Your manager is your most important variable

Your manager is the most important variable in the environment, because a great manager who is empathetic, who is aware of what's going on, who is a great communicator, has the ability to move the chess pieces around and to fix some of these for you either immediately or in time.

You need someone to see the magic in you to be promoted. There is many of your listeners who have that magic but maybe have a manager or a promotion team, it doesn't always have to be the manager itself, who doesn't see said magic. And in that case, if you have the magic, you're in a bad setting and you just need to change.

Very few people go and ask their manager, 'What can I do to help you? What do you need?' And so just asking sets you apart.

Nobody wants you to be more awesome than your manager does, because when you're amazing, your manager, his life gets easier, her life gets easier.