Managing A Career
I help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with years of experience, the knowledge and insights I share can show you how to position yourself for growth and career advancement.
160
Sept. 29, 2026
Analysis Paralysis Is Just Fear Wearing a Lab Coat - MAC160
Nobody has ever been written up for doing too much research. That's what makes it such a good place to hide.
In the biggest calls a career throws at you — the job, the promotion ask, the pivot you've been circling for two years. Research looks like diligence, and it feels like diligence the whole time. But past a certain point, it stops being research and starts being a well-dressed way of not deciding.
The Spreadsheet With Fourteen Columns
A recruiter reaches out about a role one level up, be
In the biggest calls a career throws at you — the job, the promotion ask, the pivot you've been circling for two years. Research looks like diligence, and it feels like diligence the whole time. But past a certain point, it stops being research and starts being a well-dressed way of not deciding.
The Spreadsheet With Fourteen Columns
A recruiter reaches out about a role one level up, be
159
Sept. 22, 2026
Are Your Emotions Holding You Back - MAC159
It's 11:40 on a Tuesday night, and you are not asleep.
You're replaying a sentence. Your skip-level said it around two-fifteen that afternoon, in a meeting with five other people in it: "Let's make sure we're being realistic about that timeline." You've run it back maybe forty times since. Tried it with the emphasis on realistic. Tried it on that. Drafted three replies you're never going to send. Somewhere around the thirtieth replay, you picked up your phone, which is how it got to be 11:40.
You're replaying a sentence. Your skip-level said it around two-fifteen that afternoon, in a meeting with five other people in it: "Let's make sure we're being realistic about that timeline." You've run it back maybe forty times since. Tried it with the emphasis on realistic. Tried it on that. Drafted three replies you're never going to send. Somewhere around the thirtieth replay, you picked up your phone, which is how it got to be 11:40.
158
Sept. 15, 2026
Not Every Failure Counts Against You - MAC158
Two people walk out of two different meetings having heard the same sentence: it didn't work. One of them skipped a step in a process the company has run four hundred times. The other tried something the company has never tried. Same sentence, same tone in the room, same quiet adjustment in how each of them gets described in the next talent review.
That's the problem underneath this whole piece: your organization almost certainly cannot tell those two people apart. Not because anyone up the cha
That's the problem underneath this whole piece: your organization almost certainly cannot tell those two people apart. Not because anyone up the cha
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About the Host
Layne Robinson
I've been a software developer for multiple Fortune 500 companies and spent time in the software consultant world, too. The past few years, I made the transition to management and currently lead a team of over 40 developers across the globe. In my 30 years, one thing I've realized is that most managers spend the majority of their one-on-one time focused on project status and not on career development. It's usually left for the individual to figure out how to progress. I have found that I actually enjoy mentoring and coaching and my teams are consistently recognized as some of the top teams in the company.