US Navy

Command Master Chief

The Optimizer Group

CEO of The Optimizer Group. We are a premier boutique focused on optimizing organizational performance. A Veteran own business.

President

Simple philosophy alert!



1. Managers are the most impactful force in modern organizations.
2. Senior leaders who can direct this force lead successful organizations.

I can help create both.

Who is this guy?

For the past 22 years, I've helped build the World's most powerful Navy. I have led impactful teams in contested environments and I'm responsible for producing over 7K leaders. 

I'm on a mission to help 10 million leaders chart a new path forward, optimize their management, and lead the charge for high performance and well-being at work.

Two more things:

1. I post daily about leadership. Share One Pro Tip. You can hit follow, and you'll see my post.

2. I am known as The Management Optimizer because it sounds better than Management Yoda.

I would like to know about you. 👋Feel free to DM me.

Cesar Rojas

Ehsan Ali 🚀

Top-Ranked Australian Career Coach | Helped 100+ Senior IT Pros Land $200K–$400K+ Roles | 2–4 Level Jumps. 30%–120% Raises. | Take the 3-Min Quiz & Uncover Your Hidden Growth Blockers

More skill doesn’t guarantee senior growth.

Not after 15–25 years.

Over the last 4+ years, I’ve worked with senior IT professionals across the spectrum.

From Senior S/W Engineers 
to Big 4 Directors 
and VPs of Technology.

And the same situations keep showing up:

• Impacted by layoffs
• Placed on PIPs despite a strong track record
• Years of stagnation at the same level
• Strong performance, no upward pathway

Different situations. Same constraint.

At senior levels, careers stop advancing on effort alone.They advance through positioning and access.

If your experience isn't positioned clearly, communicated at executive level, and seen by the right decision-makers, opportunities don’t open. 


I’ve lived it too.

After 22 years across delivery and commercial leadership, and $100M+ programs, I hit my own ceiling.

Not because I lacked capability. Because I lacked a strategy to convert it into the next level.

Today, I help Indian-origin senior IT professionals globally move into $250K–$400K+ next-level roles through strategic positioning.

Recent outcomes:

• Tim (Senior Director): 18 months without a role to two $300K+ offers in 10 weeks

• Urvish (Senior S/W Engineer): laid off to Principal Engineer in 10 weeks, then Director in 12 months

• Hesham (Architect): $200K to $650K+ package in 3 months

Those results come from one system I run every time: Value Amplifier Method™

If you’re assessing your next move:

👉 Take the 2-minute diagnostic used by 1,200+ senior IT professionals (link in featured section)

👉 DM me ROUNDTABLE for the upcoming private roundtable

Podcast Host & Producer

Australia's 1st Business & Career podcast featuring inspiring stories of Indian Expats who either successfully transitioned into entrepreneurship or excelled in their careers beyond the perceived limitations and ceiling

Ehsan Ali

“Being ready” is a myth.

You start.
You mess it up.
You figure things out.
You get better.

That line sums up my last 5 years.

In 2020, I walked away from a solid IT career.

Not because I had a plan.
Not because I felt ready.

I just knew I didn’t want another decade of playing safe and calling it success.

Then reality hit.

Covid.
Redundancy.
Savings I thought would last 2 years were gone in under 18 months.

Still no clear direction.
Still moving forward anyway.

One small decision changed things.

I started a podcast.

That single move put me in rooms I was never in before.
People doing well in corporate.
Others who had made the jump into business.

Patterns started to show up.

Success wasn’t luck.
It was structure.
The right people.
Leverage.

I hired a coach.
We broke down my story, strengths, and experience.

Career coaching stood out.

It took another 18 months to replace my income.
Nothing about it was smooth.

I learned this:

• Don’t build alone.
• Your environment shapes your speed.
• Guidance beats guessing.

Clarity doesn’t come first.
Action does.

♻️ Repost if this feels familiar
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for honest career growth conversations

Career Strategist for Senior IT Professionals | Rebuilding confidence and repositioning for 2–4 level jumps and $250K–$400K+ roles

I watched Vidya Balan say something I still haven’t been able to shake.

Early in her career, she was replaced from a film.
Labelled a "bad omen".

She went to meet the producer.
With her parents.

He showed clips from the movie.
Then looked at her parents and said:

“Does she look like heroine material from any angle?”
“She can’t act.”
“She can’t dance.”

She said for six months after that,
she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror.

Then she said this:

“You want to remove someone, do it.
But be careful with your words.”

Because words have power.

