TL;DR: Using "we" when describing your accomplishments makes you invisible in leadership conversations. Learn to articulate your specific contributions without sounding like a credit-stealing jerk.
I watched a director get passed over for VP three times. Same story every promotion cycle.
"We increased revenue by 40%." "We launched the new product line." "We restructured the entire department."
The hiring committee had no clue what this person actually did. They sounded like someone who showed up to meetings and took notes.
Meanwhile, another director who started six months later? Got promoted. Her secret? She knew exactly how to talk about her contributions.
Your "We" Problem Is Killing Your Promotions
Here's what's happening when you default to "we" language. You're signaling that you weren't the person with the idea. You weren't in charge. You didn't drive measurable results.
You become background noise.
I learned this the hard way in my early CTO days. I'd walk into board meetings talking about how "we" built this amazing system or "we" solved that critical problem. The CEO would nod politely, then ask specific questions that made me scramble.
"What was your role in this?" "How did you personally contribute?" "What would have happened without your involvement?"
I had no crisp answers. Just more "we" statements.
Look, I'm not telling you to throw your team under the bus or steal credit. That's career suicide. But you need to get specific about your role in the success.
The Three Questions That Change Everything
When you're talking about accomplishments, answer these three questions:
How did you enable the outcome? Instead of "We reduced customer churn by 30%," try "I implemented a predictive analytics system that identified at-risk customers, enabling the team to reduce churn by 30%."
You're not saying you reduced churn alone. You're showing what you built that made the reduction possible.
How did you promote the effort? Don't say "We got buy-in from leadership." Say "I presented the business case to the C-suite and secured $2M in funding for the initiative."
This shows you can sell ideas upward. That's executive material.
What systems did you put in place to guarantee success? Skip "We delivered on time." Go with "I established weekly sprint reviews and risk mitigation protocols that kept us on track for our delivery deadline."
You created the framework that made success inevitable.
The Magic Formula
Here's the pattern: "I [specific action] that enabled [team/organization] to [measurable result]."
Try it:
- "I redesigned the onboarding process that helped our team reduce new hire time-to-productivity by 40%."
- "I negotiated vendor contracts that saved the company $500K annually."
- "I created cross-functional working groups that eliminated the silos causing project delays."
See how you're the catalyst, not the hero? You made things possible. You removed barriers. You built systems.
The Burnout Connection
Hiding behind "we" language creates a vicious cycle. You work harder to get noticed, but your contributions remain invisible. This leads to frustration, longer hours, and eventually burnout when promotions keep going to people who know how to articulate their value.
Trust Yourself
Start tracking your specific contributions this week. Write down exactly what you enabled, promoted, or systematized. Your next performance review depends on it.
Until next time, my friends!
—Oliver
