Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How One Employee Got Promoted by Building a Career Lattice
Transcript
- Lucas: So we talk a lot on this show about climbing the ladder — getting that next title, that next level. But what happens when the ladder doesn't exist? When your organization is flat, or the next rung is blocked by someone who isn't leaving? Luna: Yeah, that's a real frustration for a lot of listeners. You're doing good work, but there's nowhere to go up. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where the idea of a 'career lattice' comes in — moving sideways or diagonally instead of straight up. Today's story is about a woman named Priya. She was a mid-level marketing manager at a 500-person SaaS company, and she realized the VP of Marketing job was not opening up anytime soon. Luna: So what did she do instead? Lucas: She built herself a lattice. She mapped every adjacent role — product marketing, customer insights, revenue operations — and figured out which skills she already had and which she needed. Then she created a proposal for a new hybrid role that combined her marketing expertise with product analytics. Luna: And the company went for it? Lucas: They did. She pitched it as a solution to a real gap they had — the product team was making decisions without customer data, and marketing was creating campaigns without understanding product usage. Her hybrid role bridged that. She got a promotion in title and compensation, even though she wasn't 'managing' anyone new. Luna: That's smart. She didn't wait for a job to open — she created one. Lucas: And that's the core of the lattice approach. If we've helped you think through a career move like that, honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It's a small way to keep the show ad-free and focused on real stories like Priya's. Lucas: Yeah. So back to the lattice — I want to break down the four steps Priya used, because they're very repeatable. Luna: Let's hear them. Lucas: Step one: she audited her current skills and the company's needs. She looked at job postings, talked to leaders in other departments, and identified three areas where the company was underinvested: customer data analysis, cross-functional communication, and product launch coordination. Luna: Right, so she wasn't just looking at what she wanted — she was looking at what the business actually needed. Lucas: Exactly. Step two: she mapped skill adjacencies. For each need, she asked: 'What do I already know that's close to this?' She had run surveys before, so customer data wasn't a stretch. She had helped with product launches, so coordination was familiar. Luna: So she identified her 'zone of proximal development' — things she could learn quickly because they were close to her existing expertise. Lucas: Yes, that's the right term. Step three: she built a learning plan. She spent two months taking an online course on SQL and data visualization, and she volunteered to help the product team with their quarterly reviews. That gave her real projects to point to. Luna: And step four? Lucas: She wrote a one-page proposal for the new role — title, responsibilities, how it would save the company time and money. She estimated it would reduce product-marketing misalignment by 30 percent based on a pilot she ran. Then she presented it to her manager and the VP of Product together. Luna: I love that she involved the VP of Product. That shows the role wasn't just about her — it was about solving a cross-functional problem. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a key lesson: a lattice move often requires a sponsor outside your direct chain of command. Priya's manager was supportive but didn't have budget for a new role. The VP of Product did, because he saw the value. Luna: So the lattice approach is also a networking strategy — you have to build relationships with people who can champion a role that doesn't exist yet. Lucas: Right. And I want to contrast this with a story I heard from another listener — let's call him Mark. He was a senior analyst at a large bank, and he spent three years trying to get a promotion to associate director. But the position was frozen, and his manager kept saying 'next year.' He didn't look sideways. Luna: What happened to him? Lucas: He eventually left the company for a competitor, got the title, but he told me he wished he'd explored internal options first. He had skills in risk modeling that could have transferred to the compliance team, which was growing. But he never asked. Luna: That's the risk of ladder-only thinking — you can get stuck waiting for a job that never opens, or you leave and lose the institutional knowledge you built. Lucas: Exactly. So the lattice isn't just for people in flat orgs. It's for anyone who sees a better fit for their skills somewhere else in the company. And it's becoming more common — a 2025 LinkedIn report showed that internal mobility increased by 22 percent year-over-year, and a big chunk of that was lateral or diagonal moves. Luna: That's a huge increase. What's driving it? Lucas: A couple things. First, companies are realizing that hiring externally is expensive and slow — it costs about 1.5 times the employee's salary to replace them. So they're more open to creating hybrid roles to retain talent. Second, employees are more proactive about designing their own careers. They're not waiting for the HR ladder to be handed to them. Luna: And I think the lattice also works well for people who don't want to manage. Not everyone wants to be a director or VP. Some people want to deepen their expertise in a specific area. Lucas: That's a great point. Priya's new role didn't have direct reports. She became a 'principal marketing strategist' — a senior individual contributor with more influence and pay. That's a legitimate promotion path that the lattice enables. Luna: So for someone listening who wants to try this, what's the first concrete step? Lucas: I'd say: pick one adjacent skill that is clearly valued by another team, and start learning it this week. Don't wait for permission. Take a course, ask to shadow someone, volunteer for a cross-functional project. Then, three months from now, you'll have a concrete example to build a proposal around. Luna: And be specific about the business problem you're solving. That's what made Priya's proposal land — she didn't just say 'I want a new role.' She said 'Here's a $200,000 problem that I can solve if I combine these skills.' Lucas: Exactly. And if your manager says no, you still have a new skill and a broader network. That's never a loss. Luna: So the lattice isn't a fallback — it's a strategy. Lucas: It is. And it's one that more and more people are using. I think we're going to see the career lattice become the default path in the next decade, especially as organizations flatten and AI takes over some middle-management tasks. Luna: That's a good note to end on. If you've built your own lattice — or tried to — we'd love to hear from you. You can reach us at the show's email or on LinkedIn. Lucas: And if today was useful, remember the link: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Helps us keep the show ad-free and focused on real stories like Priya's. Luna: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on The Promotion Memo.