COO @ Kurogo | We Create Thought Leaders Through Personal Branding | x2 TEDx speaker | Advisor, Investor & NED | Law Graduate | I talk about entrepreneurship, agency life and grief

Hey, I’m Lewis! 👋 I'm an operator, builder, and believer in doing work that matters.

For the last 4 years, I helped scale Kurogo, one of the leading personal branding agencies, as Chief Operating Officer, partnering with 300+ world-class founders, CEOs, C-Suite Execs and public figures to grow their influence and impact. I joined in September '21 and within 4 years, we scaled to a 7-figure business, with a global, remote team of 20+. We had clients across the UK, Europe, USA and MENA regions.

I have 5+ years' experience as a Non-Executive Director, particularly within the non-profit and social impact sector. At present, I continue to serve as:

- Vice Chair & Non-Executive Director, Child Action Northwest
- Non-Executive Director, Spring North

Currently, I’m travelling and building quietly behind the scenes - creating space to explore what’s next.

Lewis Alexander Baxter

I've started being more intentional with my weeks. Here's what that looks like for me:

(w/c 23rd Feb edition)

It's my third week back in London. Starting to find my rhythm.

My plan:👇 

- 4 discovery calls for my operations consultancy 
- A full day in Leeds on Wednesday with a new client 
- 2 coffees (making more time for IRL this year) 
- Co-working with aryan on Thursday
- I'm a guest on Sarah's podcast on Friday

Oh, and I'm building a business in an industry I love. The branding and naming kicks off this week. More on that soon.

My non-negotiables:👇 

- Gym x3 
- Clean eating all week 
- Saturday is mine - Reading v Bradford City (my flatmate's a Bradford fan). Then a (brief) visit to the pub.

--

Accountability is easier when you say it out loud. 

Consider this me saying it out loud. 

Curious, what does your week look like? Do you have any non-negotiables? 

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

Five months ago, I went all in on myself.

This is the honest version of what that's looked like.

A recap of '26 so far (can't believe it's nearly mid-March):

Let me rewind:👇 

In mid-October, I left my full-time COO role after four years in agency life. We scaled to 7 figures, hired 25+ brilliant people.

I gave it everything. And I learned more than I could have imagined.

60 to 70-hour weeks, consistently. 

What a ride.

But somewhere along the way, I wanted something different. More control over my time. More freedom to build my own things. Work that fits around life rather than consuming it.

So I left.

Travelled. Australia, Fiji, Bali, New Zealand. A proper reset.

Landed back in London mid-December and hit the ground running. Picked up my first few clients, working with agency founders as a fractional COO and ops consultant.


January and February:👇 

My first working week of 2026, my grandad died.

It wasn't the January I'd hoped for.

Work took a back seat (and rightly so!)

Early February, I moved back to London properly. Got back into a rhythm and slowly things started moving again.

Now at 8 clients, up from 3 in mid-December. Starting a 9th this week (a cool agency in Slovenia!). 

In the last couple of months I've worked with founders scaling to £10k per month, helped one agency go from £30k to £45k per month in under three months, and I'm deep in the weeds on a 'road to £1 million ARR plan' with another.

The honest version of why I started this was never just money. 

It was about building work around life, not the other way around. 

More freedom. 
More travel. 
More saying 'yes' to what matters. 

Space to build something of my own. And eventually, time to give back to charities and social impact organisations too.

I probably undersold myself on what was possible.

The consultancy is growing fast, hitting numbers I'm proud of (but the bigger win is that it's on my terms!)


What's next:👇 

In a few months, I've grown a business with a lot of moving parts.

So I made my first hire. Two days a week. Supporting on my content systems, lead gen, and being an extra brain.

Next, I'll build out a network of partners. 

(Part-time, full-time, or specialist experts in specific tools and ops challenges, so clients get the right person for the right problem!)

Because the goal was never to build myself another job. It was to build something sustainable and intentionally designed.

Oh, I'm also building an agency in a space I genuinely love, alongside a co-founder. 

(more on this soon 👀 )

It's been a difficult few months in some ways. A genuinely exciting few months in others.

I'm learning to hold both.

March will be a BIG one. 🚀

“So, what do you do?” 

It's one of the most common questions in the world.

And for a growing number of people, one of the most reductive.

Last Thursday, I went to Charlie Rogers’ launch for his debut book: 

undefinable life design.

I stayed for ~4 hours.

