The Unwritten Rules of Work
Every workplace runs on two systems. The official one, and the one nobody tells you about.
Why this works
Most career advice covers the first system: targets, performance reviews, job descriptions. But the reason someone else gets promoted usually isn't about any of those. It's about the second system: the one nobody puts in an onboarding doc. Once you see it, the gap between good work and recognised work closes fast.
What you'll learn
- Why good work alone rarely gets you promoted
- How to read who really holds influence, whatever the org chart says
- The reframe that makes asking for things less awkward
- Why "do I deserve this?" is the wrong question
- How to make it easy for decision-makers to say yes
- What curiosity looks like as a career strategy
There's a Second System at Play
Doing good work is necessary, but not sufficient.
You hit your targets, did the work, showed up on time. The person who did less got promoted first. That sting isn't about them. It's the moment you realised there's a second system at play. This reel is the opening reframe: every workplace runs on two systems, and you've only been taught to play one of them.
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The Unwritten Rules of Work
The visible system is KPIs. The invisible one is everything else.
Every workplace runs on two systems. The first is visible: KPIs, performance reviews, job descriptions. The second is invisible: who gets heard in meetings, who gets pulled into the important projects, who gets trusted with the ambiguous problems. Most people only find out about the second system after they've been passed over for something they thought they'd earned. The fix isn't self-promotion. It's curiosity about what's valued, not just what's measured.
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Reading the Room at Work
Influence rarely sits where the title says.
Once you know there's a second system, the next question is who actually runs it. Funnily enough, it's rarely the person with the biggest title. Most decisions aren't made in the meeting - they're made in a hallway you weren't standing in, by the people everyone quietly checks with first. The org chart is the map they hand you on day 1. The real map is who people listen to, and you can't pitch your way onto it. You earn it one reliable answer at a time, because reliability compounds and confidence doesn't. This carousel shows you how to read that map, then gives you a 1-week check to see how close your guess is.
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How to Ask for What You Want at Work
Good work doesn't speak for itself.
The people who get what they want at work aren't more talented or more deserving. They're just willing to have the conversation. The reframe that changes things: stop asking "do I deserve this?" and start asking "have I made it easy for them to say yes?" One is about worth. The other is about strategy. And strategy is learnable. Your manager is tracking ten other priorities. They're not reading your mind about what you want. Make it visible, make it easy.
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Want the whole Job Journey map?
From landing the first role to thriving inside one, the full pillar covers every step. This guide is only the start of the "thriving" half.