I talk with people every week who are frustrated because they feel they are stuck in their career or doing something wrong because they can't seem to get promoted. In this episode, we are going to look at the problem we are up against in getting promoted, look behind the scenes of the promotion process, understand why your current strategy probably isn't working and give you a new way of looking at how to build your career to get better results.
SHOW NOTES:
http://thecrazy1.com/episode90
FOLLOW THE CRAZY ONE:
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
I talk with people every week who are frustrated because they feel they are stuck in their career or doing something wrong because they can't seem to get promoted. In this episode, we are going to look at the problem we are up against in getting promoted, look behind the scenes of the promotion process, understand why your current strategy probably isn't working and give you a new way of looking at how to build your career to get better results.
SHOW NOTES:
http://thecrazy1.com/episode90
FOLLOW THE CRAZY ONE:
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook
What's going on everybody and welcome into the 19th episode of the crazy one podcast. As always, I'm your host, Stephen Gates. And this is the show where we talk about how to help you be more creative, become a better leader, create more innovative work, grow stronger career and a whole lot more. And as always, be sure to hit the subscribe button in your favorite podcast platform to get the latest episodes whenever those come out. And you know what, do me a favor whenever you're there, take just a couple seconds and either hit the stars or leave a review. Let people know what you think about the show. You can listen all the shows, get the show notes, get my essential creative tools. Those are the things I use every single day even get your hands on some crazy one propaganda just head over to the crazy one.com that's the crazy and the number one.com. And look, you got any questions you want this to be a conversation, maybe you just want to kind of keep up with my adventures. You can get more content like this and anything else just follow me Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn is another one of those wonderful, all Viet usually all too brief breaks from me being on the road just back from London. Atlanta. And for everybody who thinks, wow, that must be so glamorous. I'm getting up at I'm sorry, I'm leaving the house at 4am. Tomorrow to catch a 7am flight to Vancouver for this week, and then I will be in Pittsburgh next week. So always try to take advantage of these little breaks to try to get another episode in. So this week, once again, I want to talk about your career. But this time, I want to talk about something a little bit different, right? So I want to have an honest conversation about why you may feel like your career stuck. Maybe you feel like you should be promoted, and you're not maybe you feel you should be promoted more often. And you're not. And you know, I want to talk about why that's happening, right? Because I think here again, this show comes from the fact that like I said, week after week, I get emails, I talked to people who are in this situation and it comes up a lot and they see things like look, I feel like I'm stuck in my career. I'm frustrated. What am I doing wrong? Should I be doing something different? Like, what what is going on where I feel like I'm doing what the company has asked to be, I'm doing what my boss is asking of me. And that doesn't seem to be enough, right? Like, why is that not enough for me to be able to get promoted? And like, I want to be clear, as always, like, you know, that this isn't a one size, you know, sort of fits all answer, right. But I and I think that, you know, maybe this isn't why this is happening for you. Because, you know, look, there's also the reality that there are plenty of people out there who want to blame why they're not getting promoted on their boss on their company, on everybody else. And we've talked about that before, right? Like, those are the people who want there to be a VM when the VM is you. But there are times whenever I think you know that apparently the paranoia is real, right? Where the frustration is definitely real. And so in this episode, I want to do a few different things. I want to look at, you know, what is the the actual problem that you're up against, because I think it's hard to be able to solve a problem if you don't really know what you're solving for. I want to Kind of give you a look behind the scenes that for most companies, what does that promotion process actually look like? And probably give you a little bit of an understanding of you know why your current strategy probably isn't working, right? Because as I said, if you're in this place of feeling frustrated if you saw this title, and you said, Yeah, I want to listen to this, there's probably a reason why. And then in Lastly, I just want to kind of give you a new way of looking at how do you build your career to get better results. So that's what we're gonna talk about today. But as always, like, let's start with the problem. And I think that the problem is that we've all been lied to candidly. And I think like, and we all think that the foundation of how to be successful is the way to be successful. And I think the argument I would make is that in many cases, whenever I talk to people, the way they think and what you think you need to do successful isn't what you need to do to get promoted. Right. Like, we all think that by being good at work, like doing what you're told, following the plan that like your superiors, your bosses, you're coming But he tells you to do that if you just follow that, that somehow you're going to be recognized and that you're going to be promoted. And that, you know, then that's going to be the way to be successful. I think that's in luck. In some cases, it's true, I would say for the vast majority of people that I've talked to in the vast majority of