The Promotion Starts Before the Promotion

Most people think of a promotion as a moment whether it’s a conversation, a decision or an announcement. Something that happens at a specific point in time - when the role opens, when you finally raise your hand, when your name comes up in a meeting you’re not in.

But here's what I've watched happen with nearly every client I've worked with who got promoted: by the time the formal decision was made, it wasn't really a decision at all. It was a confirmation. A formality, if you will. The real work had happened months earlier - quietly, incrementally, in moments they sometimes didn't even notice they were in. The promotion had already been won. They just hadn't been told yet.

And on the flip side the people who got passed over weren't any less talented or hardworking. They were just operating on the wrong timeline. Waiting for the moment instead of building toward it. Focused on the conversation instead of the reputation that conversation would draw from.

The promotion isn't won in the performance review. It's won in the six months before anyone knew a role was opening.

This month I’ve been talking about trust and reputation - what builds them, what quietly erodes them, and what gets in the way of the talented, driven people who deserve to move forward but somehow keep getting stuck. And I want to bring it all together today, because I think there's a single frame that ties everything we've covered into something actionable.

Promotions are not awarded for past performance. They're awarded based on future trust. 

The question leadership is actually asking, even if they'd never say it this way, is, "Do I already believe that you are capable of the next level?" And the answer to that question was formed long before the conversation started. It was formed in the small moments, in the patterns, in the story that's been building about who you are and where you're going.

That story is built from five things. And this month, we covered all of them. What builds the promotion before the promotion:

1. The reputation you've built in small moments

Not in big presentations but in how you responded to feedback on a Tuesday, how you handled the thing that went wrong and  whether you followed up when no one was tracking it.

2. The trust you've earned by being more than reliable

Reliable keeps you where you are. Trusted moves you forward. The difference is whether people know your judgment, not just your output.

3. The visibility you've created for your thinking

Work that no one knows about is invisible work. Self-narration isn't self-promotion, it's making sure your contributions, your reasoning, and your trajectory are conveyed appropriately to the people who matter.

4. The assumptions you've corrected before they hardened

Wrong assumptions form fast and update slowly. The gap between who you are and what people believe about you is a career problem which is yours to close, because no one else will.

5. The story people tell about you when you're not there

You're not in the room when it's told which means the version of you that exists in those conversations was built entirely by what you've done, said, and signaled over time. That's the version of you that either gets promoted or doesn't, not the version of you you have in your head.

None of this is groundbreaking when you lay it out like this. But here's what is: most high performers aren't doing it. Not because you can't, but because nobody ever told you it was part of the job. You, like me, were told to work hard, deliver results, and wait your turn. And we did. A lot, if not most, of you are still waiting.

The shift isn't about working more. It's about working with a different awareness - knowing that the meeting after the meeting matters, that the two-line follow-up email is building something, that the moment you speak up instead of staying quiet is a small brick in a reputation that either opens doors or doesn't.

You don't build a promotion-worthy reputation in one big moment. You build it in a hundred small ones you almost didn't think counted.

So here's what I want to leave you with as we close out June. Think about where you are right now - not in your job, but in the story being told about you. If your manager sat down with your skip today and your name came up, what would be said? What reputation are you in the middle of building and is it the one that leads where you want to go?

If the answer is a clear and confident yes, keep going. You're already doing the work. If there's hesitation, if you're not entirely sure what story is being told, or if you suspect it might not be the right one, that's not a crisis. It's just information and information is where the work starts.

Coming in July

I've spent June building the foundation: reputation, trust, visibility, the story people tell about you. In July, we go one level deeper. Because there's a difference between being seen as capable and being seen as someone who thinks like a leader. Next month is about how promoted people think differently. The mindset shifts, the habits and the way they show up in rooms and conversations that sets them apart before any title changes. Stay tuned, and if you know of someone who needs to read these, please forward along.

In the meantime, reply and tell me: what's the one thing from this month that landed hardest for you? I genuinely want to know what's been moving the needle.