That hit close to home.

Early days after leaving corporate, I was scared.

I interviewed with a VP.
He liked me.
Said he wanted to hire me.

Then he disappeared.

Months later, I heard the “market feedback”.

That I was good for nothing.
Not delivery.
Not sales.
Not anything.

That kind of feedback doesn’t just hurt.
It messes with your self-belief.

I had a choice.

Succumb to it.
Or refuse it.

I’m grateful for the people who stood by me.
Who reminded me who I was when I started to doubt myself.

Instead of shrinking, I doubled down.

Not on explaining my past.
Not on defending results I had delivered.

But on building my coaching practice from scratch.
Quietly.
With full focus.

What followed still humbles me.

100s of life-changing breakthroughs.
People rebuilding belief in themselves
after PIPs, layoffs, rejection, self-doubt.

Through helping others rise,
my belief in myself rose too.

Then the income followed.
3–4x my corporate salary.

And sometimes… I get chills.

Thinking about this one question:

What if I had believed those words?

♻️ Repost if leaders need to read this before they speak.

Video credit: YouTube

Career Strategist for Indian-Origin Senior IT Professionals | Advancing into $250K–$400K+ next-level roles through strategic positioning, even in a crowded market

Leaders don't micromanage weak IT pros.
They micromanage the ones they can't replace.

Every manager calls it “oversight.”
It’s not.
It’s fear.

I’ve coached hundreds of senior IT pros over the last 4+ years.
And I’ve seen the pattern repeat:

Senior pros who’ve:
▪️Stabilized critical systems that everyone else avoided
▪️Made decisions that saved entire projects
▪️Pulled all-nighters fixing disasters nobody else could touch

…still get second-guessed.
Still get asked, “Why did you do it this way?”
Still get nudged to justify every call they make.

Here’s the truth most leaders avoid:
You’re not micromanaging incompetence.
You’re micromanaging irreplaceability.

And here’s what it costs top talent:
1️⃣ They stop raising risks early.
2️⃣ They pick “safe” moves instead of bold solutions.
3️⃣ They start planning exits quietly smiling in meetings while disengaging.

The cost to you?

Teams lose initiative.
Innovation stalls.
Your top performers quietly check out.

The fix isn't telling yourself to "trust them more."
It's letting go of control you never needed.

If this felt familiar, you already know why it matters.  

♻️ Repost if you've seen capable people get second-guessed instead of trusted.
  
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for senior IT leadership truths that actually work.

Early in our careers, we chase what we’re told matters.

Titles.
Certifications.
Big names.

And for a while, it works.

Then something changes.

People stop talking about your resume.

They talk about how it felt to work with you.

They remember:
• whether you made things calmer or heavier
• whether meetings felt clearer after you spoke
• whether problems shrank when you got involved
• whether they trusted you with messy things

That’s what sticks.

Two people can have the same experience.

One becomes reliable.
The other becomes remembered.

And remembered people don’t chase opportunities.

They get pulled into them.

Worth a second thought?

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for senior career strategies and tools.

* TRUTH BOMB *

Age 40–60 is the prime career time.

You’ve seen patterns.
Made hard calls.
You know what actually works.

Yet most careers stagnate quietly by 40.

Not because experience expires.
But because ambition gets trained out.

Nobody starts a long career aiming for average.

Yet most accept it.

They don’t fail.
They adjust expectations.

They stop asking hard questions.
They start explaining things away.

“Market is tough.”
“Ageism is real.”
“I should be grateful.”

After speaking with 2,000+ professionals
and helping 140+ rebuild their careers,
here’s the truth:

It’s not talent.
It’s conditioning.

Be reliable.
Wait your turn.
Don’t rock the boat.

That’s what slowly stagnates careers.

The ones who break through at 45, 50, 60
aren’t louder or luckier.

They choose strategy. 
Early.

If you’ve spent 15+ years in IT, delivered complex programs, and still feel underutilised, this is for you.

This month only, I’m sharing the same growth strategies my mid–senior IT clients pay $2,500+ per month for.

3 closed-door, small-group roundtables.
Free. By invitation only.

If your career feels slower than your potential,
DM me ROUNDTABLE.

♻️ Repost this for someone with decades left.
🔔 Follow me for strategic senior IT career frameworks.

Career Strategist for Indian-Origin Senior IT Professionals | $250K–$400K+ Tech Leadership Roles | 120+ Breakthroughs | Value Amplifier Method™

The most dangerous place in your career isn’t failure.