companies, that is an overly simplistic and overly idealistic sort of way of looking at things, right. And I think, you know, this in many cases, you know, if we really think about it, it really is true for part of your career, right? Because I think whenever you start out your career, you know, be in you really just sort of do that as you're a more junior person, that does actually work, right. But the challenge often becomes that as you become more senior, you take on more leadership, you start to climb the ladder. One, they're just going to be fewer and fewer opportunities that are there. But it doesn't necessarily continue to work. And I think that it's that transition that kind of nobody told us about and I think in many cases, a lot of people don't really have a way to see into the upper left. levels of an organization to understand why what they're doing isn't working. I said this in a previous episode, and it got a big reaction for a lot of people, right? And I think like, you know, you can tell that this promotion process changes and that what I'm talking about is the truth. Because, you know, the fact is that in some cases, you can actually have no skill, right? Or that skill becomes less relevant as you go up, you know, in an organization. You know, and I know that you know, people and and I certainly know people that are in very senior positions, executive positions, even clo positions that I would argue, have no real skill right outside of their ability to hit deadlines and kiss ass, which, unfortunately, is a viable enough currency that it will get you and continue to get you promoted in far too many companies, that there are people whenever you look at that whenever you look at the subject matter expertise that they're supposed to have, they don't seem to have it, or they just jump wildly from specializations like one year. They're in finance in the next year. They're in marketing. And the next year they're on like the loading dock. But it's just, it's just again, you know, it's not about for them investing in a discernible skill. And I think that in some cases in some careers, you can do that. But the thing that I would argue is that obviously for a lot of creatives, we invest in something specifically we are designers, we are writers, we are engineers, we like there is something that we are investing in that we said, Look, this is what we want to be good at. This is where I'm going to plant my flag. We can pause for like a moment of rage over the fact that this happens, right? And I think many of us know that it's a true statement. And you probably just thought of somebody that exemplifies this problem. it's maddening whenever you feel like you're killing yourself, it is maddening whenever you feel like you're putting in the work and you're doing all the right things. And these seemingly just, you know, lemmings sort of people keep getting promoted. And I think that's sort of part of the frustration in all of this is that, you know, for me, good work and dedication, in many cases should count for more than it does, right. Like leadership should have more of a connection to what is actually going on online. Their teams and reward the people who are really doing the work. That's the way it should be. The problem is, is that in many cases, that's not the way it is. So let's start by really, let's let's take a look behind the scenes, and how this process works it for most companies, like I said, not all, but for most, it is definitely the most that I've been a part of, for you to get a better understanding of where the problems that you're having come from. So here's how the promotion process goes at most companies. And again, the numbers and the timing, and a few things are going to change but generally, right. So once or twice a year, there's this window that opens for promotions within a company in Division, whatever it is. And what happens is that all the directors all the VPS, all the higher ups get together. And what they want to do is they want to meet to discuss Who are they going to promote. And there's not only going to be just that discussion, but there's also the reality that you know, for any given quarter, six month year, whatever it is, they're most likely going to be just a set number of promotions. terms that are available, right? So there's sort of this pool that's in the center of the table of okay saying, look, you know, for all these different groups, we have three 510, however many it is promotions that are available. The way you should think about this is it's kind of like the Hunger Games, but like your life and career at stake here. There's a few things that are kind of at play here. Part of it is your boss, right? Like who is the person that you are sending into that room into that arena, to fight on your behalf in your team's behalf? So they're, they're gonna be different aspects of that, like how much respect you know your boss has is going to affect how many people are going to support and be able to get behind the people that they're putting forward. Other things like how hard are they willing to fight for that to really make sure that somebody from their team because that's the thing, right, is that they don't have much political capital, maybe they're just not much of a fighter. They're gonna go in there and the people who speak more the people who are more abrasive the people who have more political power or political capital, those are the ones that are trying to get the lion's share the promotion. So I think that those are definitely Factors because it is this sort of, you know, and that's why I said it's a slightly overdramatic, but it's sort of like a Hunger Games kind of atmosphere. But then there are other things that go into this, right? So there, there's the individual person, so are they going to fight for you, they're going to put your name forward, are they going to get in there and really be able to make sure that it happens. But then there's other things that are at play here. One is, we'll say, so let's say that