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Youve put in the hours, delivered results, and earned the respect of your peers. But when it comes to moving up, the biggest obstacle isnt performance or policyits your boss. Managers often hold disproportionate power over career mobility. Research shows they can become the gatekeepers who decide who advances and who stalls. Gallup finds managers account for up to 70% of the variance in engagement, and half of employees say they left a job to escape their manager. Add to that the fact that companies fail to pick the right person for the job 82% of the time, and its clear why bad bosses cost organizations billions in lost productivity, stalled growth, and attrition. Take Tiffany, a senior director at a global consumer goods company. After years of strong performance, she was eager to step into a vice president role. Her track record spoke for itself: She built high-performing teams, led revenue-driving initiatives, and earned praise across the organization. Yet, every time a new opportunity surfaced, her boss deflected it. We still need you here. Lets revisit this next year. Tiffany realized she had to look beyond her immediate manager to advance. Weve seen this scenario repeatedly (Jenny as an executive advisor and learning and development expert, and Kathryn as an executive coach and keynote speaker). When your boss is blocking your promotion, its tempting to see it as a dead end. But you have more agency than you think. These six strategies can help you shift the dynamic, expand your influence, and chart a path forwardwhether inside your current organization or beyond it. 1. Become Non-Essential by Building Succession One of the most common reasons managers stall promotions is that they cant imagine losing their top performer. Managers often block promotions to avoid weakening their own team. To overcome this, flip the script by making yourself replaceable, not immediately, but by showing that youre developing others who can take on parts of your role. Build a succession bench, delegate stretch assignments, and document processes so your leader can envision someone succeeding you without disruption. Ask yourself: Who could step into my role tomorrow if I left? What does my boss rely on me for, and who can support them once I am promoted? How am I preparing others on my team to thrive without me? What knowledge or processes should I document to make my absence less disruptive? When Tiffanys boss argued that she couldnt move up until she scaled her impact here, she built a succession planning matrix mapping her key responsibilities against potential successors, with a development plan for each. The point wasnt that she could leave tomorrow with a perfect replacement, but that she had a structured approach to grow leaders behind her, removing one of the most common excuses managers use to stall promotions. 2. Build Allies and Sponsors Beyond Your Manager McKinsey highlights how those outside the managers circle of trusted lieutenants” are often excluded from promotion. You cant depend solely on your manager. Promotions often depend as much on organizational politics as on performance. Start by identifying five to seven decision-makers and influencers who may shape your promotion. Conduct a reputation audit to learn how they perceive your impact. Ask: What three words best describe me when you think about my work? Where do you see me adding the most value to the organization? If you were advising me on career advancement, what should I work on next? A common mistake is relying only on mentors. You also need sponsors who will advocate for you in closed-door conversations. Research shows sponsorship accelerates mobility, particularly for women and underrepresented groups. Tiffany realized that while her boss was hesitant, other senior leaders already valued her contributions. By mapping her own Career Board of Directors, she identified mentors, sponsors, peers, and even high-potential juniors who could amplify her influence. This broader network helped her case reach beyond the approval of one person. 3. Reframe Success as Shared Success Some managers resist elevating talent because they feel overshadowed. Research found managers sometimes sabotage talented employees to protect their own job security, status, or to minimize competition. To reduce this perceived threat, make your success their success. Shift the narrative. Frame wins as team wins. Recognize your managers role when presenting in senior meetings and show how your advancement reflects their leadership. As Ralph Nader once said, The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Tiffany began reframing her language. Instead of saying, I drove a digital transformation, she positioned it as Our team delivered this milestone with my managers guidance. That subtle shift improved her relationship with her boss. Reflection questions: How can I position my progress as a reflection of my managers leadership? What opportunities