strefelerschweitz

 A significant, yet rarely discussed, drag on career momentum is the "interpretative labor" you force upon your superiors and stakeholders. This is the cognitive effort required for others to understand, contextualize, and assign value to your work. When your updates are vague, your results are presented without clear lineage to strategic goals, or your decision-making process is opaque, you are outsourcing critical labor. You are asking already-overburdened leaders to do the work of deciphering your contribution. In a competitive environment, this rarely ends in your favor. Consider the promotion committee reviewing dozens of candidates. The individual whose case is self-evident—whose achievements are clearly documented, quantitatively tied to business priorities, and framed within a narrative of strategic ownership—imposes a low cognitive load. The candidate whose value is shrouded in ambiguity requires committee members to invest time, ask probing questions, and make assum...