Something to watchGetting ahead
A Harvard career coach's unspoken rules for getting promoted
A 6-minute video on the unwritten expectations behind who gets promoted
Why it’s worth your time
Doing your job well is necessary for a promotion, but it's rarely enough on its own. Gorick Ng, who advises first-generation college students at Harvard, names expectations nobody writes down, among them understanding what your manager is actually trying to achieve. It takes six minutes, and the first move it points to is a single question.
How to get promoted at work
- Watch the video.
Listen for what he says separates people who rise from people who stall. It's less about effort than you might expect.
- Ask about the bigger goal.
In your next 1:1, or when the next request comes in, ask what the work is serving. Ask as someone who wants it to land, not someone questioning the assignment.
You“Happy to take this on. What's the bigger goal it's serving, so I can make sure it lands where it needs to?”
Good moments for this: before a reviewwhen you start with a new managerwhen you feel overlooked
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Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
- A living page in your VaultKeep it as one page you add to, next to your reviews and your files.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Making sure the people who decide know what you did, and why it mattered, is part of the work. A short note after something lands is often enough.
What might make this harder
That's information too; they may be waiting on their own boss. Offer your best guess and ask if it's close.
Questions people ask
What are Gorick Ng's unspoken rules for getting promoted?
In this video he argues that keeping your head down only gets you so far, and that people who rise build relationships, make an impact, and work to understand their manager's objectives even when nobody spells them out.
Who is Gorick Ng?
A career adviser at Harvard College who coaches first-generation and low-income students, and the author of The Unspoken Rules, a book about the workplace expectations people often aren't told.
How do I get promoted if hard work isn't enough?
Understand what your manager and team are trying to achieve, connect your work to it, and make sure the people who decide know what you've done. Ask your manager what the next level would require.
Is the Big Think video the whole class?
No. It's a free excerpt from a longer Big Think+ class sold to organizations. The clip stands on its own.
What it says, and how it holds up
Most workplaces run on expectations nobody writes down, and people raised around professional work tend to absorb them while everyone else has to guess. That gap is Gorick Ng's subject. He's a career adviser at Harvard College who works with first-generation and low-income students, and the author of The Unspoken Rules. Keeping your head down is good advice right up until it isn't.
This clip, an excerpt from a longer Big Think+ class, makes the case that the people who rise are set apart less by effort than by the relationships they build, the impact they make, and how hard they work to understand what their manager is trying to do, even when it's never said. In a post sharing the video, Ng frames the move as looking past what you were assigned and asking why the work matters. Six minutes is short for a big subject, so expect a frame more than a full method.
That frame fits how promotions tend to work. A manager usually has to argue for your promotion to people who don't see your work day to day, and the easiest case to make is one tied to what the team or company needed. When your work clearly serves the goals above you, your manager has a story to tell. Asking about the bigger goal is the cheapest way to find out what that story should be.
Advice about unspoken rules draws fair criticism for putting the work of fitting in on the people with the least power, and that's worth holding in mind. Knowing the rules still beats guessing at them. Reach for something else if your manager is the obstacle: if they keep information close or take credit for your work, the question isn't how to read their goals but who else can see what you do, whether that's their boss, a mentor or another team.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.