you're the person who's up for promotion, your boss, your, you know, the head of your group, whoever it is, right? Like, they're gonna walk into this room, and they're gonna say your name. And one of the biggest things is are the other leaders here in in, they're going to know who you are, because in most cases, what you never want is for your name to be put forward. And everybody else Says who? right because what you want them to do is you want them to know your name, you want them to know what you have done, and why you are worthy of this promotion. Right? And the problem being that if this is the first time they've heard your name, this probably honestly isn't gonna go very well for you, right? So this like Hunger Games roundtable plays out everyone debates, everyone fights, they plays politics, and they come to a decision. And I think there are a few obvious problems here. And the biggest one is that your career is being decided without you being in the room by a bunch of people who may or may not know who it is you are, and more than likely have little to no real connection to the work it is you're doing. And I think this is what allows this process for people with no discernible talent to be promoted. I've always thought about this as what I would describe as the Shepard Fairey effect I will of course explain what the hell that means. Now if you have any awareness of street art or art or even politics or the things like that, you hopefully you know and if you don't like Shepard Fairey is one of the probably most popular most successful I don't know what the Andy Warhol of our generation or whatever kind of like cheesy statement you want to make about that. known artist and street artist mostly for his obey giant brand if you've ever seen the stickers that has sort of like the simplified Andre the Giant face on it and the word obey or just the word obey on it. Maybe you him because he did the Obama poster that became extremely famous that resulted in the lawsuit from the Associated Press or the use of the photo. Or like I said, You've been in a city, you've seen a big obey, you know, mural, or he tends have a very kind of iconic style. What that has to do with all of this is, and the reason why it's relevant here is how people look at and in print, in particular, how he started his brand, right? And it was actually insanely simple because what he realized was that with any amount of propaganda so if he started to put these obey stickers and back then it was even there called like, Andre has a posse stickers, that if he started to put them everywhere, that people would start to think that this was important because that is what people tend to do. If I see something everywhere I hear about something everywhere. All of a sudden, I think maybe it is good, something I need to check out, right? Like somehow I'm simply aware of it. But so that's what he did was he just started plastering Los Angeles in other places with these obey stickers and wouldn't You know it, people thought it was a thing started to find out what it was. And because of that they thought they were missing out on something. And I think the reason why I call this the Shepard Fairey effect is because it worked for him in building the obey brand. But sadly, that sort of carpet bombing technique works in business too. Because what is going to happen is that, you know, the the leader, the person goes to work, and they go to work on their own version of their propaganda campaign, right? So they take some achievement, maybe it's big, maybe it's small, maybe it's real or exaggerated. And they start spending months telling everybody about it, right, like they're going and this is their version of putting the stickers everywhere. And when you know it before long, just like those, you know, stickers, leaders are talking about it. They're asking about it because they're hearing about it. Everybody assumes that because there is a buzz that the person must be doing something great. And yes, we talked about the fatal flaw in this process is that you know, much like any sort of propaganda, the flaw in propaganda is that most often people do not take the time. To see if that achievement, the story, the project, whatever it is they're talking about is real. And if the impact of the person claims is real, because you know, that's the thing is most leaders at large companies don't take the time to get a real pulse or connection with the team. So it doesn't actually matter who that person stepped on doesn't matter what they lied about, doesn't matter who they screwed over, or what projects actually didn't deliver. Because they were so busy on this sort of like PR campaign and doing this propaganda campaign, so that they can actually get promoted with, you know, potentially no real talent are no real work. And I think, you know, look, this does happen all the time. I think, you know, again, if you're listening to this episode, you may have been in that case where you're just like, you know exactly what it is that I'm talking about. But this is why this can happen. Again, like I said, it is a flaw in the system. We're since in many cases, they aren't going back and really validating they're not talking to their team members. They're not talking about the impact and people like them or get along, what they sort of reward is the story. And I think in many cases, they reward people who they feel like are having an impact, right? So part of it is bad. And part of it is good because you should reward people that make an impact, you should reward people who risk something. It's just if they're risking something real. I think that when this happens, you will probably do what I've done, right? Because I think I've been through this time and time again, where I got so frustrated and just kind of like throw your hands up in the air about what the hell do I need to do to get ahead like why can people essentially bullshit and lie their way into getting promoted? Right? And I think in many cases, that is a when we look this is where we