It’s being good at what you do in a role that no longer stretches you.

You’re trusted. 
You’re reliable. 
You’re low risk. 

People know they can count on you when things get messy.

From the outside, that looks like success.

But here’s the uncomfortable part.

At senior levels, comfort doesn’t always mean progress. 
Sometimes it means your name isn’t coming up when next-level decisions are made.

You’re still valued. You’re just no longer considered.

Nothing breaks. 
No feedback lands. 
No moment forces a decision.

So you keep delivering. And your boss keeps you exactly where you are.

That’s how careers don’t fall behind. 
They just stay still for too long.

♻️ Repost if this feels uncomfortably familiar 
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career thinking

7 Things Your Boss Needs to Hear If You Want to Grow

Your boss doesn’t promote the hardest worker.
They promote the one they see as a leader.

And leadership?
It’s not just in what you do.
It’s in what you say.

After 20 years in IT and coaching, I’ve seen it all:
Talented pros left invisible.
Smart players passed over.
Leaders-in-waiting ignored.

Not because they lacked skills.
But because they stayed silent.

If you want your boss to notice you, start here:

1️⃣ “I have a suggestion to improve X.”
Leaders show vision, not just execution. Elevate.

2️⃣ “I’d like to take on more.”
Ambition speaks louder when paired with a plan.

3️⃣ “I made a mistake.”
Trust grows when honesty comes before excuses.

4️⃣ “I need help with…”
Strength isn’t silence. It’s seeking growth with solutions in hand.

5️⃣ “Thank you for trusting me with this.”
Gratitude builds loyalty more than results alone.

6️⃣ “Can we discuss my career goals?”
No one will own your future if you don’t.

7️⃣ “Can you give me feedback?”
The fastest growth comes from listening.

These aren’t just words.
They’re signals that tell your boss: I’m ready for more.

Which of these have you said out loud this year?
And which one still feels hardest to bring up?

I’ll be unpacking how and when to have these conversations in a small career roundtable this month.
DM ROUNDTABLE to join. Spots are limited.

♻ Share this to help a corporate buddy rise
➕ Follow me(Ehsan Ali) for real IT career moves, no generic fluff

7 Conversations That Get You Seen as a Leader

The most painful career years aren’t the bad ones.

They’re the quiet ones.

There’s no crisis. No blow-up. No obvious reason to leave.
Just a role that feels “fine”… and before you know it, another year is gone.

You’re still delivering. Still dependable. Still the person people lean on when things go sideways.
From the outside, everything looks steady.

But the momentum you expected at this stage just isn’t showing up.

And that’s the trap.

When nothing is wrong, you don’t course-correct.
You don’t pause long enough to question direction.
You just keep going.

Until one day you realise you’ve been working hard under the same ceiling for longer than you planned.
Same level. Same type of work. Same conversations. Same “maybe next cycle.”

If that quiet drift feels familiar, don’t brush it off.

It’s rarely a capability issue.
More often, it’s a direction issue.

And direction doesn’t arrive through patience.
It arrives through decisions.

♻️ Repost if this puts words to something you’ve felt
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career strategy for mid-senior IT professionals

It’s rarely a skill problem.
It’s a reliability trap.

Most senior IT professionals don’t realise they're trapped in it until growth quietly stops. 

They don't get stuck because they lack capability.
They get stuck because reliability becomes their ceiling.

If you’re the person everyone depends on, this will feel familiar.

You deliver.
You fix problems.
You keep things running.

And without anyone saying it out loud, expectations shift.

You’re trusted to execute.
But not trusted to decide.

You become dependable.
Not promotable.

Work keeps increasing.
Your level doesn’t.

That’s the silent trade-off reliable professionals are never warned about.

The carousel breaks down 7 quiet traps that keep capable people stuck.

If you’ve ever felt:

• Needed, but not advanced
• Relied on, but not promoted
• Busy, but not moving

Swipe through.
You’ll recognise the pattern fast.

🔖 Save this if it hit closer than expected.
♻️ Repost for someone quietly carrying too much.
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for no-BS career growth insights

7 Quiet Traps Keeping You Stuck at Mid-Senior Level

If you’re a 40-year-old IT professional,
You likely have 20+ years of career left.

Pause on that!

If you already feel stuck or under-recognised today,
What do you think the next 20 years would look like?

Staying in roles that don’t stretch you.
Hoping restructures don’t touch you.
Accepting work below your capability.

And if you’re laid off?

Update the CV.
Apply.
Wait.
Hear nothing.
Repeat.

