A lovely article by @thewokesalaryman as always!! 🙆‍♀

I see this a lot in my clients actually - them striving to not be like their bosses (or parents as well for that matter).

We can always break the cycle - it's a choice 💪

https://thewokesalaryman.substack.com/p/lessons-ex-bosses

Effective influencing does not simply come from delivering a great presentation. Your ability to influence is shaped by what you do long before stepping into any meeting room.

Specifically, this boils down to three key questions:

1) "How much credibility do I have? What is my reputation? Does my track record help with or detract from my actual spiel?"

2) "How consistent have I been in my messaging? Am I selective and focused? Am I telling the same story over time?"

3) "Have I sought out the right champions? Do I have allies in the room? Have I consulted the right people beforehand?"

None of these things can be manufactured on the spot. They all take time and effort, way before any meeting is even on calendar.

And they always make a huge difference.

- Herng Lee

There is an enormous difference between working hard on something that is a grind and working hard on something that comes easily to you.

Exceptional results almost exclusively happen when you work hard on an area where you have some natural aptitude.

Play to your strengths.

- James Clear

If you're feeling stuck (even though you're smart, experienced, and performing well), there's a reason:

You're not stuck because you're underperforming.

You're stuck because your strategy no longer works at this level.

Most high performers eventually hit a wall where the old playbook stops working.

But instead of changing the strategy, they start refined thrashing:

Another certification

→ A department switch

→ Updating the résumé again

→ Taking everyone's advice

→ Hoping something finally clicks

Here's the hard truth:

If your strategy is dead, no amount of optimization will bring it back to life.

What got you here won't get you there.

Because the next level doesn't require more.

It requires different.

You need a better vehicle-one that aligns with:

🔥Where the market is going

🔥 What decision-makers actually reward

🔥 The kind of work that energizes you

Top performers don't just climb.

They fast-track the right outcome.

- Misha Rubin

Some reminders from The Woke Salaryman as the work week starts on how to be visible at work without being cringe!

Having worked at Google previously where visibility is so key to things such as performance evaluations and promotions, I saw how our culture of keeping our head down,woke doing the work and expecting people to notice it just does not cut it.

I think this topic is very much needed and glad they covered it :)

Key points from TWS here but check out their link below for the full version -

1️⃣ Focus on being competent first

2️⃣ Uplift others as a way to uplift yourself

3️⃣ Be mindful of context - not all situations are opportunities to be visible

https://thewokesalaryman.substack.com/p/visible-at-work

Another great post by The Woke Salaryman on identifying whether one is stuck in a dead end job!! 💪

This is my fave snaps of the article but do check out the full one :)

https://thewokesalaryman.substack.com/p/dead-end-job

The career strategy that has worked phenomally for me since I discovered it (maybe from Victor Cheng) is actually very simple conceptually.

It just needs to be executed consistently and diligently -

1) Knowing what I am really good at.

2) Knowing what I am weak at.

3) Designing my career such thay 1) is incredibly valued and 2) is not very relevant.

This also helps to maximize the effort to ROI ratio.

Hopefully its helpful for those who are in the midst of their career discovery 🙆‍♀💪

Most high achievers don’t lose their boundaries.

They give them away one "yes" at a time.

We say yes to be helpful. To be liked. To be seen as a team player.

But over time, our days become ruled by other people’s priorities — and our own performance suffers.

What separates executives from everyone else isn’t that they work more. It’s that they protect the space to work on the right things.

Boundaries are how they do it.

And the first step in setting boundaries isn’t saying no. It’s getting clear on what makes you effective in the first place.

💭Reflection - Take a minute to audit your approach:

✅ I know when I do my best work

✅ I’ve named 1–2 “non-negotiables”

✅ I’ve clearly communicated how I work best

✅ I hold the line, even when it’s uncomfortable

✅ I revisit and evolve my boundaries as I grow

Boundaries won’t hurt your career. They’ll help it grow.

They show that you know how to lead yourself and protect what makes you effective.

💭So here’s your challenge:

Pick one boundary to set this week.

Practice it. Communicate it. Hold it.

And see what happens when you stop letting your schedule run you and start leading your time like an executive.

- Maya Grossman

Sharing this helpful guide that I saw on LinkedIn!! :)

Prompts that you can use to practice interview questions, negotiations and more 💪

Also sharing some of my follow up thoughts given how prevalent AI use cases are in the interview process nowadays 💪

School is predictable; careers aren't.

In school, success means mastering defined tasks with clear guidelines assignments, exams, rubrics.

But the higher you go in your career, the less structure you'll find.

Your job stops being "Do X by Y deadline" and becomes "Figure out what actually matters, then do it."

This doesn't mean academic skills are useless. Being good at it's often the structured tasks helps early in your career foundation that gets you hired.

But as you advance, those skills aren't enough.

Nobody gives senior roles step-by-step instructions.

The higher up you go, the more your job is to decide which problems deserve solving at all.

To adapt, you have to:

1⃣ Shift from execution to judgment: Early careers reward doing what's assigned; senior careers reward figuring out what should even be assigned.

2⃣ Get comfortable making decisions with incomplete information: There's rarely a perfect rubric or right answer in senior roles.

3⃣ Build tolerance for ambiguity: If a project has clear instructions, someone junior can handle it. Senior roles deal with unclear instructions.

- Rohan Mahtani

Some reminders before the work week starts again tomorrow 💫

Everyone at the top has technical skill.

As we get promoted, our skill with people is what matters most.

At the top, leaders rarely fail because they can't do the work.

They fail because they are not able to adapt their behavior to fit the needs of their expanding role.

The higher you go, the smaller your mistakes need to be to cause big problems.

That's why great leaders never stop working on themselves.

As someone once said, 'What Got You Here Won't Get You There'.

-Marshall Goldsmith

When we climb higher, the winds become stronger.

It is not a problem of behaviour, but a reminder to strengthen our inner stability.

- Ramesh Kumar