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EXPLORE OTHER OPTIONS
You thank Michael for the feedback and tell him you will work on your executive presence. But in reality, you don’t really try to change who you are. You keep doing great work and carrying yourself professionally, hoping that will be enough to grow your career there.
Your friend Anna, who you have been tight with since you were in grad school, is going through a somewhat similar situation at her work. After her son was diagnosed with autism, as about one in fifty-nine children in the US are, she has had to take time off in the afternoons for his appointments.1 She has been staying on top of her work and is convinced that she hasn’t dropped the ball on a single assignment. But she confides in you that she is being criticized by her manager for lack of face time.
Between your experience and Anna’s, in which you are both doing great work but are being held back because of perceptions, you feel a building resentment toward corporate norms.
After two more review periods consisting of positive performance feedback, squishy personality feedback, and no promotions, you decide it’s probably time to see what else is out there.
As you do, you continue on to Chapter 58.