exist to spotlight shared wins rather than individual wins? 4. Demonstrate Leadership Beyond Your Role Promotions signalreadiness for a broader scope, not just excellence in your current job. Step into enterprise-level priorities such as cross-functional projects, task forces, or initiatives that align with executive goals. Visibility beyond your department shows youre already operating at the next level. Tiffany used the Promotability Index self-assessment to identify growth opportunities across the five dimensions: self-awareness, external awareness, strategic thinking, executive presence, and thought leadership. She then led a high-visibility, cross-functional digital transformation task force directly aligned with executive priorities. The initiative stretched her skills and reframed how senior leaders perceived her readiness. 5. Take Charge of Your Own Development Many managers arent proactive in developing direct reports. Waiting for them to chart your path can stall your growth. Own your career development: Seek out stretch assignments, request targeted feedback, and invest in your own learning. Signal your commitment to continual growth rather than relying on your managers bandwidth or interest. Tiffany knew she couldnt count on her boss to sponsor her development. She pursued external executive education, engaged mentors, and worked with an executive coach who facilitated a 360-feedback process to uncover blind spots. That proactive approach made her growth undeniable and less dependent on her managers discretion. As Wayne Gretzky said, You miss 100% of the shots you dont take. 6. Know When Its Time to Move On Despite your best efforts, some managers will remain blockers. If the system consistently denies your advancement, evaluate whether its time to move elsewhere. A lateral move inside the organization or an external opportunity can reignite your trajectory. Dont mistake loyalty for strategy. Sometimes the fastest route up is out. For Tiffany, the turning point came when she realized her bosss reluctance wasnt temporary. Even with succession planning, sponsorship, and expanded visibility, he continued to defer her advancement. Armed with a clear development plan and strong enterprise-wide relationships, she began exploring external options. When a VP role opened at a competitor, her preparation gave her the confidence and the credibility to step in and succeed. When your boss blocks your promotion, it can feel personal and permanent. In reality, its often about perception, politics, or structural gaps rather than your ability. By preparing successors, cultivating sponsors, reframing wins, demonstrating enterprise leadership, investing in your own growth, andwhen necessarymaking the hard choice to move on, you expand your options and reclaim your agency. As weve seen in our work with executives across industries, a blocked path doesnt have to be the end of the road. With the right strategy, it can be the beginning of a new one.
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E-Commerce
Handmade punch cards are trending on TikTok as a cute, visual way to track 2026 goals. Modeled after the punch cards that will secure you a free coffee or sandwich after showing loyalty to one café or another, theyre meant to instead get punched, stamped, or checked off, one square at a time, whenever you make progress on your goals, whether thats staying consistent at the gym, completing a no-spend weekend, or paying down debt. Todays New Years Eve, and I made these little punch cards this morning of goals I have for myself starting this new year, TikTok user @camiunderthesea said in a video showing off her deck of cards. The first one is to read five books. Ive been trying to get into reading more, and I just cant do it, so hopefully this will motivate me. She continued: The way it works, if I read a book, I punch it out. When I have all five, I get a treat. Another TikTok user, @aleegatorrr, set herself the goals of going on 12 hikes this year, a date night once a month, and baking eight new recipes. This isnt a new trend; it first surfaced in early 2025. But it has once again been embraced as a way to visually track goals and turn vague resolutions like go to the gym or stop doomscrolling into measurable habits. One week into 2026, and there are more than 200 videos under the hashtag #2026punchcards. There are a few tutorials online, but the process is simple enough: All it takes is a few index or blank business cards, markers, and a hole punch. Make a list of some obtainable goals for the year. With a marker, title each card with a goal and draw as many punch spots as you hope to achieve. Add rewards across the bottom and jazz up the cards with borders and/or illustrations. Punch a small hole in the top-left corner and tie them all together with a ribbon to keep them close at hand as you successfully check off your goals throughout the year. You may not get a free cappuccino. But you might actually make it to the gym three times a week.
