#70 | How High Performers Grow Their Promotion Opportunities: The Direct Ask Strategy To Build Influence

What would you actually do if you felt undervalued at work right now?

In this Friday episode, Caroline serves you up a handpicked banger to anchor your commitment to action and move you from insight to action. After unpacking the story and the science earlier in the week, she shares the practical next step for women who are tired of being overlooked, underplayed, and politely passed over. This episode tackles the real workplace question so many women ask privately: what do I actually say and do when I know I’m capable but I’m not being considered?

You'll:

•  Learn three small but powerful moves to help you get seen for your value at work 
•  Understand how to stop waiting for managers to read your mind and start asking more directly 
•  Discover how to talk about your impact in a way that feels professional, clear, and non-cringey 

Play this episode to get a practical, confidence-building roadmap for turning feeling undervalued into clear action this week.

New episodes are released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

Stuck, simmering, or onto something juicy? I want to hear it. Drop me a line at caroline@inspireyourgenius.com - I read them all.

And here is the Spotify Playlist to accompany UnShakeable Her.

This podcast explores resilience, imposter syndrome, and credibility while unpacking how boundaries, conflict, and feedback shape the way we handle pressure, influence, and guilt at work. It also looks at promotion, work-life balance, people pleasing, decision making, and visibility, offering honest conversations about how to grow professionally without losing your confidence or yourself.

Transcript

Caroline Esterson (00:00)
⁓ Friday, finally, we've done the story. Frankie, the canal, the all hands meeting that changed things. We've done the science, the pain response, the recognition deficit and the attribution gap. Today, we're on fire. We act. Are you ready?

Caroline Esterson (00:20)
Welcome to Unshakeable Her, where we believe that building your confidence and influence doesn't require a personality transplant, just a few resourceful little habits and someone in your corner. That someone is me. I'm Caroline Esterson. Let's get into it.

Caroline Esterson (00:37)
Here's what you're gonna get from today's episode. One, a song that I want you to play on full volume before your next meeting. You're welcome. Two,

Concrete answer to the question, what would I actually do if I felt undervalued right now? Not the vague advice, a specific move and three, three little moves you can start this week, none of which require a difficult conversation, a new job or pretending everything's fine. Friday, let's go.

So this week's song is a real life anthem.

You all know it and probably know most of the words without even thinking and it is absolutely perfect for this moment. is Respect by Aretha Franklin. And if somehow on this planet you don't know it, first of all, where have you been? And second, go and play it right now, full volume. I'll wait. There it is. Here's what I love about this song for this week. Aretha

isn't asking, she isn't hoping, she isn't writing a carefully worded email about her feelings, she is spelling it out literally. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, that is what I want, that is what I'm owed, find out what it means to me. And the thing that gets me every time, she sounds so joyful doing it, doesn't she? She's not bitter or broken or burnt out from years of being overlooked.

She sounds like a woman who has decided,

with full Aretha energy, that she knows exactly what she's worth and she's letting you know. That is the frequency I want you tuned into this week. Not rage, resentment, or a resignation letter drafted at midnight that you may or may not send the following day. Just that quiet, certain

I know what I bring and I'm done pretending I don't energy. Because here's the truth that you need to hear. You've probably been very politely, very professionally and consistently underplaying your hand. And Aretha didn't make a 73 year career out of underplaying her hand, did she? 2mm starting now, right

So let's take a scenario, something that's real. You've been in your old two years, your manager likes you, you can tell they do, but every time a stretch project or visibility opportunity comes up, it seems to land with someone else. You're not being sidelined exactly, you're just not being thought of. What do do?

What would I do? First, I'd stop assuming my manager can read my mind. Full stop. Remember the story I told you on Monday about the promotion going to the man who had asked instead of the woman who's quietly getting on with it? Well, I had another one this week. Someone who really thought her manager respected her actually...

I know they did too. And she believed that if someone was leaving, she would be given the bigger job. Instead, what did he do? He just divided the roll up across three different people. So three people got more work and no recognition.

My woman, the one that told me about it, how do think she feels right now? She genuinely believed that she was going to get that job. Most managers are overwhelmed and under trained in people development. They're not malicious. They're just not thinking about you as much as you're thinking about yourself. It's not a criticism. It's just the way it is.

Secondly,

I'd have one direct conversation, not a moan or a threat, not a tearful, I just feel like I'm not being seen. A professional, forward-looking conversation. I want to make sure I'm being considered for opportunities like X or Y. What would you need to see from me to put my name forward? That's it. That's the move. You've named what you want. You've made it easy for them to say yes. You've positioned yourself as someone who's thinking about their own development.

which is exactly what managers love to see.

making my work legible before the conversation even happens.

This is professional hygiene. So much is going on all the time. You keep a running note, two or three bullets a week of what you move forward. And most importantly, what was the impact?

And I say that with emphasis, I really do. Because I bet if you were to do a scroll on LinkedIn, just select five random accounts on LinkedIn and look at their CV that's listed there, the majority of them are talking about responsibilities, not impact. That is a key two millimeter difference. So this note, these two or three bullets every week,

This notice for your own clarity first and then for your manager second and your future self at review time first.

That's what I would

Will you?

So that's this week done. Frankie, the pain response, Aretha and three moves that are small enough to start today and big enough to matter. If you took nothing else from this week, take this. Feeling undervalued is information. And what you do with that information, two millimeters at a time, is entirely in your hands.

You came here for career advice, but what you're really building week by week, move by move, is someone nobody can shake. Unshakeable. That's you. See you Monday.

Caroline Esterson (06:32)
That's it from me today on Unshakable Her. If something landed, share it with a woman in your world who needs to hear it. She probably won't say so. She'll just be really glad you did. I'm Caroline Esterson and you are completely entirely unshakable.