Why are some people better at getting promoted than others? In an ideal world, the answer would be merit, which is basically a mix of talent and hard work. This simple but rare combination would result in higher levels of performance that would be obviously observable to others so there would be little controversy or dispute when promotion decisions are made.
In this world, politics would be nonexistent and nobody would ever complain about any form of decision-making bias, errors, or a gap between the ability to move up the corporate ladder and actually contribute value to the organization.
In the real world, however, things look rather different. Systematic scientific evidence suggests that even in organizations that see themselves as meritocratic, promotion decisions are driven by factors other than merit (e.g., gender, race, age, and being perceived as part of some in-group).
Promotion biases may be unconscious, but they’re often quite explicit or conscious, even when masked under the pretext of “culture fit,” which seeks to perpetuate the status quo rather than promote on merit. The result is a system where the best don’t often get ahead, and most employees witness an uncomfortable gap between the managers or leaders they have, and those they actually need.
That said, just because the rules of the game are rigged doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to not getting ahead, or that you should master the dark arts of getting ahead without deserving it. In fact, science suggests it is possible to find a compromise between adding value and advancing your career.
In other words, doing well for your organization is not incompatible with doing well for yourself. Consider these five underrated strategies for getting promoted.
1. Pick the right boss.
It should be obvious, yet people are rarely aware of the key role our direct supervisor or line manager plays in determining our promotion.
First and foremost, they have a strong vote and are often the principal gatekeepers to our next career move.
Second, there are significant individual differences in managers’ ability to align our skills and interests with the right tasks, objectively evaluate how we perform those tasks, and motivate us to deliver to the best of our capabilities, with research showing that managers account for a significant percentage of variability in employees’ engagement and performance levels.
Third, avoiding managers who are in it for themselves and perhaps personally disinterested in helping you move up (e.g., they may not want to lose you, fight for resources to increase your compensation, or pick other employees based on political interests rather than merit) will significantly reduce the chances that you are unfairly overlooked.
To be sure, there are always strategies for improving your relationship with your boss, but none of them will work as effectively as selecting the right boss (someone who balances competence with integrity, not to mention leadership skills) in the first place.
2. Pick the right company
No company is perfectly meritocratic, but there are significant differences in the degree to which promotion decisions follow merit rather than unfair decisions, which basically boil down to some cultures being more political and toxic than others.
From an evolutionary perspective, cultures that are anti-meritocratic will trend toward decay, stagnation, and toxic deterioration and will sooner or later be outperformed by cultures that don’t just attract, but also nurture and retain talent.
As data from the Burning Glass Institute indicates, workers matched on skills performing the same role or job will have significantly different chances of advancing their careers based largely on where they work. So, just like your chances of doing well in life may differ based largely on where you were born (which, unfortunately, you cannot influence), your chances of doing better in your career will be based largely on where you work (which, fortunately, you can influence, at least within reason).
Importantly, certain aspects of company culture may be a good fit for some workers but not for others. However, there are aspects that are generally seen as positive by all, including fair pay, transparency in HR decisions, and a perception that if you deploy your skills and talents appropriately and deliver as expected, you will be rewarded for it.
3. Quantify your accomplishments
“You can only manage what you measure,” goes the old adage. Most managers are well aware of it, but this doesn’t mean they’re good at it. Reasons range from the complexity of modern jobs, losing proximity to workers (hybrid and virtual work arrangements), and keeping up with advances in AI and its impact on task automation and work redesign, to the performative elements of job performance (pretending to work is often more impactful when it comes to promotions than the work itself).
The good news, though, is that you can help. Indeed, the best employees, or at least those who are better at getting promoted, keep a running record of their accomplishments, tracking measurable outcomes rather than merely completed tasks: revenue generated, costs reduced, time saved, engagement improved, clients retained, processes automated, or positive stakeholder feedback. This makes performance reviews more factual and data-driven while also helping managers calibrate goals, provide more constructive feedback, and distinguish genuine impact from mere visibility.
4. Don’t let your achievements speak for themselves.
Few mantras are as unhelpful as the notion that one should let one’s achievements speak for themselves, especially in a world that is (a) attention-deprived and (b) full of people who blow their own trumpet!
Extensive research dating back decades shows that self-promotion is rather common at work because . . . it works! At times, alas, even more than it should, which is why confidence often trumps competence, and why between a valuable worker who is quietly performing their job and another who is predominantly focused on advertising their achievements and managing up, there are no prizes for guessing who will probably get promoted 8 out of 10 times (a made-up stat, which is perhaps not unrealistic).
Admittedly, excessive self-promotion may irritate others, including your boss, so there is a subtle art of making others aware of what you achieve without being too blunt—but definitely not too subtle either. Importantly, remember that your boss is rarely the only person influencing promotion decisions. Senior leaders, peers in other functions, and influential stakeholders often shape succession discussions long before formal reviews take place.
The most effective professionals therefore cultivate a broader reputation, ensuring their work is visible across the organization by sharing credit generously, contributing to high-profile projects, presenting results in cross-functional forums, and building relationships with decision-makers who may never directly supervise them but will nevertheless have a say in their future.
5. Lean in, especially if you have the talent and work ethic to back it up.
Recent research reveals a paradoxical phenomenon in organizations whereby teams led by people who actively volunteered to become managers actually performed worse than teams whose managers had been selected randomly. The performance gap was substantial enough to resemble appointing someone whose cognitive ability was roughly one standard deviation lower. In short, merely wanting to lead turned out to be a negative signal rather than a positive one.
This echoes Plato’s famous line that “only those who don’t seek power should be allowed to have it.” But just because the wrong people lean in doesn’t mean you should “lean out” when you have the talent to back it up.
In fact, unless you signal that you’re interested in taking on more responsibilities, especially when this means aspiring to managerial or senior leadership roles, you’ll be dismissed for not being hungry or ambitious enough. The problem, then, is not that talentless individuals put themselves forward when they shouldn’t, but that competent people are often too humble or ethical to lean in when they should.
A long-term investment
Ultimately, there is no inherent contradiction between building a successful career and creating value for others. The most sustainable promotions are earned by people who combine substance with visibility, competence with political awareness, and ambition with integrity.
The uncomfortable truth is that organizations rarely reward merit alone, but neither are they entirely blind to it. Rather, they reward merit that is observable, measurable, and understood by the people making decisions (sadly, this is often the case because they lack the subtle skills or sophistication to observe or defend what is not obviously observable).
This means your job is not only to perform well, but also to help others recognize the impact of your performance without descending into empty self-promotion or office politics. Think of career advancement less as a sprint to the next title and more as a long-term investment in your professional reputation. Skills may get you hired, but your reputation determines how far you go.
By choosing the right environment, working for the right leaders, measuring your impact, communicating it effectively, and stepping forward when the opportunity arises, you maximize the odds that promotions will reflect your contribution rather than your luck.
