite past episodes that still feel incredibly relevant, especially right now. Today's episode is one of those.   Before we jump into it, I want to set the stage for why this particular topic—speaking with finesse—matters so much at this time of year. If you're like most professionals, you're probably preparing to give your manager input for your performance review. Maybe you're writing your self‑assessment, maybe you're gathering accomplishments, maybe you're thinking about how to position the work you've done so it reflects the impact you actually had.   And here's the thing: the way you talk about your work is just as important as the work itself. Not because you need to "spin" anything. Not because you need to inflate your contributions. But because your manager can only advocate for what they understand—and they can only understand what you communicate clearly, confidently, and with the right framing.   That's where finesse comes in.   Finesse is one of those skills that separates people who do good work from people who are recognized for doing good work. It's the difference between saying, "I completed the project," and saying, "I delivered a cross‑functional project that removed a major bottleneck and positioned the team for faster execution next quarter." Both statements are true. One is simply more complete, more contextual, and more reflective of the real value you created.   This is especially important during annual review season because your manager is juggling a lot—multiple team members, multiple projects, multiple priorities. They're trying to remember what happened in February, what happened in June, what happened last week. They're trying to write reviews that are fair, accurate, and aligned with organizational expectations. And they're doing all of that while also preparing for their own review.   So when you give them input that is factual, contextual, and uplifting—not self‑promotional, but accurately framed—you're not just helping yourself. You're helping them do their job better.   And that's exactly what finesse is about.   So as you listen today, I encourage you to think about your own annual review input.   Where could you add more context? Where could you frame your contributions in a way that better reflects the real impact you had? Where could you apply just a little more finesse? Because the truth is, your work deserves to be seen. And finesse is one of the most powerful tools you have to make sure it is. Alright—let's get into the replay; it's a perfect companion for anyone preparing for year‑end conversations. Enjoy.   The other day, I saw a post on LinkedIn by Wes Kao the co-Founder of the Maven learning platform.  Her post was a synopsis of an issue of her newsletter that really resonated with me (Link https://newsletter.weskao.com/p/the-unspoken-skill-of-finesse).  It was on the topic of Finesse in Communications.  You could also think of it as communicating like a leader.   In Wes' article, there was a situation where a customer had asked about the limits of a software system.  Several people were in a chat thread formulating a response.  The first person offered a factual number based on the highest limit observed in the system.  The second person clarified the limit with a lower number that had shown acceptable performance plus a plan to increase the performance for a higher limit.  The third person took the response from the second person and reframed it to have less of a negative connotation but still convey the same results.   Finesse is the ability to refine your message based on understanding the situation and the desired outcomes it is the ability to use good judgement in delicate situations.  None of the responses were wrong per se, but the first answer could have led to disappointment by the customer if they approached the technical limit and experienced the performance degradations.  The second answer provided additional context around the limits but may have caused the customer to look elsewhere for a solution that didn't have those limits.  The final answer with a more positive message invited the customer to be optimistic about the solution being able to scale to meet their needs.   For some, the ability to have finesse in their communications may come naturally.  But for others, like any skill, you can improve your abilities with focus and practice.  The more you practice, the easier it will be to know when to apply finesse and the more likely it will come to you without consciously thinking about it.   First, you need to recognize when situations require finesse to handle.  As you start practicing, look for situations where the outcome is not well defined or where there are people involved that you don't regularly interact with.  That isn't to say that other situations would not benefit from nuance and finesse, but when you are learning the skill, the situations with the most uncertainty will be the ones most obvious to you that using finesse will be appropriate to lead to a positive result.   Once you have identified a situation to practice your skills, think about your desired outcome and what aspects have the least clarity.  When you discuss them with others, pay attention to how the other people react to what you say and how you say it.  You aren't just looking for surface level reactions such as responding verbally -- whether in agreement or to counter your points.  Look at those micro-reactions such as that fleeting expression when your point hits home before they recompose and make their point.  These types of responses can give you clues as to how your approach has been received such as whether it is too direct or needs more context or whether it's too aggressive or too passive.  As the interaction proceeds, make adjustments and pay attention to how that changes how your arguments are received.   Finesse is not just about what you say and how you say it, but it's also about what you DON'T say.  In Episode 56 - Presenting to Leaders, I talked about how my background in an analytical field lends itself to providing every detail because they all matter when solving technical problems, but when presenting to an executive, I had to focus on stripping my message down to only the most relevant bits.  This is another part of exhibiting finesse in your communications.  Understanding when to include and when to exclude information to direct the situation towards the outcome you are pushing for.  This doesn't mean to lie through omission -- that leads to losing trust.  But understanding which details are important to your audience and which details are noise is part of framing your message clarity.   Because finesse is in large part driven by the PEOPLE, there are no hard and fast rules about how to handle each situation.  But what you CAN do is bring in someone who has a better handle on how to apply finesse such as Person Three from the example story.  Have them observe your approach and provide feedback on how you can do better.  You can also watch them when they are interacting with others and then have a review session afterwards where you can ask them about the different decisions they made about how to approach the conversation.   Go read Wes' full article on finesse which you can find linked in the show notes (https://newsletter.weskao.com/p/the-unspoken-skill-of-finesse).  There are additional insights and strategies that can help you perfect your finesse skills.  Improving your communication skills will help you advance your career no matter what level you are at and finesse is an important aspect of that.   If you would like to be alerted when I release new content, go to ManagingACareer.com/follow for the various platforms where I can be found.  Help me spread the word by sending that link to your friends and co-workers, too.

