Something I've noticed in my own career is that the person who gets promoted is rarely the most talented one in the room.
It's the one who asks questions when everyone else stays quiet. Who challenges ideas instead of just nodding along. Who makes sure their thinking is heard on calls even when they're the most junior person there.
They sell their work. Not in a cringe way, they just don't let good thinking die in a Figma file. They connect the dots out loud, in the room, where it matters.
The talented designer who keeps their head down and delivers? They stay where they are. Not because the work isn't good. Because nobody fights your corner if you won't fight it yourself. They put themselves in the conversations that matter, they make their opinions heard.
Took me a while to figure that out.
Has anyone else noticed this or is it just the environments I've been in?