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E-Commerce
The beginning of a new year ushers in an ominous day in the NFL: Black Monday, the day when coaches are (typically) most at risk of losing their jobs. Black Monday happens the day after the regular season ends, a time when an especially harsh backward review is cast over the wins, losses, and total misses. The casualty list includes Raheem Morris, who lost his job with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, January 4; Kevin Stefanski, Pete Carroll, and Jonathan Gannon, each fired on Black Monday, January 5, by the Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, and Arizona Cardinals, respectively; John Harbaugh, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday, January 6; and Mike McDaniel, whose dismissal from the Miami Dolphins was announced Thursday, January 8. In the NFL and other sports leagues, performance metrics could not be more clear-cut and public. So if coaches arent wracking up enough W’s, isnt it just radical accountability to let those who arent performing go? And could the business world learn anything from this? “High-visibility performance management” That kind of slice em and dice em mentality doesnt offer a model of accountability to the traditional work environment outside the sports world, Mario Avila, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Management at Vanderbilt University, tells Fast Company.But it does offer a model of high-visibility performance management that may well serve the upper echelons of corporate America. Conceptualizing performance in the NFL in this way is possible because all eyes are on the field as the game unfolds. And while these KPIs are powerful, and having clear performance indicators are powerful and important, the difference between the NFL and a traditional business is in the corporate sector, Avila also said, where accountability functions differently. A football coach has to consider injuries, rosters, and the patience of ownersfactors that dont cross the mind of a CEO. Therefore, Avila added, accountability is very different. But that doesnt mean corporate leaders cant take from the NFL and Black Monday. The top of the list includes clarity and feedback loops, he explains. Theres a significant amount of clarity of what the KPIs are in a game, and they provide instant feedback loops: are you winning or losing? Are you hitting the right numbers or are the expectations being met? Its highly visible, youre in front of millions of viewers, on display every weekend. A manager at a desk job may not be conducting on-field warfare against 53 opponents, but those same loops persist; after all, most work is about hitting goals and, ultimately, winning. More teamwork lessons than accountability ones Football also offers a lot of lessons about leadership and teamwork, something thats baked into the backbone of the sport, Stephen Master, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Marketing at New York Universitys Stern School of Business tells Fast Company. Sports are about teamwork: its about everyone contributing what they can, and its about culture. Just like in a traditional office environment, if theres someone who is giving off a negative vibe and is a cancer in the locker room, and theyre just not a good teammate thats the same thing you can risk in corporate America, where someone is really only interested in their own achievements and their own personal growth goals. If leadership has incentivized the work experiencefootball players get trophies, corporate workers get bonuses, perhapsthose incentives should be also tied to company performance or division performance, and thats the same thing in any sport, but especially in football, he added. As Master put it, a quarterback on any given team can be the best in the world, but if his offensive line isnt doing their job, the team isnt going to win. The real takeaway If there is one thing corporate leaders should avoid emulating, its the NFLs culture of disposable leadership, which is detrimental to the long-term success of a business, Avila says. Bringing people into an environment where easy firings and mass layoffs run rampantwhere a bad start can cost you your job after barely two seasons on the fieldisnt something businesses should mimic if there are concerns about company morale. Conversations that intersect the NFL and corporate America also raise questions of long-term results vs. short-term gains, Dae Hee Kwak, Graduate Program Director and Associate of Sport Management at the University of Michigan explains to Fast Company. The NFL is built for a 17-week sprint, while a healthy business is built for a 50-year marathon. If you apply NFL logic to a marathon, youll never have enough runners left to finish the race. An environment steeped in fear will do little to encourage those marathon runnersor, perhaps, football coachesto approach their jobs fearlessly, Avila agrees. Incentives about winning now reduce long-term capability building, he said. But when we look at some of our organizations across the country that are the most successful short-term incentives and winning now [mentalities] really distort the behavior. Fear crowds out learning, he continued. Because people are going to start to protect themselves instead of experimenting. Success is built on risk, and you want your people in business to take risk. If you make the environment safe, people will take more risks. If they fear that theyre going to get fired, they will be less willing to take risks, which leads to a decrease in innovation, and a decrease in growth. As endless newspaper and website pages are filled with stories of mass layoffs, perhaps one of the more salient lessons from the NFL is exactly Avilas point: to succeed, workersall workersneed to be encouraged to try something new, and maybe even fail, before they can rise. Radical accountability might be a mainstay in the NFL, but that doesnt mean it truly can be applied to other work environmentsor that it should even be considered. If long-term success is the objective, it likely behooves corporate leaders to let the football coaches do their thingwhile they do their own.
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E-Commerce
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