Career Speedrun - MAC109
Managing A Career
Welcome back to Managing A Career, the podcast that helps you put yourself on the fast track for promotion. I’m your host, Layne Robinson. Today’s episode is all about a concept I’m calling the Career Speedrun. If you’re into gaming, you probably know what a speedrun is: it’s when players try to beat an entire game as fast as possible, skipping unnecessary parts, using shortcuts, and optimizing every move. Now, when it comes to your career, you can’t literally warp-jump from your first job straight to the corner office—but you can learn to recognize what slows...
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Early Promotion to Career Success - MAC108
Managing A Career
Reframing the Premature Promotion Back in , I tackled the tricky terrain of getting promoted too soon—when the title lands before the readiness does. That episode unpacked the complications that can follow a premature promotion: skill gaps, team tension, imposter syndrome, and even layoff risk. This week, I’m flipping the script. Instead of focusing on the pitfalls, let’s talk about how to turn that early promotion into a strategic advantage. Because if you play it right, what starts as a stumble can become your fastest leap forward. The Risks Beneath the Ribbon-Cutting ...
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Career Stagnation - MAC107
Managing A Career
Has your career quietly veered off course—not with a dramatic crash, but with a slow, almost imperceptible drift? One missed opportunity. One unchallenging role. One “maybe next year” that turned into five. Then one day, you look up and realize you’re nowhere near where you thought you’d be. Here’s the good news: every detour has a reentry point. You won’t fix it overnight, but you can start with one small, intentional correction. And that shift—however minor—is how momentum begins. How Did We Get Here? Before we talk solutions, let’s rewind. Career drift...
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Non-Verbal Communication - MAC106
Managing A Career
In last week’s podcast episode of the podcast, Episode 105 – Communication Etiquette (), I talked about how seemingly small, everyday actions can shape how others perceive you at work. While these habits may not directly earn you a promotion, they quietly build your reputation with the very people who influence those decisions. This week, I want to take that conversation further by focusing on something even more subtle but just as powerful: non-verbal communication cues. Why Non-Verbal Communication Matters Whether you’re in a casual hallway conversation, presenting in a...
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Communication Etiquette - MAC105
Managing A Career
On other episodes of the Managing A Career podcast, I tend to focus on the big-picture strategies that can propel your career forward—things like building influence, earning visibility, and positioning yourself for future opportunities. But advancement isn’t just about the major moves. Sometimes, it’s the subtle, everyday actions that shape how others perceive you. This week, I want to zoom in on one of those seemingly small details that won’t directly earn you a promotion, but will absolutely impact the impression you leave on colleagues, managers, and executives: communication...
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A Seat At The Table - MAC104
Managing A Career
You Need to Be in the Room Where It Happens — But How? You’ve heard the phrase before: “You need to be in the room where decisions happen.” It sounds powerful—exclusive even—but no one ever hands you the playbook for getting in that room. Working hard isn’t enough. Being the best at your job isn’t enough. The truth is, opportunities to sit at the table where decisions are made don’t simply appear—they’re earned, often through deliberate actions, strategic visibility, and building the right kind of influence. So the real question becomes: how do you earn that seat at the...
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What Are You Prioritizing? - MAC103
Managing A Career
What You Prioritize Is What You Grow In your career—just like in life—whatever you prioritize is what takes root, grows, and ultimately defines your trajectory. Whether you’re intentional about it or not, your attention acts like sunlight and water: it nourishes certain parts of your professional life while leaving others to wither. Even worse is when you don’t make a conscious choice at all—when your career just “happens to you.” That passive approach can lead to years of drifting, missed opportunities, and invisible ceilings. So take a moment to reflect: what are you truly...
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Creating a Career Vision When You Don't Know What's Possible - MAC102
Managing A Career
We've recently gone through a reorganization at my job, and with that change, I now have several new team members reporting to me. In my one-on-one meetings, I like to focus on more than just status updates—I emphasize career development. One of the tools I’ve consistently found to be effective is the Individual Development Plan, or IDP. If you’ve been following this podcast, you may remember Episode 37 () where I broke down the Vision and Roadmap section of the IDP. It’s a framework I believe in deeply. But here’s the thing: many of my new team members are struggling with...