And, you know what really stood out to me? 

Who Charlie brought together under one roof.

Around 60 people, brilliant minds, and real warmth. Genuine conversations - that remind you life and work can be bigger than one label.

That’s why Charlie’s core premise lands so well.

For me, this looks like:

Agency operator.
Business owner.
Charity trustee.
NED. 
Friend.
Son.

All true.

None of them are the full picture on their own.

Charlie and I had known of each other for years, but we probably connected properly last summer. 

I first saw him in action at Life Design Day in September...

(where I spent the day thinking more honestly about what I actually wanted from life and career!)

By that point, I’d already handed in my notice from a 4-year full-time COO role.

Not long after, I went off on a 9-week trip across Australia, Fiji, Bali and New Zealand.

Since then, I’ve thought a lot about something Charlie and I have spoken about at length:

That the 'portfolio career' is not a fallback.

It’s a deliberate architecture.

Multiple income streams.
Multiple interests.
Multiple contributions.

Held together by a common thread.

Most people make life fit around work (without even noticing they’re doing it!).

The more deliberate alternative is to decide what you want your life to look like first, then build work that funds and fits that.

I’m still very much on that journey. But I believe that more as every month passes.

Charlie, congratulations! It was a brilliant book launch, a brilliant room, and a brilliant reminder that we do not have to be defined by one title, one employer or one path.

--

If you’re looking to intentionally design your work around your life, drop a comment below and I’ll pick someone to send a free copy to.👇 

P.S. Fancy buying a copy? Link in comments!

5 agency & creator-led marketing opportunities YOU can apply for this weekend:👇

—

1/ Email Marketing Copywriter
act Copywriting Ltd
Salary: £34K (+ bonuses)
Location: Remote (UK only)

act Copywriting specialise in email marketing and sales page copy for B2B coaches, consultants and course creators. You’ll be writing emails people actually open and read. Funny, sharp, conversion-focused copy that makes clients money. You’ll work closely with the founder and Head of Strategy, with real responsibility early on.

—

2/ Content Lead
Compound Content Studio
Salary: $95K -$105K
Location: Full-time, remote

Compound Content Studio is a B2B SaaS content agency working with technology companies on founder-led growth. You’ll lead written content across LinkedIn and newsletters, interview founders and execs, edit ghostwritten thought leadership, coach junior writers, and own quality end-to-end.

--

3/ Senior Video Editor
Chris Donnelly Ltd
Salary: £55K (+ bonus) (OTE £71.5K - £77K)
Location: London Bridge (Hybrid)

Chris Donnelly has built four businesses before 35, scaled to eight figures, and grown 3M+ social followers. Now he's building the most practical high-performance business YouTube channel ever. You'll own the full video production system - long-form YouTube, Shorts, Instagram content, and thumbnails. Be accountable for retention, performance, and quality while building scalable workflows. 

--

4/ SEO & Content Executive
Cedarwood Digital
Salary: ~£26K
Location: Manchester (Hybrid)

Cedarwood Digital is a digital marketing and PR agency based in Manchester. You’ll write SEO-led content, support strategy, manage client communication and gradually build deeper technical SEO skills. A great role for someone early in their SEO career who enjoys writing and wants to get closer to how search and performance actually work.

--

5/ Campaign Manager
The Goat Agency
Salary: £35K
Location: London (Hybrid)

Goat is a global influencer marketing agency working with brands across multiple markets. You’ll manage campaigns end-to-end. From influencer selection and briefing through to delivery, optimisation and reporting. This role suits someone organised, calm under pressure, and comfortable coordinating across clients, creators and internal teams.

--

Every week, I share cool opportunities at marketing agencies and creator-led businesses. All were posted recently. Salaries included.

♻️ Repost to share these opportunities with your network.

The best things I've built didn't happen at my desk.

These are my (unstructured) thoughts on why.

There's something about a conversation over coffee that no Google Meet or Zoom call can replicate. The energy shifts when you're sat across from someone. You pick up on things you'd never catch on a screen. Body language, energy, the natural flow of a conversation.

I think we've accepted a diluted version of human connection and called it 'efficiency'.

As someone building businesses, it's easy to fall into the trap of locking yourself away. Head down, door shut, grinding through the to-do list.  

I've been there.

In my final year of university I was juggling a full-time COO role and my law degree. 16 to 18 hour days were just the reality. When you're in the trenches of scaling a 7-figure bootstrapped business, sometimes that's what it takes.

