Why Being Trusted Isn’t Enough
The quiet trap that keeps senior managers from moving up
There’s a point in many careers where things stop breaking, but nothing starts moving. You’re doing well, your team delivers, and stakeholders trust you. Your manager even tells you you’re doing a great job.
And yet, when promotion time comes, your name isn’t the one moving forward.
I’ve been there.
The Trap I Didn’t See at the Time
A few years into my first management role at Lycos, I started noticing something uncomfortable. Other managers were getting promoted, and I wasn’t. On paper, everything looked fine. My boss told me I was doing great. Stakeholders were happy. My team delivered consistently.
But in the cycles, I was left behind.
At the time, I was frustrated — mostly with leadership, and especially with my manager. From my perspective, the work spoke for itself. I was clearly working harder than others, and I was clearly delivering.
What I couldn’t see yet was the trap I’d walked into:
I had made myself indispensable in a role that mattered operationally, but not strategically. I ran a tools and support team. It was important work, but not work that the executive team directly associated with impact.
Trusted, But Stationary
The people I worked with every day trusted me deeply. They knew that if something landed with my team, it would be done on time, and usually better than expected. I could lead, I could execute, and I could stabilize systems that others didn’t want to touch.
But trust that you can do your job well isn’t the same as trust that you can perform at the next level. It doesn’t move careers forward.
When promotion time came, no one was advocating for me to move up or take on broader scope. I was the tools-and-support guy, and I hadn’t given them a reason to reimagine me.
I hadn’t been shaping decisions across teams or directly creating impact. I wasn’t calling attention to my wins because it felt unnatural and against my style.
The Hard Truth Quiet Leaders Have to Face
Here’s the uncomfortable part:
I wanted to blame my managers, but my stagnation was on me. I wasn’t clear enough about what I wanted, and I wasn’t forceful enough in driving toward it.
I assumed that working harder would make me an obvious candidate for promotion, but organizations don’t work that way — especially at higher levels.
When being considered for promotion, the question is no longer “Can we count on you?” Instead, it is “Can we see how you will create impact at the next level?”
This visibility doesn’t emerge automatically from trust. It emerges when you advocate for yourself and when you make your aspirations explicit.
Why Quiet Leaders Fall Into This Trap
Quiet leaders are especially vulnerable here.
We tend to:
Let outcomes speak for themselves
Avoid drawing attention to our wins
Focus on execution over positioning
Assume good intent will lead to good outcomes
The result is a quiet failure mode: being respected, relied upon, and stuck.
This isn’t because we aren’t capable. It is because we haven’t shifted from executing well to shaping the system.
What I Learned (Too Late, But Not Useless)
Breaking out of this trap didn’t require me to become louder or more performative, it just required me to do different work.
I needed to:
Be explicit about what I wanted next
Expand my impact beyond my immediate team
Frame my work in ways that leaders could use
Speak up earlier, not just more often
This is what transformed trust into leverage.
What I’d Do Differently Now
If I could go back to that period at Lycos, I wouldn’t work harder.
I’d work earlier and wider.
I would be explicit with my manager and skip-level leaders about what I wanted next, and I’d revisit that conversation regularly instead of assuming it was understood the first time. I would invest sooner in work that crossed team boundaries, even if it meant letting go of being the “go-to” person inside my own group.
Then, I would make my impact legible in ways leaders could use: framing outcomes, tradeoffs, and risks; not just delivering results quietly and moving on.
None of that would require becoming louder or more political.
If I’d understood all this sooner, I likely would have been promoted much faster.
I hope it helps you achieve exactly that.