Nikhyl Singhal: belief

Transcript context

…Mm-hmm. So this is not as present in hypergrowth because the next role always did exist. There was always growth, there was always hiring, you're always hiring people above you, below you, et cetera. Now, I think there's lots of examples of people who are really qualified and working at the next level, but the job doesn't exist. So you can't really create that job and ask them to be working at that next job if their position is mostly the previous one. Again, I feel like it's not that satisfying because it means you're still being held back, but it's radically different than if you're unqualified. These two are sort of more, the system is not in a position to advocate. The third is when you are being impatient. And I think the hardest ones that I think I've worked with is, the highest performers have succeeded because they have set their goals to be more aggressive than what was essentially average achievable. By default, we expect you to be two years in this role. They're like, "Great, I'll see you in a year." And then they get frustrated when they can't do that, and leadership takes longer to absorb. It's more soft skills, it's more subtle. Oftentimes it's based on impact, which is a lot of times lagging, and that tends to be frustrating. So if listeners are like, "I know I'm used to being promoted annually and now I'm a leader and I'm not moving as quickly, it's time for me to go," I'm like, well, maybe that's working as intended. So impatience is a number three. And then the fourth one I think is about 50% of the cases where it's really, there is a development area but it isn't quite connected to the individual. The listener has a development area, it's substantive. The manager is poor at identifying it, perhaps even doesn't see it, but the promotion committee does, the individual refuses to hear it, which is a very common one. Or they hear it and they just don't want to change it. And they don't do it because they're arrogant, they do it because it's like, "This is who I am. You want me to be X and I'm Y, and that's what a Y is and I don't want to be X." This is the hardest one because this is where coaching and development and self-awareness come in. Amazing. This super resonates. So just to summarize the four reasons you may not be getting promoted: One is, there's no advocate that sees your magic and understands that you're awesome. Two is, there's no actual role that's available and so there's nothing to get promoted to. And that's so true right now, there's just not. Everyone's laying people off, they're getting rid of manager layers. I totally see that all over the place. Three is, you're probably just not being patient. Four, you actually have some work to do and you shouldn't be promoted. Maybe to follow a thread on that first one, if someone doesn't see your magic, I see a lot of people just complaining that like, "Oh, I'm doing so well, I'm so great and nobody understands it. No one gives me credit. No one really appreciates me." I don't know if there is an answer to this, but is there a way to help people see that no, you're actually not doing great versus you are and people just don't see it? What's a sign maybe? Maybe you're not as great as you think you might be.…

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