I'm not glorifying that. But those years taught me something important. 

The real breakthroughs - the ideas that actually moved things forward, the relationships that opened doors - rarely came from being sat at my desk. They came from being in an actual (not virtual) room with someone. From conversations that started as a catch-up and turned into something neither person expected.

Harvard Business Review found that 95% of people say face-to-face meetings are essential to building long-term relationships. 

I'd go further: they're essential to building anything worth building.

Today I worked from a coffee shop in West London, had a meeting with two incredibly sharp guys who are building something exciting (in stealth right now, so I'll leave it there), then moved to a hotel lobby for the afternoon. Different environments, different quality of thinking.

That last part matters more than people realise. Where you work shapes how you work. The coffee shop gives you one kind of energy. The hotel lobby gives you another. Your desk at home gives you another. None of them are wrong - but treating one as the default for everything is.

This is all part of something I'm trying to be much more intentional about. 

Building work around life, not the other way round. Protecting the things that matter - the conversations, the experiences, the moments of genuine human connection - and fitting the work around them. Not the reverse.

It's a different way of thinking about productivity. And I think it's a better one.

This won't look the same for everyone. Not everyone works well in a coffee shop, and that's fine. But getting out from behind a screen and meeting people in person? That part's universal. You'll thank yourself for it.

If you fancy grabbing a coffee, in London or elsewhere, lmk! 🤝 

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

KSI just bought a 20% stake in a sixth-tier football club. 

The strategy behind it is worth paying attention to.

He's now a shareholder and strategic partner at Dagenham & Redbridge FC.

It's one of the more interesting moves in football right now.

Here's why I think this matters (for KSI, and for Dagenham):👇 

1/ KSI brings a distribution network most Premier League clubs would envy.

17 million YouTube subscribers. 
A music career. 
A boxing empire. 

He's has spent 15 years building audiences and converting attention into commercial value. Lower league football is desperate for new revenue models.

A creator-owner who knows how to monetise attention unlocks things a traditional investor with deep pockets simply can't.


2/ This isn't his first move in football...

KSI has been president of Baller League UK since its launch in 2025. 

He's already been learning the football business from the inside. 

Buying a stake in a club like Dagenham is the next logical step.

That context matters. 

The club aren't getting a celebrity who turns up for photos. They're getting someone who's been in the space for years now. 


3/ Dagenham has something money can't buy: community loyalty.

Football has something almost impossible to manufacture:

Genuine local belonging. 

In February, Happy Fan Group completed its takeover of the club. 

John Grabowski, who leads the investment group, said the partnership is "a clear statement of our intent" to build a club relevant to both its local community and a global audience. 

That dual positioning is where the real opportunity lives. KSI knows how to serve both. Local clubs at this level rarely get that combination. 

--

KSI said he wants to take the Daggers to the Premier League

(that's a bold claim for a side currently five points off the National League South play-off spots!)

The Wrexham comparisons are already coming. But KSI isn't Reynolds or Mac

And that's the point.

Taking a sixth-tier club to the Premier League is a long shot.

What KSI is doing at Dagenham is worth paying attention to regardless of where they finish.

-- 

♻️ Repost if you found this valuable. 

PS. Hey, I'm Lewis! 👋 Fractional COO by trade. Curious about where business, culture and sport are colliding. Follow if that's your thing...

5 awesome agency marketing jobs YOU can apply for this weekend:

--

1/ Client Services Director 
The Focus Agency Group
Salary: £55K - £60K (DOE) 
Location: Essex (3 days in office)

The Focus Agency Group is a full-service marketing agency operating across Media, Creative and Spaces. In this role, you'll lead and develop the Client Services team (Account Managers and Execs), build strong senior-level client relationships, oversee delivery of high-quality work on brief and budget, and help identify new business opportunities.

--

2/ Account Manager
noticed. 
Salary: £27K - £30K (DOE) 
Location: Wilmslow (Hybrid - 3 days/week in office)

noticed. is the UK's #1 LinkedIn agency and one of the fastest-growing marketing agencies in the North of England, partnering with organisations like the NHS and Ocean Beach. You'll manage day-to-day client relationships, coordinate campaign delivery from brief to execution, attend meetings and present work, monitor performance, and spot opportunities to grow accounts. (I’ve worked with Niall previously and can vouch for what he's building). 