want to talk about why your career strategy probably isn't working. So knowing that this is the process knowing that you're frustrated, you know, and that what you're doing isn't working. You're probably finding the fright, same frustration. I would bet job after job right because for most people, what happens and their strategy is, is that like, I've been a job for a certain amount of time and I think the you know, the average that You'll see for people in a lot of creative professions is that is somewhere between 18 and 36 months is that usually in that window, people move on. And I think as you talk to recruiters and others, that tends to be the window that they'll look at for when they're primed to be able to move. But right, so like, you've been in this job, right, you've been putting in the work and you don't feel like you're getting recognized, you feel like you are getting stuck. And the problem here is that most people solve that problem by thinking it's the company's fault, which like I said, it partially is right like it is the system's fault. But the problem is, is that you solve the problem by taking a new job, because it's understandable why you do that, right? Because it feels good, because you've got a fresh start and fresh possibilities. But then pretty soon that 18 to 36 month window rolls back around again. And over the course of that time, you slowly slide back into that same old feeling coming back again, right? The same old problems and the cycle repeats itself. And I see this cycle so often. That's why I said I want to talk about why this isn't working and why you need a new approach. approach. Because, you know, in many cases, you know, we understand that, you know, because of this process, you're going to need to get your name out there, you need to build your story, you need to be known for something. In many cases, though, it's often really good if it's backed up by something real. And your needs are going to get this story heard, and judging a place where you're not going to be in the room to tell it. And here again, you need to build a brand. And I've talked about this in the past, and in many cases, I think a lot of people still will mistake whenever I talk about building your personal brand, that somehow that's like a logo or a typeface. It's not right, because if you think about what I just said, if you think about, you know, we need to be able to tell a story. We need to be able to get you known for something we need to be able to get that story heard in a place where you probably are not going to be in the room to directly tell that story. That is almost the textbook definition of what a brand strategy is. Right? And so that's why I continue to keep coming back and harping on this and you're in need for understanding and building your brand. And that this is so much one of those reasons why Because that's the thing. And and it's like so many other things, right? Like this is a balancing act. On the one hand, you need to be realistic. And you need to be able to say, look, is there a possibility of me getting promoted here is like, Do I have a connection with my boss? Will they support me? So there needs to be some amount of reality there. And we're going to get in that into a minute about what does that mean? And how do you structure that? Right? So like, if there's not the possibility, I see too many people who are the good soldier who feel like if I just do the good work, I'm going to get recognized. And like I said, that's very altruistic. And in many cases, I love the fight. But if there's not a real possibility, right, like, if the light of the end of the tunnel is a truck, then that's not going to be a good technique for you. But I think the other part of it is to be able to stick with something and you know, to be able to build on it or at the very least, to think about how do you structure your career in a way where even if you're going to move from job to job Bob, you can sort of pick up where you left off at the last job, as opposed to at too many people do where you just sort of reset and start over, right? Because I think this is why a lot of people will be trapped in the same salary band or trapped in the same position or trapped in the same level of responsibility, because they're not really going out and building their brand. So, again, super easy. It's like, hey, go build your brand, right? But, but so I think there are four kind of areas that I think that we need to work on and that you need to think about to make this successful. The first one, just like any brand, is that you need to focus on what are the things that you want to be known for. Now, the key to this is that these need to be authentic to you and what matters to you, not what you think the company or your boss wants, right? Because here again, if you're focusing on if I turn into this person, I will get promoted. If you turn into if I'm this person that my boss likes, then I will get promoted. The problem is that is not easy. Sustainable brand. Because the reality is that companies change priorities change bosses change company like the where you work changes. And if all you're going to do is to run around and again to be whatever you think everybody else wants you to be. One, it is a frustrating, stressful, just bad existence, right? Because you're not being authentic to who you are. But like I said, the problem is, whenever that executive changes, whenever your boss changes, now, all of a sudden, you're gonna have to become a totally different person. And that is not a good look. And a lot of people can pick up on that where it's like, oh, well, these five things used to matter to me, and now none of them do. So again, as we've talked with other episodes about trust and about, again, what is the foundational part of this, right? That's why I said it is just a huge mistake that if you try to build a brand to please your boss, or the C suite or some executive, whenever they leave, and you haven't built your own point of view, you usually aren't going to