Episode 2: Persistence to Get That Promotion with Laraine McKinnon

When I started my career, I assumed that my manager will take care of me when I am ready for a promotion. I then learned that I could be waiting forever for that to happen. I had to be proactive and initiate the conversation. So I did. I had what I considered a difficult and awkward conversation with my manager at the beginning of the year about getting promoted. He did not seem to have any major objections. Relieved that I had done my part, I did not bring it up again. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I did not get promoted that year. It made me realize that I had to get very comfortable with this difficult and awkward conversation because it wasn’t a one-time thing. This was an ongoing conversation that I had to initiate to make sure my manager knew that this was important to me.

Over the years, I have gotten a lot more comfortable with this conversation. What I still have not gotten comfortable with is how subjective the promotion process is. Excelling at your job is the minimum criteria to get promoted. There are these implicit criteria that you have to figure out on your own - it could be getting support from a powerhouse in the organization, or even being considered at flight risk.

So I found Laraine’s journey to getting promoted to a top-level job in her company to be reassuring (it is not just me!) and inspiring. I loved Laraine’s advice of accepting that bias will create roadblocks for women, especially for women of color, and I can still get what I want by working around them.

Laraine has spent her career working on hard to solve problems — from helping millions of Americans save billions of dollars for a more dignified retirement to helping companies prevent bias, discrimination, and harassment. She focuses on the employee experience and uses a strategic mix of behavioral science, big data, and practical implementation to drive change. Laraine is a Talent & Culture Strategist, the President of a women’s leadership non-profit, and the founder of a talent incubator. In 2018, she was named a “Woman of Influence” in Silicon Valley.

You can connect with Laraine on LinkedIn. Also, check out Laraine’s career boost workbook for a self-guided path to create career opportunities on Amazon.

If you have any comments about the episode or would like to share your own story, please share them below. I would love to hear from you!