Performance reviews are supposed to make work fairer. They should help people understand how they are doing, recognize their contributions, identify areas for development, and make better decisions about promotions and pay. So why do so many people approach them with a mixture of dread, cynicism, and resignation? A client of mine, whom I'll call Quinn, works at a large global tech company. A few weeks ago, just as performance review season was getting underway, she told me ho

A client of mine, a director at a global tech company, told me recently about the moment she understood why her VP promotion kept not happening. Her team had prepared a partnership proposal, and she rewrote it herself the night before the executive review because it was faster than explaining what she wanted. The proposal landed well. Her leadership praised the output. And her name still didn't come up when the VP seat opened three months later, because everyone in that room