--

3/ Paid Media Director 
The Social Shepherd
Salary: £51K - £60K (DOE) 
Location: London/Bath/Remote

The Social Shepherd is a fast-growth agency helping global brands, household names, and high-growth scale-ups accelerate their business growth. Recently won Best Large Social Agency in the UK. You'll oversee Paid Search and Paid Social strategy for eCommerce brands, lead full-funnel media strategies, be the core escalation point for clients, guide your team on performance insights, and lead new business pitches alongside the Head of Paid Media.

--

4/ Client & Agency Partnerships Manager
SB Media Group (Supercar Blondie) 
Salary: £45K - £55K + uncapped commission (35% OTE) 
Location: Remote (UK-based, offices in London/Manchester)

World's leading automotive entertainment media brand with 120M followers generating 1.5B views monthly. Drive revenue by managing relationships with media agencies and automotive advertisers, sell social-first branded content and sponsorships, handle briefs, develop opportunities, and help establish SB Media as a trusted premium partner. Flexible working including 4-day week options.

--

5/ Senior SEO Consultant 
SALT.agency 
Salary: From £42K 
Location: Remote/Hybrid

SALT is a marketing agency focused on delivering growth outcomes to our customers by supporting them in content, SEO, and data analytics. Clients include Amplitude, Cloudflare and GitLab. In this role, you'll lead technical and strategic SEO campaigns across SaaS, eCommerce and Travel, act as trusted advisor to clients, solve complex SEO challenges, and coach peers. 

--

Every week, I share fresh roles across marketing, social and comms. All posted in the last 10 days, with salary shown.

♻️ Repost to share these opportunities with your network.

Formula 1 had the best racing in the world. 

But, fans just couldn't connect with the sport, the drivers or the story behind it.

For many of us, F1 felt inaccessible. And commercially it was paying the price. 

Drive to Survive changed that.

Before the series landed, F1 didn't fully recognise the extent to this problem. 

The racing was spectacular. But emotionally? It felt out of touch. Drivers said the right things in press conferences. PR teams carefully controlled what got out. The paddock felt like it belonged to a different world.

Then Netflix put cameras in the middle of it.

Three things happened that are worth paying attention to - as a fan, and as anyone working in sport, content, or brand.👇 

--

1/ The paddock stopped feeling like a closed world

Suddenly it felt accessible. 

Fans were seeing what happened after a retirement, after a race win, in the conversations that never made it to broadcast. 

Connecting with drivers as actual people. That connection turned passive viewers into properly invested fans.

True fan engagement. 

(Season 7 of Drive to Survive remains the most-watched sports documentary on Netflix, with 10.4 million views)


2/ A new audience found the sport and actually stayed

F1's social following exploded. A new generation of supporters - many of them younger, many of them women, a huge number of them in the United States - found the sport through the documentary and stayed for the racing. 

The average age of the F1 fan dropped noticeably. 

The sport stopped being a largely European institution and started feeling genuinely global.


3/ The commercial story rewrote itself entirely

Sponsors follow attention. And Drive to Survive created attention in markets F1 had struggled to crack for years. Las Vegas got a race. Miami got a race. 

Oracle signed as Red Bull's title sponsor. LVMH committed to a 10-year global partnership with the sport. 

ESPN's average US viewership grew from around 547,000 in 2018 to over 1.2 million by 2022, and F1 used that momentum to renegotiate broadcast deals from a position of actual strength.

A sport that had plateaued commercially found a completely new gear.

--

The new series drops on the 27th.

What Netflix proved here goes well beyond F1. 

Audiences don't need stories to be manufactured. They need access. Genuine access to the people behind elite performance.

Give people a way in. The rest takes care of itself.

PS. Who has watched Drive to Survive? And who's ready for the new series?

Everyone talks about product-market fit like it’s a lightbulb moment.

“We found it. Here’s how.”

But that’s hindsight talking.

The people I love following on LinkedIn are the ones in the thick of it. Sharing lessons live. Not polished retrospectives once the hard work is done.

The reality? Most of the interesting work (ie. the messy, uncomfortable, expensive work) happens before you find the fit. And not many people post about that part.

Right now I’m building a few businesses simultaneously. An operations/fractional COO consultancy, an agency within the sports space, and FUNC - an online health store. 

All at different stages. All still finding their footing in some areas.

And honestly? That’s the part I want to talk about more.

