Getting promoted - overcoming systemic barriers

It really resonated for me because I heard this often when I was Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for a design and engineering consultancy firm.   

Securing promotion when you can't see others like you is psychologically a hard thing to navigate.  

Learie built a career in building surveying and architecture, industries where, as he put it, he simply didn’t look like the people around him. And that came with real consequences.

It affects confidence, visibility, opportunity, and progression.

Many leaders assume that those who “don’t get promoted” need more ambition or better performance.

Often, the reality is simpler: the system wasn’t built for them in the first place.

When you’re the “only one,” you can start doubting whether you belong.

Learie didn’t pretend that confidence was easy.

What he developed instead was self‑belief as a discipline. Holding onto the truth of his capability even when the environment didn’t reflect it back.

Leaders who break the mould need internal reference points, not external ones.

Learie talked openly about how learning became his biggest lever.

Not formal qualifications alone but curiosity:

Asking questions

Shadowing colleagues

Trying things before he felt “ready”

Building technical skill through practice

Curiosity becomes a career accelerator when opportunity isn’t handed to you.

This can be transformation, someone in your team, fighting your corner - helping you to see that you can rather than you cant. Relationships that have the potential to create visibility, open doors, and influence your trajectory.

If you're a business owner, team leader, or senior exec, you influence who progresses and who doesn’t.

Remember that 

• Talent doesn’t always look like the last person who was promoted.
• Confidence can be misread when someone is navigating a culture not built for them.
• Curiosity and potential can sit quietly in the background unless someone sees it.

Leaders who create conditions for people to grow, not just those who “fit” build stronger, more resilient organisations.

Learie didn’t break the mould by becoming someone else.

He broke it by staying authentically himself, developing his skills, and forming relationships that saw beyond assumptions.

Promote who people are not who the system expects them to be.

And if you’re the one feeling like the outsider?

Take Learie’s example:

Believe in your capability, stay curious, build genuine connections and push forward anyway.

As leaders, we shape the environments that either limit people or lift them. If you’re committed to creating a culture where diverse talent thrives and where potential is recognised beyond the usual markers, that work starts with you.

If you’re ready to lead with more clarity, confidence and conviction, my 1:1 Bold Leadership Programme helps you step into a stronger leadership identity so you can build teams who grow, perform and progress because of the culture you create, not in spite of it.

If you want to lead differently, start boldly.

Book a clarity call to explore whether it’s the right next step for you.