How many times will you repeat that cycle
over the next 20 years?

That’s not a career.
That’s survival.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most professionals don’t get stuck because they lack talent.
They get stuck because they stop believing more is possible.

“I don’t know if I still have what it takes.”
“I didn’t keep up with the market.”
“I should be grateful.”
“I don’t want to rock the boat.”

Those quiet self-talks end more careers than failure ever will.

Most people wait for the market, their boss, or the next restructure
to decide their future.

What if instead, you took control?

Designed the next 20 years on your terms.
Built recognition, income, and titles intentionally.

That’s exactly what I’ll unpack in a small, private roundtable this Saturday.

It’s a strategy I’ve refined over the last 4 years,
and the same one my clients used to create outcomes they once believed weren’t for them:

• $200K → $650K+
• Engineer → Director (3-level jump)
• 18 months jobless → two $300K+ offers in 10 weeks
• Unknown → global Top 100 recognition

This isn’t for everyone.

It’s for senior IT professionals
who don’t want to spend the next 20 years in mediocrity and regrets.

If this felt uncomfortably familiar,
DM me ROUNDTABLE.

♻️ Repost this to help a senior IT professional who needs to read it
🔔 Follow me (Ehsan Ali) for real career strategy, not CV tips and generic advice

I’ve watched some of the most capable professionals in IT slowly switch off.

They didn’t struggle with the work.
They weren’t unskilled.
They just stopped being noticed.

Here’s the truth about leadership:
Appreciation isn’t about being nice.
It’s proof that you see effort.

It shows if their ideas and work matter, or if only results do.

Most leaders think:
"They’re paid. That’s enough."
Wrong.

When people feel unappreciated, they don’t complain.
They pull back.

They stop raising issues.
Stop volunteering solutions.
Stop owning outcomes beyond their role.

Work still gets done.
But leaders lose the energy, ideas, and loyalty that push teams forward.

Here’s what actually happens:

❎ Effort vanishes
❎ Feedback dries up
❎ Innovation stalls  
❎ Top performers quietly leave

This isn’t a people problem.
It’s a leadership failure.

Appreciation isn’t “good job” after it's done.
It’s noticing effort in the moment, not just after a win.

People who feel seen give more.
People who don’t… hold back.

Strong leaders don’t squeeze results.
They make people want to step up.

Question for leaders:
Do your people feel judged or truly seen?

♻️ Repost if someone on your team needs this.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for leadership, career moves, and scaling teams that actually work.

7 Things You Tolerate 
That Are Quietly Shrinking Your Career

You may not have built this cage,
but you’re holding the key.

Here’s what it often looks like:

🔴 A boss who praises you — but never advocates for you
🔴 Work that keeps you busy — but doesn’t grow your value
🔴 A reputation that’s respected — but only inside your team
🔴 Loyalty that gets applauded — but not rewarded
🔴 Visibility that ends at your job title

These aren’t small annoyances.

They’re slow leaks draining momentum, visibility, and belief.

👉 Each of these has a fix.
Swipe through to see where you may be tolerating more than you realise.

Before the market decides for you,
there’s a short self-assessment on my profile.

Less than 2 minutes.
It shows how you’re currently being positioned, 
and where momentum is leaking.

♻️ Repost if someone in your network needs this mirror
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for career strategy that works today, not in 2010

7 Things You Tolerate That Are Shrinking Your Career

If you’re struggling to move to the next level in your career,
You already know this:

✅ Job boards don’t work
✅ The best roles go to people already in the circle

So you try to “network.”

But it feels off.
You sound like a job beggar.
They ghost you.
You start doubting yourself.

Then what?

You pull back.
Tweak the resume.
Update LinkedIn.
Apply again.
Even though you know it won’t work.

Meanwhile, your confidence fades.

Here’s the truth no one teaches you:

💥 It’s not your experience.
💥 It’s not your resume.
💥 It’s your conversation strategy.

Because at $250K–$400K+?

You don’t chase roles.
You build trust first.
You get invited in.
You shape offers around your value.

That’s why these private conversations matter.

They’re not casual chats.
They’re strategic career moves.

Top performers use them to:
– Unlock unlisted roles
– Build trust with decision-makers
– Get pulled into opportunities before they’re public

If you’re not having these conversations,
You’re not “early.”
You’re invisible.

That’s exactly what we break down inside my private senior-level roundtable.

Real scenarios.
Real conversations.

You’re not learning in isolation.
You’re pressure-testing your thinking with peers who already operate at this level, and seeing where your approach breaks.