be far behind them and swept out with the old regime. And that's the thing is like, unless, you know this is something's gonna be there for a long time, you're gonna be in trouble. And so just like any brand What I would recommend you do and again, I've talked about this on past episodes you can go back and listen to it is to think about what are those three things that you want to be known for the same way, whenever I do any brand strategy, whenever I do any brand building, I want to sit down and say, Okay, look, if I had to ask somebody what our brand stands for, what do we communicate? Like, what what is everything we do point towards? These are those three things, I think in your career, you need to be able to have that same sort of thing, right? So like, for me, it's the ability to come in and actually create real change and the ability to drive human centered leadership. And it's the ability to really come in and to be able to do really like high functioning really good creative work, right. Like I think if people are not in the room, those are the three things that I want them to say. Those are the three things that I focused on with all the work that I've done the talks that I do, right, like everything tries to answer back to one of those three pillars. The next part of that is I think, and that's where you need to start, right? Because I think if you don't have that this is why people sort of lose their way and they're kind of like, Hey, boss, tell me who you want me to be. Doesn't work. I think once you have that, you need to tell the story clearly and often, right? Because I think when you're clear on what you want, and you need, you have that understanding of like, you know, look, this is what I need to be able to get to that next position, you need to look at your job, you need to look at your projects, you need to look at your work relationships, and see how do those align to where it is you want to go, you need to look at those and say, How am I telling this story that supports those brand qualities, because that's the thing is, in many cases, if you just sort of run around and are like, Oh, we this team wants me to be this, I'm gonna go do that. And this team wants me to this, I'm gonna go do that. Like I said, You're being a good soldier, you're putting in the good work, but the problem is you're paying into a bank that has a hole in the bottom of it, right? Because whenever you do that, you're known for nothing, because honestly, well, that's not true, right? Because if we're being totally honest, what you're known for is that you will do whatever anybody asks you to do. And at the end of the day is we think about respect and leadership. These are not qualities that are going to get you promoted. And I think for too many people, they think oh, I'm just a good soldier Oh, if I just do what everybody says, oh, if I just run around and help everybody that's gonna get me promoted. No, it's not. Right, like, that's gonna keep you in that same spot. Because like I said, Nobody wants to follow that person as a leader. Do you like to have them on the team, you want to take them out to lunch, you want to say thank you. So it gets this sense of satisfaction and reinforcement, right? Like people will like you, but you are going to be unhappy. And then that's why you're going to feel trapped. Because on the one hand, you feel like what I'm doing gets praise. What I'm doing, everybody says is so good. But it's not actually moving my career forward. And Damn it. Why is that? The other part of this in terms of telling your story is you need to give your boss and other people, the stories, the slides, the charts, the screenshots, or whatever else, to help them tell your story, right, like you need to do it. But again, as you're thinking about, you know, sending your boss whoever that executive is into these rooms, into the briefings into the weekly update, like whatever that is to make sure that you are giving them those stories and I think that this is a place where a bunch of people get trapped, right? Because I think telling that story can be hard, right? And I think for a few different reasons. And it's one of the reasons though, why this is important, is because at the end of the day, you may feel like it's bragging, you may feel like I'm being too egotistical. And here again, it's about balance, right? Because like, Look, if you do it all the time, and it's like, hey, look at me, look at me, look how great I am. And that's why I said, I mean, part of this is also you can have your brand and tell your story within and should be in service of a bigger picture in service of a team, right? Like a brand is not just you going and doing everything by yourself. You know, you do it with other people, you take other people along with you, you take them along with the ride, right? Like That is what, you know, essentially a lot of leadership and teamwork should be. But and I think that in many cases, and look, this gets back to conversations that are hard, especially in a one way sort of forum like this. It gets more complicated like that, because I think also if you look at things like gender bias, and if you look at and unfortunately, a lot of the ways of the way we're raising too many people is that you know, if you look at In my experience, and if you look at some of the research, I think that in many cases, you'll see that women and some cases, minorities are inherently more reluctant to advocate for themselves, based on, you know, again, where they think they are, right. And for many of us, you know, they think that career growth is going to be done through this sort of like lens of people being grateful or that you need to be, you know, humble, or you almost need to be shy. That's what I said, when I'm not advocating as you become something else. But I'm also advocating that you know, one because of gender bias and confirmation bias and things like that people tend to promote the people who look like them. And whenever you're in an organization that tends to probably