Until It is Too Late
Chantel did everything right. Strong performance. Solid relationships. The skills for the leadership role she wanted. So when her boss walked into her office with that look, she already knew. She didn’t get the promotion.
His explanation was direct. “You’re highly qualified,” he said. “But you don’t have enough visibility. People don’t really know you well enough yet.” That sentence stings. Not because it’s unfair, but because she knew it was true.
What Chantel ran into wasn’t a capability issue. It was a confidence issue. The confidence to let others see her as a leader.
When she came to see me, we talked about how advancement works in organizations. Not just doing good work but being seen doing it. Not self-promotion, but presence. She understood that immediately. What she struggled with was how to step forward without feeling awkward, performative, or as if she were playing a role that didn’t fit.
I see this constantly.
Most of the people I work with are deeply capable. They lead teams, solve hard problems, and carry responsibility. And yet, when it comes time to move into a bigger role or make a transition, they hesitate. Not because they lack skill or experience, but because they haven’t developed a clear way to talk about what they’ve done and how they’ve grown.
Last week, Callum Borchers wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal encouraging people to start “tooting their own horn” at work. His point was practical. If you don’t keep track of your accomplishments, no one else will. He suggests creating a “brag book,” something you keep for yourself and occasionally share with your manager.
I’d frame it a little differently.
This isn’t about bragging. It’s about ownership. Owning your accomplishments. Owning your judgment. Owning the impact you’ve had and letting others know about it.
Most careers are evaluated through numbers. Revenue generated. Costs saved. Projects delivered. Those matter. But they don’t tell the whole story.
The moments that shape your career, however, are usually qualitative, and if you think about how you view others in your organization, it is probably not that she saved us a ton of money, but that she knew how to talk to that customer so they didn’t cancel their contract.
We talk about how someone handled a difficult conversation or took on something they didn’t know how to do. Perhaps it was a subordinate who learned how to make their decisions more quickly. These kinds of competencies are the hidden gems of our work life. We have to polish them so they are seen by all.
I had a good year in 2025 from a business perspective. Made some impact with our corporate clients with the Strategy Driven Leadership program, helped several leaders through some big work challenges, and exceeded my revenue targets. When I reviewed this last year, recently, one of the accomplishments I was proudest of had nothing to do with business outputs. I created a video with my good friend, Christine Gautreaux, MSW in memory of my brother-in-law, Miles Smith, a nationally recognized potter. It required learning new tools, thinking creatively, and trusting my instincts. It stretched me. I’ve shared Miles’ How to Be A Potter with others, and of course, it was at his memorial service in his studio. The video mattered, and I especially loved the last few minutes (starting at 36:50.)
What makes me smile is that this idea about recording these kinds of accomplishments isn’t new. Almost forty years ago, as a graduate student, I co-authored an article on what we called a Student Development Transcript. The idea was simple. Don’t just record grades. Record growth. Skills developed. Leadership taken. Lessons learned outside the classroom. Students used it to talk about themselves with clarity and confidence, and I realized I’ve been doing this work for a long time.
Same idea. Different stage of life.
In my work with professionals and leaders today, one of the biggest challenges is memory. Over the course of a year, people forget what they’ve done. Managers forget too. Recency bias takes over. Last week crowds out last fall. What have you done for me lately?
A simple practice helps.
Create a shared, career-facing record of your work. Not a diary. Not a résumé. A living document that makes your contributions visible over time.
· This might include short quarterly self-reviews you reference with your manager.
· A running list of key projects, decisions, and lessons learned.
· Brief reflections at the end of meaningful work. What you handled. What stretched you? What changed because you were involved?
· A “wins and lessons” document you update monthly and bring into performance conversations.
The goal isn’t bragging or gloating. It’s reality. Most people rely on memory and momentum. Both fade. A shared record travels with you. It keeps your value visible long after the moment has passed.
Chantel started there.
She didn’t leave our conversation with a louder voice or a personal brand. She left with a clearer story. About her work. Her leadership. The impact she was already having. We mapped what she’d done well and how to talk about it in ways that felt natural to her and appropriate to her organization.
That matters, especially for women. Visibility can be complicated. Be too quiet, and you’re overlooked. Be too visible, and you’re judged differently. That’s a real dynamic, not a personal flaw.
The goal isn’t to be louder. It’s to be clearer.
Careers don’t stall because people lack talent. They stall because people don’t pause long enough to take stock, shape their narrative, and make their contributions visible in ways that fit who they are.
That’s especially true at inflection points. Moments when you’re no longer proving you can do the work, because you’ve already mastered it. The real question becomes how and where you want to take your career next.
You don’t need to overhaul your career. You may just need a clearer view of it, and so do others.
If you’re at a career inflection point and want a clearer way to think about what’s next, I’m a strategic advisor to successful people navigating challenging career and life transitions. Together, we’ll clarify how your skills, work values, and aspirations fit so you can see your path forward clearly.
If you’re ready for that kind of conversation, let’s talk. Coffee optional.
