“I’ve spent 3 months working on the drop shadow of a button”.
I’d just asked James, a new connection from Engineering, what he was working on. He laughed and went on to say:
“One of the most important products that Eng works on out of Sydney is Chrome. As you know, there’s a huge global push to make Google’s design more beautiful. But we can’t risk the #1 thing people love about Chrome - speed. My team’s leading the effort to test how the redesign affects performance, like how people use the buttons”.
The first line about drop-shadows is the zoomed-in view.
Most of us stay stuck there. But no one really understands (or even cares 🤔 about) the details of your work. They care about how it connects to things that are relevant to them.
Everyone’s working at different altitudes
Consider this dynamic:
You need to translate between these two worlds. That’s the skill that changes how people see you. Your promotability depends on it.
It shows up in almost everything you do - performance reviews, presenting your work, casual conversations, leading meetings and especially when talking to senior leaders.
The 4Rs: What leaders actually care about
They’re usually thinking about some form of these things:
1. Revenue/Growth
Getting new customers
Making more money from existing customers
Launching new products or markets
2. Risk
Compliance and legal protection
Keeping operations stable
Avoiding major mistakes
3. Resources/Efficiency
Doing more with the same team
Reducing costs
Working faster
4. Reputation
Protecting brand trust with customers
Managing the company’s image with media / partners
Sure, your company has a set of OKRs/goals but they usually sit fairly meaninglessly in a spreadsheet. Looking at what you work on and connecting it up to the 4Rs helps to make sense of it. You need to build your zoom out/zoom in muscle.
Here’s a real life example
Soph (me): L4 Product Marketing Manager
Project: Launching ‘Getting Aussie Business Online’ (lol it was 2011…)
My piece: Running events, supporting Comms team on press
Let’s look at two different versions of me presenting to the full Australian Marketing team.
Why SOPH B’s structure works better:
Starts with why it matters / the problem (Reputation)
Connects to strategic goal
What we did and the impact
Zooms into execution + real example
Magic Patterns connect your work to what matters
Memorising a few of these ‘Magic Patterns’ has been a game changer for me.
1. “Let me start with why this matters, then I’ll get into the details...
Good for: All-purpose pattern for setting context from the start eg talking to senior leaders, your manager, presentations, one-pagers.
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2. “Zooming out. We’re trying to [strategic outcome]. To get there I recommend we…”
God for: Putting forward your ideas and opinions so they land better, speaking up in meetings, pushing back on priorities that don’t make sense.
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3. “As you know, we are [company priority]. The piece I’m leading is...”
Good for: Round-the-room shares in meetings, casual “what are you working on?” conversations, connecting your work to big important things.
Alt: “As you know, we’re trying to solve [big problem]. I’m helping with that by...”
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4. “We needed to [outcome]. Here’s what we did, and the impact it had.”
Good for: Project wraps, talking about contributions and achievements, performance review snippets.
Example:
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Love and impact
Soph ✌🏼
Soph I love it that you are on Substack now!!! Blog and newsletter at once. That’s why I chose Substack too by the way - and the community!