Career Revisionist with Dr. Grace Lee The Hidden Laws That Decide If Leaders See You As Support Staff or Leadership
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Jan 20, 2026 Explore the critical distinction between being helpful and being seen as a leader. Discover how perception shapes your professional value—whether you're viewed as support staff or a strategic thinker. Learn about the importance of owning ambiguity to alleviate leaders' cognitive load. Shift your communication to expose risks rather than just reporting tasks. Finally, find out how clarity can reduce drama in the workplace and position you for leadership, transforming effort into visible proof of authority.
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Perception Defines Career Path
- Organizations categorize people by function, not just skill, which shapes promotion pathways.
- Dr. Grace Lee calls this the 'economic value of perception' that assigns you to relief or direction roles.
Long Tenure Still Read As Relief
- Dr. Grace Lee describes a client who led 115–120 engineers for 18 years yet was perceived mainly as relief.
- After a mindset shift and mentorship, his presence and clarity changed and he stopped being the firefighter.
Leadership Training Trains Relief
- Leadership training often unintentionally teaches successors to be relief-focused rather than directional.
- That creates a succession gap where capable people are not perceived as strategic leaders.