be dominated by a lot of white men, they probably are going to go out and promote a lot of other white men and they may do it with really good intentions, they may do it and understand what it is they're doing, and that's the scumbag way, but I think but it is also why telling the story becomes even more important because you're probably going to need to tell it more, you're probably gonna need to tell it louder. You're probably going to need to tell it differently, to make sure that it it gets done right? And to make sure that it's one of these things where people actually hear the story. Because that's the problem is that if you think about what is the real reality here, right? And in many cases, I think it's very easy for us to kind of be like, oh, we're not, like I said, we have this sort of Pollyanna way of looking at things like, oh, we're gonna do all the right things, we're going to get promoted. There's just there's also just a flat business reality to this, right. Like, companies don't like to add expense. They don't like to add more salary. They don't like to add more people, right? Like that tends to be the thing is that for us to be profitable, we need to keep costs under control. So again, you've also have to realize that you're working inside of a structure. That is not you know, I don't know No way. And I know this is too harsh way to say it. I don't want to say like they're not rooting for you to succeed, I think do they want you to well, they sort of do it if they have to. Sure. But again, you know, there is this sort of carrot that is out there that they're going to be reluctant to give because it hurts their bottom line. So it's this really weird scenario. The audit thing of, Hey, you know, here's the reward, but we're going to kind of giving it begrudgingly. And I think, like I said, this is why telling your story is really important. But I think the other thing here that becomes super, super important that a lot of people don't do is that you have goals or KPIs or whatever it is that cut two ways, right? Because what I see is that it most companies, your boss gives you your goals, right? And you talk to them about, you know, how are they gonna, what are they gonna hold you accountable to right, like, what are the things that you know, you need to accomplish this year? The challenges though, as with any good relationship, or anything else like that, when it's a one sided conversation, that doesn't tend to work out well for both parties. So whenever I talk about two way goals, it's that look, you know, they're going to be very, very clear about how they're going to hold me accountable. What are they going to hold me accountable to as they should because again, that's what this is work, right like that is not unreasonable. But the thing for me is that But I also want to understand what can I hold them accountable to. And this can be uncomfortable. And in some cases, in many cases, leadership may not be used to these conversations, but to be able to sit down and to be able to say, Okay, look, I want to get to the next level, what are the things that I need to work on to get promoted? What are the you know, the two or three things that you that you feel are holding me back? And that then I can set about working on those? Because then there's a very clear kind of conversation expectation of what is the business holding me accountable to? And then what am I being held accountable to work on? Because the reality is, then if I don't work on that, then me not getting promoted is 100% on my shoulders, right? But at the same point, if we get to that place where we say, Okay, look, you know, these are things you need to work on, I've done that everybody agrees that I'm doing really well on that. And, you know, this is the frustrating part is that most of the time you you need to be doing the job of kind of the next tier before you get promoted to it right. So rarely is it kind of like Oh, I got promoted and now everything is different. It's like, no, now I'm doing what I've always been doing for the last six months, I just finally have the title and the pay to like reconcile that position, right. But I think, because it is just you, it is important because you need to be able to hold those companies accountable to your career career progress, right? Because when your work, you know, he really, and you're working on these issues, and you've done those things, then they need to be held accountable to that. And I think many leaders and companies are going to resist this because they they only like that one way accountability, then this is the thing, they get very uncomfortable. Whenever you have your own brand, they get very uncomfortable. When you have your own goals, they get very uncomfortable. You have your own voice, in many cases, because now you're showing up on equal footing, right that you have some amount of power, you have some amount of control. There is something that you do that again, isn't just you should have this job in your You should be grateful for it. And look, maybe I'm overly biased on this. It's just I've talked to so many people I've seen this in my own career, where you know, it is it's frustrating, and it's frustrating that it needs to To be this way, like I said, You wish the good work and leadership, things like that accounted for more. But that's the thing is that in many cases, the only person who's going to look out for your career, in many cases, the only person that's going to drive it forward to make sure that it's getting to where you want it to be, is you. And that's the thing is, I think, in many cases, we feel like oh, well, if we put in the work, and again, do the things like we're being told, then other people will do that. And look, there are some, there are some amazing people. The problem is they are far far too rare who really lean in and do that. And, and I think what why this becomes important is because whenever you are clear on what you want to be known for when you are clear on telling your story, when you're