Because the gap between what you think the market wants and what people will actually pay for, consistently, is where most businesses get stuck. 

Agencies, B2B services, physical products. It doesn’t matter the model. The challenge is the same.

A few things I keep coming back to:👇

1/ Validation ≠ revenue:

Someone saying “that sounds amazing” is not the same as them buying. Enthusiasm is easy. Commitment costs something. 


2/ The model matters as much as the offer: 

You can have the right product or service with completely the wrong commercial structure. Retainer, project, subscription, one-time purchase - each one attracts a different buyer and builds a different business.


3/ Distribution is underrated: 

You can have the right offer at the right price and still struggle if you’re reaching the wrong people. How you get in front of buyers matters as much as what you’re selling.


4/ Iteration > perfection:

Waiting until the offer feels fully formed before putting it out there is how you spend months optimising something the market doesn’t actually want.


Still figuring it out. Still adjusting.

But I think there’s more value in documenting the journey than waiting until I’ve “cracked it” to share anything.

Who else is in the thick of it right now?

⚡️ LinkedIn Top Voice ⚡️ Be happier and more fulfilled by changing how you work ⚡️ Former People Partner at KPMG

I help teams to improve their performance by changing how they work.

When teams work differently, companies get the performance they want and people get work that feels more fulfilling.

My approach combines behavioural science, leadership psychology, and real-world experience.

That real-world experience comes from over 20 years at KPMG, where I was a Partner, COO, and Head of People for a major division, alongside leading complex client work. I have seen first-hand what actually drives performance in high-pressure, high-accountability environments.

I work with organisations where:

Productivity is falling despite longer hours and bigger teams
High performers and future leaders are leaving
Engagement and discretionary effort are declining
Cognitive overload is driving poor decisions
Burnout and stress-related absence are increasing
Client experience and service quality are slipping
Innovation is squeezed out by constant busyness
Leaders are stuck firefighting instead of leading

The solution is not greater effort.
It is working differently.

Organisations including HSBC, M&G, and Royal London work with me globally on leadership and management development programmes, offsites, and all-company events, both in person and virtually.

“𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴.”
– 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘊𝘌𝘖, 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘱𝘭𝘤

If you are a senior leader exploring how to improve the performance of your team through better ways of working, feel free to message me.

Mostyn Wilson

Rude people win at work.

Not because they're better.

Because we let them.

When someone is blunt, dismissive, or aggressive, it creates an illusion of urgency.

People think they must be important.
Under pressure.
Getting things done.

So they get more space, airtime, and influence.

Meanwhile, respectful people wait their turn.
They don't interrupt.
They trust their work will speak for itself.

It hardly ever does.

Teams tend to adapt around the loudest voice, not the best one.

When we stay quiet, we reinforce it.
When leaders look away, they allow it.

I've broken down exactly why this keeps happening in the carousel.

And what changes when we stop accepting it.

The moment someone speaks up, the dynamic shifts.

Because everyone else was thinking it too.

Your co-workers are waiting for someone to say what they're all feeling.

That person could be you.

Follow me Mostyn Wilson for more ways to be successful at work.

Smarter ways of working - High performing teams | ex-KPMG Partner, COO & Head of People

The Real Reason Rude People Keep Winning at Work

Management is not a promotion.

It’s a trade.

I’ve spent 25 years leading teams.

Here’s what that trade really costs.

You stop being measured by what you produce.

You start being measured by what others become.

That shift sounds inspiring.

Few people are ready for what comes with it.

Here’s what that trade really looks like:

Emotional labour becomes your real job.

👉 You manage confidence. Doubt. Conflict. Unspoken tension.

Decision fatigue becomes normal.

👉 By late afternoon, your brain is tired from non-stop decisions.

When the team wins, they get the credit.

👉 When things go wrong, you carry it.

Friendships change.

👉 The same people you grabbed lunch with now look to you for direction.

Your calendar stops being yours.

👉 Deep work moves to the end of your day.

And you will miss being an individual contributor.

Because there was a time when finishing your own work felt like progress.

Now progress only happens through others.

Most people chase management for status.

Few understand the exchange.

But when it’s done well, management multiplies your impact in a way being an individual contributor never can.

You don't just deliver outcomes.

You start building people.

You leave the team stronger than you found it.

And that scales far beyond anything you could ever deliver alone.

That is the trade.

And that’s the real promotion.

