Most competent people do not get promoted. They get buried.

This episode breaks down the competence trap. The quiet lie that if you work harder, stay later, and fix every problem, someone will eventually reward you. That belief is wrong. Skill without leverage turns you into a load bearing wall. Useful, reliable, and impossible to move.

We walk through the actual mechanics behind stagnation. High output plus zero friction makes you comfortable to exploit. When your boss feels relief handing you work, you have already lost strategic position.

Then we move to the exit plan. A three step protocol to escape being indispensable. Documenting your work until it no longer lives in your head. Engineering your role to run without you. Practicing strategic negligence so others are forced to solve low value problems without you.

The core message is simple. Competence alone does not create advancement. Leverage does. Stop being the best cog in the machine. Build the machine, then step away.

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