clear on having those two way goals, the other thing that happens is if you do decide to leave your job instead of starting over with a new job, and you know, because that's the problem is whenever you're just sort of like hey, I hate this place I leave and you're not clear on that. You're not building any brand equity in this process, right and, and so That's sort of the problem is that every time your brand has to start over, and you have to become known for something different, and again, I think that's what if you probably look at the careers of the people you admire, and I would say, even in my career, that sort of what I did was I just, I even took those and I externalize them. I did it through speaking, I've done through podcasts, I've done through a lot of things that look, this is what I stand for. And the thing that I will say is, I know that this is a moment of anxiety, because just like building any brand, whenever you say, this is what I stand for, some people are gonna like it, some people won't. And as I said, in previous episodes, I will continue to argue that while I know that this is anxiety inducing, especially I know the mentality that when you're in the hiring process, right, and especially if you're frustrated with your job, like that first attention, you get just feels like air to a drowning person, right? Because you're just kind of like oh, because suddenly there's the rush of possibilities and the rest of something new and the ability to start over. But that's the thing right is if if that in the start over is complete, then again, it is going to be short term, you For you For long term frustration, because you need to be able to find the sort of things that are going to want and be able to, you know, really latch on to your skills, latch on to what you bring. Because that's the thing is you want to find the jobs that are let you build on those let you continue to grow your career over the span of your entire career. So then that way, you can look at how this job lead to the next one lead to the next one lead to the next one. And there's a constant progression, there's a constant growth and I think especially for a lot of people, as you start to get up into those higher levels as you start to get more into leadership as you start to do those sort of things. Look, it's just easier to say I'm going to be what the company wants me to be. I understand metalia and God knows I've been there. But I think that in those moments, that's when it is about saying look, this is who I want to be because that's the other part is if you look at going look at the behavior of the leaders at your company, I guarantee you like for the vast majority of them, they have their own brand they have what they are known for they have positioned themselves they are known for getting shut down or they are known for Being able to create change, and they're known for getting cost down, right? Like, there is something where you can say, Oh, that is their brand. That is what got them there is their ability to tell that story is their ability to invest in that sort of thing. Like I said, the frustrating part is that, you know, sometimes those skills aren't always real. And it's a better story than a reality. But again, isn't that the world of branding and advertising is there's so many products that look amazing and commercial and are complete crap whenever you try them. It just sort of cuts all the way through. But here's sort of where I want to start to wrap this up a little bit. Is that like everything else I talked about on here, this it's a balancing act. Because on the one hand, the idea that you do good work and get recognized doesn't work, right. companies want people who can get things done, and that's what they will reward. Often no matter how they behave, or who they screw over. Again, it is the ability to be known for something it is the ability to accomplish things. And I think there is also you know, your willingness and your ability to stand up for your Because I think even in putting this episode together, it's a bit disheartening for me, I think, to look back over my career, and to realize that I've never had a promotion that I essentially didn't have to take by force. And look, I didn't go in and say, Look, give me this promotion or I'm leaving or things like that. But again, as I look at having to weigh goals, as I look at the conversations with my bosses over, you know, the years, it has been about, like you said, I needed to work on this, or we need to accomplish this or do that we did that. What's the hold up? And I know that sometimes there's the business reality, we don't have the budget, we need to wait for that. That's fine. Like I'm wanting to have some amount of patience, right? Like, this isn't a hostage negotiation, like, yeah, I need to understand that. But at the same point, my patience is an infinite. And in so many cases, what I've had to do is to be able to say look, you know, if you're if you can't tell me what is holding me back, I need to I need to fight for myself. I need to stand up for my value. I need to stand up for my career. And what's going to happen Is that if in this next promotion cycle or something, if you can't come back with a really concrete reason about why I'm not going to be promoted, if you can't come back with a real, you know, or come to come back with it, then you understand, like, Look, I'm not coming in, and you know, quitting in a blaze of glory, and you're doing something stupid like that. But you need to understand that at some point, and this is the thing I want you to remember, inaction is an action, right? Like the ability to if you're gonna keep stringing me along, if you're gonna keep sort of doing those things, like I said, if I feel like I'm building my brand, I'm showing those sorts of things. I'm answering the bell on everything. And if you can't say to me, hey, look, this is what you're not doing. Then we then tell me why this isn't happening. And that if that doesn't happen, then again, I'm going to look at