💾 Save and repost this so your network sees this.
And follow Mostyn Wilson for more like this.
__

Get weekly 'work secrets' here:

https://lnkd.in/eE287NTG

6 Brutal Truths About Management

How to challenge ideas at work... 
without being labelled “difficult”
(Even with senior leaders)
 
Early in my career, I worried about sounding rude.

So I kept quiet, even when things didn’t make sense.
 
But silence isn’t professional... it’s a missed opportunity.
 
Here’s what changed everything for me 👇
 
→ Clear words build trust, not tension.

→ Respectful honesty moves projects forward faster.

→ You don’t need to choose between being kind and being clear.
 
We’re often keep quiet to avoid conflict.
 
But the smartest thing you can do?
 
Speak up with respect and clarity.
 
Here are the scripts you can use every day:
 
“Can I share a thought on this?”

“I see it a bit differently, would it help to explain my view?”

“I want to make sure I understand, can we walk through it together?”
 
You can be honest without being harsh.
 
For senior stakeholders, I make it more direct and respectful:

“I appreciate your perspective. May I offer a different angle for consideration?”

“Would it be helpful if I shared some risks I see with this approach?”

“Could I suggest an alternative that might support our goals?”
 
Because your view delivered with respect earns influence.
 
Check out the carousel for a bonus phrasebank to use in your next meeting.

Learning to speak up the right way saved my reputation.
 
It also made me more trusted by peers and senior leaders.
 
Which script will you try next time?

Drop it below 👇
 
♻ Repost this to help someone else.

 Follow me Mostyn Wilson for more strategies like this.

How to speak up without sounding rude

A lot of people try to impress their manager by doing more than they need to.

I know this because I used to do it myself.

When I was earlier in my career at KPMG, I’d jump into every topic whether it was mine or not.

I thought adding my input made things better.

Sometimes it did, but often it just created noise.

Eventually I realised the real value wasn’t in doing more.

It was in doing the things that genuinely moved the team forward.

And doing them well.

That shift helped me focus on what mattered, protect my time, and make life easier for the people I worked with, including my manager.

It also freed up hours each week that I didn’t realise I was losing.

And funny enough, my relationships improved too, because I stopped unintentionally slowing down other people’s work.

So I put together a simple carousel with the 6 behaviours that help you look good to your manager in the right way – without overworking, overstepping, or overcomplicating your day.

Small changes, big impact.

Especially when you apply them consistently.

If you find this useful, save the carousel, or share it with someone who’d benefit.

Follow me Mostyn Wilson for more ways to be successful at work.

How to Make Your Manager Look Good

Competence is judged in the first 20 seconds.

Not over the full meeting.

Not after your slides.

The first 20 seconds.

And I’ve seen incredibly capable people lose authority before they even reach their point.

Not because their idea was weak.

Because their delivery was.

They begin with context.
They walk through the background.
They explain every variable.

By the time they reach their actual point, they've lost the room.

Here’s what most people miss:

– Clarity is interpreted as intelligence.

– Structure is interpreted as leadership.

When your thinking feels scattered, people assume your judgement is too.

Strong communicators flip the order.

They start with the conclusion.
Then they explain the reasoning, if needed.

That one shift changes how you're perceived.

It signals control.

It reduces cognitive load for the listener.

It makes decision-making easier for everyone else in the room.

Authority is not usually about knowing more.

It’s about making your thinking easy to follow.

The biggest rule I use now is simple:

If I can’t summarise my point in one clean sentence, I’m not ready to say it out loud.

I'm still working on it... but that rule forces clarity.

And clarity compounds into credibility.

Over time, people start describing you differently.

Decisive. Clear. Sharp.

Not because you got more intelligent.

Just because you changed the order of what you say.

Pretty cool.

Take a look at the whiteboard for more.
__

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Whiteboard titled “The Communication Framework That Makes You Look 10X More Competent” by @mostynwilson. It presents nine boxed sections with blue and red headings outlining tips for clearer communication: why people sound less competent, speak in conclusions, a four-part formula (Context, Point, Reason, Next Step), one-sentence-first technique, stop rambling, weak vs strong example, adapt by channel, remove hesitant phrases, and questions to ask before speaking. Key highlights stress leading with the point, reducing filler words, and structured messaging. Bottom line reads: “Clear thinkers sound competent.” Markers and an eraser sit on the tray.

Everyone says: "Work hard and you'll get promoted"
 
But that's not how it works.
 