No theory.
Just honest calibration on how these conversations actually land.

DM “ROUNDTABLE”
This is where stalled senior careers get unstuck.

♻️ Repost this if someone you know is stuck in job-board limbo
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for $250K–$400K+ career plays that actually work

Resumes Don't Open Doors. These 7 Conversations Do

“I should’ve left earlier.”

Many senior IT professionals regretfully share with me.

Not because they were failing.
But because they stayed long after the role stopped growing them.

They were paid well.
Relied on.
Praised.

From the outside, everything looked fine.

It wasn’t.

Here’s what was happening underneath.

Their workload grew.
Their influence didn’t.

They were trusted to fix problems.
Not to shape direction.

Their role got busier.
But never bigger.

Their voice mattered in delivery.
Not in decisions.

They kept things running.
But they stopped moving forward themselves.

That’s the trap.

Nothing feels “wrong” enough to leave.
Yet nothing feels “right” enough to stay.

So they stay.

Not because of loyalty.

Because of fear.

Fear of losing status.
Fear of starting again.
Fear of leaving a role that’s become comfortable and effortless.

And comfort has a cost.

It slowly drains
energy,
confidence,
and options.

That’s why, sometimes,
the real career leap isn’t moving up.
It’s walking away.

Staying too long isn’t loyalty.
It’s poor judgment.

♻️ Repost if this felt uncomfortably familiar
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for posts on shaping careers

PS
I’m hosting a small, invite-only roundtable on Feb 7 with mid-senior IT professionals navigating this exact shift.

If you’d rather reflect privately first, there’s a short self-assessment in my Featured section.

Be careful about this as your career progresses.

At senior levels, most of what you do can be replicated.

Your role can be restructured.
Your responsibilities redistributed.
Your processes documented and handed over.

That’s the uncomfortable reality of modern organisations.

Experience alone doesn’t make you irreplaceable.

What I’ve seen, over and over, is this:

The professionals who keep moving forward aren’t always the ones with the best resumes or longest tenure.

They’re the ones people trust when things get messy.

Not because they know more.
But because of how they think.

They’ve seen systems fail at scale.
They know where risk actually hides.
They ask questions that prevent problems, not just fix them.

Technical skills can be hired.
Certifications can be matched.
Reliability becomes expected.

What can’t be copied is judgement under pressure.

The calm you bring into tense rooms.
The clarity you create when decisions stall.
The ability to see consequences others miss.

That’s what gets you pulled into conversations before roles even exist.

So if you’re still trying to look like what the system rewards, pause.

At this stage, your edge isn’t doing more.

It’s leaning into the perspective only your path has given you.

In a world built to standardise people,
the ones who advance are the ones whose thinking can’t be standardised.

♻️ Repost if this puts words to something you’ve been feeling.

🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded, real-world career insights that actually apply at senior levels.

Changing roles isn’t instability.

It’s what happens when a role stops stretching you
and starts repeating you.

Most senior professionals don’t stay because they’re growing.
They stay because leaving looks risky.

Because movement gets misread as a flaw.

Unstable.
Disloyal.
Hard to trust.

So they stay longer than they should.

The scope stays the same.
The learning slows.
The upside flattens.

But expectations keep rising.

That’s the trade no one spells out.

Companies optimise for continuity.
Markets reward relevance.
Careers only move when you move them.

Staying after growth has stopped isn’t loyalty.

It’s choosing familiarity
over the next version of your capability.

From the outside, everything looks fine.
From the inside, momentum quietly leaks away.

That’s how senior careers don’t fail.
They settle.

We all know someone.
Highly capable. Deeply loyal.
Stayed too long.
Still wishes they moved earlier.

♻️ Repost this for the person who needs permission to chase potential, not comfort.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career truths shaped by lived experience.

You didn’t hit your 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.
You learned to 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 under it.

I’ve seen this with 𝟐,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐓 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬.

Not because you lack talent.
Not because you didn’t work hard.
But because you adapted.

To safe roles.
To being “reliable”.
To what felt realistic.

So when you speak to me, you say:

“I’m probably too late.”
“It won’t work in my market.”
“I’ve already tried everything.”

I’ve heard this from:
• An architect 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 $𝟐𝟎𝟎𝐊
• A senior director 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟖 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬
• An analytics and AI pro 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞

And yet:

• $200K → $𝟔𝟓𝟎𝐊+
• 18 months jobless → two $𝟑𝟎𝟎𝐊 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 in 10 weeks
• Invisible → Global 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝟏𝟎𝟎 thought leader

Same people.
Same markets.
Different approach.

