You look the part, you sound the part, you check every box, but something still isn't landing.

You've got the education. You're articulate, you're well put together. People like you.

And yet, you're still being overlooked, being underestimated still underpaid still

sitting in meetings where you feel invisible while someone else less capable takes

the lead and maybe you've been asking yourself these specific questions why am am I not getting promoted? Why am I still

doing so much and still being overlooked? Why don't people see me the way I want to be seen? Here's what

no one tells you. You don't have a competence issue. you have a poise issue and you may not

even know it you think that the answer is more polish a better look a stronger

voice a sharper tone but polish it only gets you invited but poise makes them ask you to stay polish is the surface

poise is the signal and the world responds to your signal every time.

Let me give you a little background story.

Years ago, I baked a cake.

It was a strawberry cake.

I put my whole heart into this cake.

It was soft, rich, perfect.

It even had little fresh strawberries in the batter and on top. I did the work,

but the outside wasn't pretty. I frosted it, but, you know, just enough to make it kind of look good.

And when I brought it in the kitchen for everyone to taste it, nobody touched it.

What? After all that work, they smelled it, they looked at it, they said, good job.

But they didn't even taste one bite.

But here's the part that I want you to focus on.

I started panicking. I started begging them. Can you

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