Most promotions happen because of rules nobody talks about.
 
If you want to move up, you need to know these hidden rules.

Otherwise, you'll keep wondering why you're stuck.
 
I've watched people get passed over for promotion multiple times, while someone less skilled moved up... simply because they knew these rules.
 
Here's what really gets people promoted:

1/ Get noticed or get left behind

If leaders don't see your work, they'll forget about you.

The quiet ones get left behind.
 
2/ Trust is as important as talent

Bosses promote people they feel comfortable with, not just the ones with the best skills.
 
3/ Relationships build your future

If you connect people and work well with others, you'll rise faster.
 
4/ Being too good at your job can trap you

If you're the only one who can do something, you might stay stuck doing it.

Don't make yourself impossible to replace.
 
5/ You need someone fighting for you

You need a champion... someone who tells others you're ready for the next step.
 
Refusing to understand office politics is naive.

It's not just about working hard.

You need to understand how decisions are made and who really has influence.
 
Here's the thing:
 
You don't need to play dirty or be fake.
 
But if you only focus on your work and ignore these rules, you'll watch others move up whilst you stay put.
 
Want to get promoted?
 
Learn these unspoken rules.

That's how real career growth works... even if nobody says it out loud.
 
P.S. Follow me (Mostyn Wilson) for the career truths nobody else will tell you.

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The Unspoken Rules That Decide Who Gets Promoted

Being overly professional kills your credibility.

And makes you forgettable.

I didn’t realise that at first.

I thought being “professional” meant staying agreeable.

Softening my words.
Apologising quickly.
Asking before acting.

I thought that was how you earned respect.

It wasn’t.
It just made me easier to overlook.

Here’s what I eventually realised:

Over-politeness signals uncertainty.
And uncertainty weakens authority.

These were the 7 habits holding me back that I had to unlearn:

1/ Taking feedback personally instead of staying calm.

2. Adding disclaimers to every idea.
“This might be wrong but…”

3/ Apologising for normal things.
"Sorry for the delay."
"Sorry for the follow-up."

4/ Asking permission for decisions I already owned.

5/ Downplaying wins instead of accepting credit.

6/ Waiting to be noticed instead of making my impact visible.

7/ Avoiding disagreement to keep the peace.

Take a look at the carousel for more detail.

None of these habits made me more respected.

They made me forgettable.

Here’s what I learned:

Credibility isn’t built by sounding careful.

It’s built by being clear, calm, and willing to stand behind your thinking.

Most capable professionals don’t lack skill.

They lack visible conviction.

And conviction is what gets remembered.

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__

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Avoid these 7 traps that make you look weak at work

Most people lose salary negotiations because they talk about their effort.

Not leverage.

I learned this the hard way.

Early in my career, I asked for a raise by explaining how hard I worked.

Long hours.
Extra projects.
Always available.

The answer was polite.
But still no.

What changed everything was this:

Salary is not about effort.
It’s about positioning.

Your: 

- Timing
- Evidence
- Market alignment

If your impact isn’t visible, it can't be quantified.

If your ask is vague, your outcome will be too.

If you fill the silence after naming your number, you hand back leverage.

The best negotiators are the most prepared.

They walk in with data.
They state the number.
Then they stop talking.

Most “no’s” aren’t actually a rejection.
They’re just bad timing.

Because the other person hasn't had time to think.

So, this is the framework I use.

Study it before your next review.

Salary negotiation is a professional skill.

And professionals prepare.

♻️ Repost to help others get paid what they're worth too.

⭐️ Follow me (Mostyn Wilson) for smarter ways manage your career.

Whiteboard poster titled “How to Negotiate Your Salary (Without Feeling Awkward or Greedy)” showing a circular tactical framework. In the centre: “Salary Negotiation – Value → Leverage → Timing → Structure.” Surrounding sections include: Timing, Evidence, The Conversation Structure, Objection Handling, Total Compensation, and Foundation. Each section lists bullet points such as measurable results, market benchmarks, appreciation and direct ask, handling budget objections, bonuses and equity, and preparation. Arrows connect the sections in a loop. The board is mounted in an office setting with markers on the tray, a plant to the left, and shelves and a coffee mug to the right.

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The Battle

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Mostyn Wilson

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The Battle

Lewis Alexander Baxter

Mostyn Wilson

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Lewis Alexander Baxter's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreLewis Alexander Baxter's LinkedIn Performance