Here’s the 𝟓-𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬s I use to take clients from 

“𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞”
to 
“𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟.”
1️⃣ Career ≠ job
2️⃣ See your real power
3️⃣ Package your experience
4️⃣ Tell your story properly
5️⃣ Network like a pro
I break each step down in the carousel. 👉

♻️ Repost this if you know someone who’s too experienced to feel stuck.
🔔 Follow me (Ehsan Ali) for frameworks that make senior career moves strategic, not lucky.

The 5-Step Method I Use to Accelerate Career Growth

You can be very good at your work…
and still feel stuck.

Reliable.
Trusted.
Recognised.

Yet your role stays the same.

That’s the quiet frustration I see in senior IT careers all the time.

This week’s issue of The Shift breaks down why that happens
and the thinking shift that changes it.

If you’re a senior IT professional who’s delivering well
but not being trusted with bigger decisions yet,
this one is for you.

Click the image to read.
Move from reliable to promotable.

♻️ Repost for someone who needs this
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali

You can be very good at your work and still be stuck. Reliable. Trusted. Recognised. And yet… your role stays the same. If that sounds familiar, this 

Open article: The Shift | Issue #11 by Ehsan Ali • 4 min read

If you can’t clearly explain why you’re needed,
the room quietly decides without you.

And someone else gets the bigger role.

That’s how senior careers actually move.

Not on effort.
Not on tenure.
Not on how much you carry.

Those things make you useful.
They don’t make you necessary.

And being useful feels safe…
until you realise it’s also where careers stall.

At higher levels, decisions are made fast.
Often without you in the room.

The person who moves up is the one whose value is easy to explain:
– why them
– why now
– what breaks without them

If your impact needs a long explanation,
it loses force.

So you keep delivering.
You stay dependable.
You wait.

Meanwhile, someone else moves ahead.
Not louder.
Not smarter.
Just easier to place.

Over the last few years, working with 2,000+ senior professionals,
a pattern keeps repeating.

The ones who learned to clearly communicate why they were needed saw real shifts:
– 2–3 level role jumps
– $300K–$400K+ package moves
– senior roles created around their strengths

Most of them weren’t underperforming.
They were just being interpreted one level lower.

Same capability.
Very different results.

This isn’t a confidence problem.
It’s a communication problem.

When your value lands clearly, people pull you up.
When it doesn’t, they choose someone else.

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PS:
I’m hosting a small, invite-only roundtable soon with senior IT professionals working through this exact shift.

If you’d rather reflect quietly first, there’s also a short self-assessment quiz in my Featured section.

7 Career Traps Senior IT Pros Create Without Realising It

Not all career stalls come from bad bosses.
Or weak skills.
Or bad timing.

Most come from traps you build yourself.

They look like strengths.
They feel like professionalism.

They worked when you were mid-level.
Now they quietly cap your scope.

I see this daily, coaching senior IT professionals:

The hardest workers moving the slowest.
Not from lack of ability.
From patterns they never questioned.

Here are 7 career traps that show up as “doing the right thing”:

1️⃣ The Safe Pair of Hands
You deliver. Fix problems. Take on more.
Cost: Trusted but not expanded.

→ Shift from reliability to visible ownership.

2️⃣ The Quiet High Performer
Results are strong. Voice stays low.
Cost: Others define your value.

→ Frame your impact before it’s rewritten.

3️⃣ The Always-On Professional
Busy. Needed. Everywhere.
Cost: Activity replaces direction.

→ Cut work that doesn’t compound.

4️⃣ The Firefighter
Called in chaos. Calm under pressure.
Cost: Futures are decided without you.

→ Show up before things break.

5️⃣ The Low-Visibility Expert
Heads-down. Avoids politics.
Cost: Influence goes elsewhere.

→ Build proximity to decision-makers.

6️⃣ The Lateral Mover
New role. New logo. Same level.
Cost: Experience stops compounding.

→ Target stretch, not comfort.

7️⃣ The Approval Seeker
Careful. Aligned. Consensus-driven.
Cost: Bolder peers claim authority.

→ Decisive action earns leadership.

None of these come from laziness.

They come from success habits
that outlived their usefulness.

That’s how capable careers stall —
quietly, professionally, and without warning.

Which trap feels uncomfortably familiar?

♻️ Repost for a senior IT pro who delivers big but keeps plateauing
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