Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How One Employee Got Promoted by Fixing Their Boss's Blind Spot
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a promotion pattern we haven't talked about yet, and I think it's one of the most underused moves in a corporate career: finding and fixing your boss's blind spot. Luna: Not the obvious stuff like 'my boss is bad at Excel' or 'they don't have time to read everything.' Something more specific? Lucas: Exactly. I'm thinking of a woman named Sarah — mid-level marketing manager at a Fortune 500 consumer goods company. Her VP, a capable executive, kept getting burned in quarterly reviews by the same two data points: churn among high-value accounts, and the cost to acquire a specific demographic. Not huge surprises — but the V.P. never had the numbers ready. Luna: So Sarah noticed a pattern of the boss being caught off guard. Lucas: Right. Most people in that situation do one of three things: they complain to peers, they assume the V.P. knows and just forgot, or they wait to be asked. Sarah did none of that. She built a two-page early-warning report. Pulled data from Salesforce and their CRM, added one forward-looking metric — projected churn for the next quarter based on current engagement flags — and started sending it to her V.P. every Monday morning before the team meeting. Luna: Just cold — unsolicited? Lucas: First email: 'Hey, I noticed we've been asked about these numbers in the last two reviews. I pulled together a simple snapshot that might help us stay ahead. No pressure to use it, but thought I'd share.' No drama, no 'you keep missing this.' Just a solve. Luna: That's smart framing. How did the VP react? Lucas: First week: no reply. Second week: 'Thanks, this is helpful.' Third week: the V.P. forwarded it to her own boss before the review. By month three, the report was a standing agenda item in the Monday huddle. Sarah never asked for credit — the report had her name in the footer, that was it. Luna: And the promotion? Lucas: Six months in, a director role opened up. The V.P. didn't open a search. She went to HR and said, 'I want Sarah.' The official reason was her strategic thinking. But the real reason was: Sarah made the V.P. look prepared. That's the blind spot fix — you solve a recurring pain your boss feels but hasn't articulated. Luna: So how do you spot a real blind spot versus something that's just a minor annoyance? Lucas: Three tests. One: does it come up repeatedly in meetings where your boss is being evaluated? Two: is there data or insight you can uniquely access or synthesize? Three: is the fix something you can prototype in a week, not a quarter? If yes, you've probably found a blind spot worth owning. Luna: I like the prototype constraint. Because if it takes months, you're building a system, not a signal. The key is low-friction. Lucas: Exactly. Sarah's first report took her four hours. She wasn't building a dashboard — she was pulling two tables into a Word doc with commentary. The bar is 'useful enough that it saves your boss ten minutes.' Not 'perfect.' Luna: What if the boss gets defensive? Some managers don't want to admit they have a gap. Lucas: That's why the framing matters. You don't say 'you're missing this.' You say 'I noticed this keeps coming up, so I took a stab at a quick reference.' It's about being helpful, not corrective. If the boss still shuts it down, that tells you something about the culture — and maybe it's time to find a different sponsor. Luna: So this tactic works best when you're in a role where you have access to data but not necessarily decision authority. That's a lot of mid-level people. Lucas: Exactly. It's a move for people who feel invisible. You can't demand a seat at the table — but you can hand someone at the table a piece of paper they didn't know they needed. Luna: Let's talk about the forward-looking metric Sarah added. That's the part that separates a report from a real insight. Lucas: Yes. Most internal reporting is backward-looking — here's what happened last month. Sarah added a simple projection: based on accounts that had dropped engagement by more than 20 percent in the past 30 days, she estimated how many would churn next quarter. That one number made the report strategic instead of administrative. Luna: So she turned data into a decision tool. Lucas: Right. And she didn't have to be a data scientist. She used a basic rule of thumb: if engagement drops by 20 percent, there's a 40 percent churn probability. Not precise, but directional. And it was better than anything the V.P. had before. Luna: What's the risk of doing this? Could it backfire? Lucas: Sure. If you're wrong repeatedly, you lose credibility. So you start small. Don't bet the farm on your first projection. Sarah tested her churn estimate against actual outcomes for two months before she included it. She also gave the V.P. an easy out: 'This is a rough cut, let me know if you want me to refine it.' Luna: There's also the risk of being seen as overstepping — like you're trying to do your boss's job. Lucas: That's a real concern, especially in more hierarchical orgs. The way around it is to position yourself as an assistant, not a competitor. 'I'm just trying to make your life easier.' That language works. Also, avoid sharing the report with anyone else until your boss starts sharing it themselves. Luna: So ownership without territoriality. Lucas: Exactly. Let your boss be the one who puts it in front of the C-suite. If it's good, they'll say 'my team put this together.' That's enough. Luna: I've seen a version of this work in reverse, too. An employee I know identified a blind spot in their skip-level — the boss's boss. They built a one-pager on a competitive threat the senior exec kept getting wrong. Same dynamic — low-friction, no blame, just useful. Lucas: That's even more delicate. But if you pull it off, it's a fast track. Because the skip-level becomes your sponsor. Luna: It's a podcast-worthy story in itself. But for today, the core lesson is: find the recurring pain your boss feels under evaluation, and build the smallest possible fix. Lucas: Which reminds me — we get a lot of listener questions about how to make a case for promotion when you're not in a high-visibility role. This approach doesn't require a big stage. It requires observation and a bit of initiative. Luna: And if you're listening and thinking, 'I have no idea what my boss's blind spots are,' start by paying attention to what they get asked in meetings that makes them pause or fumble. Lucas: Or what they complain about in one-on-ones — 'I wish I had a better handle on X.' That's an invitation. Luna: Speaking of invitations — if this show has helped you think about your career more clearly, or given you a concrete move to try, that's exactly why we do it. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these episodes ad-free and coming out every week. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small way to keep the conversation going without any corporate sponsorship. And we appreciate every bit of support. Luna: So back to the blind spot fix — what's the first step someone should take tomorrow morning? Lucas: Write down the last three times your boss looked caught off guard in a meeting. Then ask yourself: do I have access to the data that would've helped? If yes, spend two hours building a rough version. Don't show it yet. Just prove to yourself you can do it. Luna: And if you can't get the data? Lucas: Then the blind spot might not be fixable with a report. But maybe you can offer to help find the data. That's still a signal of initiative. Luna: I love that this tactic works for any level — you don't need to be a manager or have a title. Lucas: That's the point. Promotions often go to people who make someone above them more effective. This is a direct way to do that. No politics, no grandstanding, just a useful piece of work. Luna: Alright, next week we'll tackle a related one: how to get a promotion by fixing a process your whole team hates but no one owns. Lucas: Looking forward to it. For now — watch the meetings, find the gap, and build the fix.