Passed over for promotion: when skill is not the issue.
Being passed over for promotion does not always mean your work fell short. In the author's review, the system worked and every result was documented. However, the department wanted the process of feeling consulted, so the ceiling was made of social expectations, not skill.
The review that never looked at the dashboard.
The system the author built ran cleanly, week after week, and he had documented all of it. Yet his supervisor never opened the dashboard or the delivery numbers. Instead, he praised the technical execution as exceptional. Then he paused and searched for the softest way to say the rest. As a result, the meeting was never really about the pipeline.
When being passed over for promotion is about wiring.
The supervisor said the author went around informal committee discussions, even when his answer was better. So he skipped the rhythm people expected. The institution wanted consensus, pacing and the visible performance of being asked. Therefore the ceiling was not made of output, judgement or effort. It was a mismatch in wiring, because they measured his willingness to perform, not what he built.
A reasonable person in a small room.
Nobody shouted, and nobody was unfair. In fact, the man across the table was kind and correct about the building. That is what a ceiling looks like from underneath, not a wall. The author walked out certain he wanted to build something of his own. However, he cannot prove those two things were unrelated. So if you were passed over for promotion, ask when you first wanted out.
What to do tonight if you were passed over for promotion.
Write down the exact week you first wanted out, and what happened that week.
List what your last review measured, then mark which items were skill and which were performance.
From the book.
Here is why that scene sits at the front of this chapter and not in a memoir. I told you in chapter 1 that nothing dramatic ever happened to me in that job, and that was true. This was the thing that wasn't dramatic. Nobody shouted. Nobody was unfair. The man across the table was as kind as the situation allowed him to be, and he was also, in every particular, correct about the building. That is what a ceiling looks like from underneath. Not a wall. A reasonable person, in a small room, explaining the rules of a game in a tone that suggests you should already have known them, and being slightly sorry that you did not.
I Want to Start a Business but I Can't Quit My Job, chapter 5: Stuck is not the same as ready
Questions about passed over for promotion.
Does being passed over for promotion mean my work is weak?
Not necessarily. In the author's case the technical execution was called exceptional, but the department measured willingness to perform consensus.
Should I argue with the review?
The author did not argue, because he understood the pipeline was never the topic. He finished the job and then left.
Is my wish to start a business caused by the review?
You cannot prove it either way, and neither could the author. So check what happened the week you first wanted out.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 5, “Stuck is not the same as ready”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Passed over for promotion: when skill is not the issue.
- 02 Opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship: why it broke.
- 03 Test the job market: apply for three jobs.
- 04 Blocked mobility entrepreneurship: the three doors.
- 05 Why do employees really quit: the shock that starts it.
- 06 Nietzsche on work: the best policeman.
- 07 Immigrant self employment: the price of a shut door.
- 08 Running away from your job: does it disqualify you.