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Leadership Isn't Assigned -- It's Taken - MAC101
Managing A Career
“Being a leader isn't an assignment that is given to you, but an assignment that you TAKE.” Let that sink in. Leadership isn’t about waiting for permission. It’s about stepping up when others step back. In today's episode of the Managing A Career podcast, we’re diving deep into what it really means to TAKE leadership. Anyone can be a leader—because leadership is a quality you demonstrate, not a job title you hold. Sure, some roles come with authority baked in, but real leaders don’t wait for the title. They lead because they choose to. If you have ambitions to advance...
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Grow Your Team, Grow Your Self - MAC100
Managing A Career
There’s a common misconception the corporate world: to get ahead, someone else has to fall behind. It’s the old zero-sum thinking — that career advancement is a competitive, cutthroat race. But today, I want to challenge that notion. Whether you're managing a team or just stepping into a leadership role, the truth is that investing in the growth of others doesn’t slow you down — it accelerates your own career trajectory. Helping others succeed is one of the most powerful, and often underestimated, ways to grow yourself. This zero-sum outlook is rooted in fear and...
info_outlineThroughout our careers, we observe others around us getting ahead by various means. Some people do so by putting other people down in order to make themselves look better whereas others do so by lifting those around them up. You may have even used these techniques yourself. The secret? Both approaches can work, but only one is sustainable for the long term. Let's take a look at the longer term impact of each.
Whether intentionally or not, some people will try to advance their careers by pushing those around them down. These people will steal credit from other. They will undermine the success of those around them. And they will secretly work to cause a rift in the team in order to distract others from their actions.
If the organization is driven by visibility, someone trying to look superior will take credit for the work that their team does or reframe what was done in such a way that they steal credit for things that they had minimal impact on.
If they are not confident in the quality of their work, they may spread gossip in order to cause stronger team members to be viewed as incompetent or even to be excluded from key efforts. Beyond rumors, they may "forget" to include them in important decisions or purposefully withhold or delay support in order for their targets to struggle or fail.
People who operate in this mode are operating from a position of fear -- fear for their job, fear for being found to be "less than", or just fear that there are limited opportunities for success and that they will be left behind.
Sadly, this can be an effective strategy……at least in the short term. If someone can implement their plan before others catch on, they can achieve the promotion they desire. But, eventually that catches up to them. Their team will stop supporting them and their leaders will eventually see the pattern. That early success eventually stalls out.
If you find yourself to be a target of someone who is trying to get ahead by pushing you down, how should you react?
Start by proactively reporting your status to your leaders. If the person putting you down IS your leader, then report your status to project sponsors and your skip level leader. Review Episode 044 (https://www.managingacareer.com/44) for more information on reporting status.
Next, build relationships with those that will ultimately be deciding who advances. If you build a relationship with your skip level leader as well as cross-functional teams, it will be harder for someone to misrepresent your work because they will have first-hand knowledge of what you bring to the team. Additionally, grow your network as covered in Episode 029 (https://www.managingacareer.com/29) and build a cheering section as covered in Episode 052 (https://www.managingacareer.com/52). The more people you have on your side, the harder it is for someone to attack you.
It may be tempting to try to "fight fire with fire", but by stooping to their level, you run the risk of being the one viewed as being the problem, just strengthening their approach. Instead, turn their actions against them. When they steal credit that you deserve, remember, they are only stealing credit that they see as valuable. Leverage that by following up with your leaders to add additional context and provide evidence of your bigger role in the work. Doing so in a matter-of-fact manner will show them that you bring more value to the team.
The other approach is to lift those around you up. Where the first strategy is about stealing credit, when you lift people up, you freely give credit where it is due…..and sometimes even give credit away. When those around you are struggling, you offer to mentor them. You offer support for good ideas, even when they aren't your own.
The driver for this approach is not fear, but in being strategically generous. Lifting others up builds trust and leads to a reputation of being someone who makes a team better. Additionally, you build allies and advocates. This investment in people will pay off in the future when those that you've supported gain positions of authority and power. And when your position advances, they'll follow you willingly.
Lifting others up is a much slower play, but it is much more sustainable in the long run. Each person you lift up becomes an advocate for you when it's your turn. And over time, this can lead to more and more supporters. As a side benefit, these same people that are helping you advance will also provide a level of protection from those that look to push you down.
If you find that someone else is lifting you up, first, accept it and then reflect it back to them. When they bring attention to your work, offer a response along the lines of "Thank you! A big reason that I was able to be successful on this project was because of all that I've learned working with [Joe]". This not only helps your visibility based on the credit, it will also strengthen your alliance with the person who is sharing the spotlight.
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