inaction as an action. And what I'm going to do then is I'm going to slowly start to pack right, I'm going to start to leave, I'm going to start to interview I'm going to start to talk to recruiters. I'm going to start to do those things because it's obvious to me that there's not the trust there's not the respect, and there's not the recognition here. And and like I said, as I think if you're doing Good job of telling your story. And that's what I'm looking for in that next position. That's what it is that I've been talking about. That's what it is that I can build on. But it is about it building on and not just simply taking the next thing because it's the next thing. Right. But your brand and your plan can't also be blind, right? Because I think that there's a lot of other people and I think that there's a tendency in some of this, like, you can't be blind to feedback into growth, right? And that, it again, it's a balancing act between you need to stand up for yourself, you need to understand your value, you need to understand what it is that you bring to the table and that has value because that's the problem is in many cases this process can be dehumanizing and make you feel like you don't have the value that you should but the other part of it is like I said, you're gonna have to stay open to feedback and growth your entire career. But the inflection point where I see most people stumble, is that you're going to have to kill this tell me what to do mentality right? That tell me what to do mentality that was probably the foundation of your career, the tell me what to do mentality that probably got you to even where you went. Whenever you start to have these problems, because like I said, it will serve you to a point. But at the point whenever you start to get frustrated the point wherever you want to start to excel the point whenever you want to become promoted, like I said, those are the people that everyone wants, because you can tell them what to do. Who doesn't want those people around? Like Yes, I don't I want to be surrounded by those people. But the problem is the end of the day, I'm probably going to promote those people, you know, or the very least if that's the only thing they do, right? Because that's the thing I want people are gonna show up I want them to be thoughtful. I want them to have their own ideas. I want them to fight I want them to stand up for what it is they believe. Yeah, they're gonna be moments where it's like, Look, we need to get on this plan. You just can't a bunch of rebels running around because that's chaos anarchy and like, that doesn't work. But there is just understand that that there is that mentality shift and think about what is your mentality been? Right like, like take a little bit of time and just think back about where you been? Right like what is your behavior been like? Are you representing? Like, what what do you if you went out what what do you think people say about you like, what are you known for? Are you telling that story? Do you have Have those sort of two way goals? And what is your mentality about how you show up every day? Because I think that is the issue that tell me what to do mentality. And long term isn't successful. And I think also, the other part of it is even and we get into this week on design imposter syndrome, even if you're that sort of person who's like, Look, I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna kill it every day, right? Like, I'm gonna work super hard, and be super smart. I'm gonna do things like that. There's also that problem that if you sort of perform a miracle every day, pretty soon people just think it's work. And you need to think about again, just like any brand, how do you keep the special woman special, as the hard work get recognized? That it's like I said, to also make sure that what you're doing as you go through your careers that you are building on what you have done, not wiping the slate clean and starting over, right? Because if it's the second or third time you have started over and you're not building on that, that's when the frustration the questions and this conversation comes in. So hopefully, this will give you a little bit of a better basis to start to think about this. And like I said, the challenge here is, man, there's just so much nuance in different And all these different companies that part of this may make sense part of it doesn't but but the one truth in this and again the one thing you can control is you so as always, you can find out more about this podcast I'll put all the show notes and all this sort of stuff you can head over to the crazy one calm it's the words that crazy in the number one.com Look, I mean if you if you aren't subscribed to the show what the hell is wrong with you? Right? I mean, just seriously, I'm giving you gold here for free. Dammit, subscribe, but I just can't say it ever with a straight face. But just you know, like subscribes to your show. You don't miss a show. I'm trying to put out as regularly as I can. But you know, look, it's not like clockwork. Yeah, wherever you are on your podcast, you know we're on their favorite platform. Do me a favor, leave a review makes a big difference. Follow me on social media. You can like the show on Facebook, ask questions Do whatever you want there. As always, everybody down in legal wants me to remind you that the views here are just my own. They don't represent any of my current or former employers. This is just me out here talking and finally in all in all 90 of these episodes, I say it every time because I mean it every time but Thank you for your time. I know that time is truly the luxury that any of us actually really have was incredibly humbled. You want to spend any of it with me. So go out, think about what you're doing, right? Like focus on what you want to be known for, tell your story, have those sort of goals and stand on equal footing with your company, build that brand, damn it, get promoted and get recognized and hey, all the while and as always, stay crazy.