    9 min
  8. REPLAY - Put Yourself In Their Shoes - MAC073

    12/16/2025

    REPLAY - Put Yourself In Their Shoes - MAC073

    Hello everyone, and welcome back to the podcast. I hope you're enjoying the holiday season and taking some time to recharge. I'm doing the same this week—stepping back for a little rest—but I didn't want to leave you without an episode. So, I'm bringing back one of the most impactful conversations we've had on this show: Episode 73, Put Yourself In Their Shoes.   It's all about one of the most underrated skills you can develop for both your career and even everyday life: the ability to understand the motivations of the people around you.  It's not necessarily about agreeing with them; it's about seeing the world through their lens long enough to understand what's driving them. And when you do that, you unlock a whole new level of influence, collaboration, and trust.   This episode isn't just theory—it's a toolkit. And if you put it into practice, you'll find yourself building stronger networks, closing gaps in communication, and creating opportunities that might have felt out of reach before.  So, as you listen today, I encourage you to think about the people you interact with most—your coworkers, your boss, your clients, even your friends and family. Ask yourself: What might be motivating them? What pressures are they under? How could I adjust my approach if I saw things from their perspective?   I'll leave you with this thought before we dive in: empathy isn't just a soft skill. It's a power skill. It's the difference between pushing against resistance and moving with momentum. And this episode shows you how to harness it.   And now…..on to the episode.     When it comes to dealing with people, it can be difficult when they don't share the same opinion you do as to how to handle a specific situation and that can often lead to conflict or complications.  The fastest way to move past those differences and get back to moving forward is to put yourself in their shoes.     If you can understand people's thoughts and motivations it goes a long way towards formulating an argument that sways them to your side.  How well can you read them?  Some people will mask their true thoughts and feelings, especially when it comes to professional relationships.  To really understand them you might need to rely on your observational skills and not just listen to the words that they say.     Start with how they are speaking.  When someone is excited about something, even if they are trying to suppress it, they will speak slightly faster and with a higher pitch.  Conversely, if they are unsure, they will slow down and be more cautious as they speak.  Even their word choices can give you a clue as to their mindset.  Open language will indicate a higher level of trust.  Strong, clear language indicating confidence.  If you find that their words are not in alignment with their body language, it becomes even more important to observe them closely.   Visually, watch their body language and look for micro expressions that may clue you in to something that they aren't saying.  Whether they are smiling genuinely or politely says a lot.  Is their stance closed with their arms crossed or are they open and receptive or possibly even leaning in with excitement?  When you say something new, is there a flash of humor or anger in the corners of their eyes?  Some of these visual cues will be easier to spot, but the more nuanced actions can be more revealing.     In general, people are not malicious in their actions, but, the actions they take may come across that way.  For instance, I have seen multiple times where Person A feels like Person B is purposefully undermining the ability for Person A to perform work.  But, in reality, Person B is just focused on taking steps that they think will let them reach their personal goals that they never even considered how that could impact Person A.  Once Person A sat down and spoke with Person B and everyone's views were communicated, both people were able to be more productive and reach their goals quickly.   The easiest path to knowing someone's motivations is to come out and ask them.  But, sometimes, you don't have that type of relationship with them and it may take a little bit of detective work.  For example, how have their current projects been going recently?  If positively, their mood probably reflects that.  Though if they are experiencing project stress, they may be taking it out on everyone around them.  The "no" to your request may be coming from this type of stress more than anything else.  Looking for these types of factors can help you find the motivations of someone that you would not ask directly.     No matter how you gain the insight, how can you use this understanding to your advantage? When you understand someone, you can build a stronger relationship with them.  Stronger relationships lead to stronger networks.  And I can't stress enough how powerful a strong network can be.  (https://www.managingacareer.com/29) If someone's actions are not in alignment with what they say, you can look towards their secret motivations for guidance on how to bring them back to alignment.  Someone who accepts tasks but looks for ways to avoid them may be missing key knowledge or resources and does not want to admit that weakness.  Understanding this, you can provide the tasks as well as information on how to close the resource gap so that they can be successful without looking weak. If you are making a proposal to someone, you can tailor your pitch accordingly based on how they feel about the idea.  If someone is excited about the topic, play up the capabilities and benefits to get them more excited.  If someone is unsure, focus on the approach and risk mitigation plan so that they gain some certainty.     Building these people reading skills will take practice.  With all of your interactions, make notes about your observations and review those notes with your close coworkers and mentors; especially if they are involved in those same conversations.  They can help you refine your deductions.  Over time, this will come more naturally.     I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement.  Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form (https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer.  Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you.  If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.

    8 min
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About

I help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with years of experience, the knowledge and insights I share can show you how to position yourself for growth and career advancement.

Information

  • Creator
    Layne Robinson
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Managing A Career