One skill is holding your career back. Most people never find out which one.
Ask ten ambitious people what's in their way and you'll get ten vague answers: politics, confidence, timing, bad luck. Usually it's one specific skill nobody ever named for them. A 3-minute diagnostic names yours. One session later you've got a document you can take into your next review or difficult meeting.
You already know something isn’t working. These are the usual suspects.
You do the work. The record stays blank.
You were busy all week. You couldn't say what came of it.
You can do the job. You can't place yourself.
The role changed. Your operating system didn't.
You've been treating warning signs as character tests.
You were in the meeting. You weren't in the conversation.
You're succeeding at someone else's version of your career.
You crossed a border. Nobody gave you a map.
Question 1: Which of these is closest to where you are now?
Most people work these out around year eight, if at all.
This is the shortcut.
For about three years I did work I knew mattered and never once made the case for it properly. The evidence was all there. I just never carried it into a room where it counted. When the promotion conversation finally came round, I sat down and started building an argument that should have been three years old by then.
That’s Due Process now, session 1 of Be seen. It takes one sitting. It cost me three years.
Impact wasn’t the only one, though. Over sixteen years and a lot of colleagues I kept watching the same thing happen: someone clever, working hard, missing one specific skill that nobody had ever named out loud for them. Not ten things. One, and a different one each time. Most of them worked out which one by the time it had already cost them the years where it would have compounded.
A few of these I picked up early and they paid me back for a decade. The rest I learned late and paid for properly. That’s the whole reason this exists.
Not content.
Working documents.
Every session ends with something you can open on Monday and use. No theory, no homework.
Redirected Q3 budget to high-yield accounts and generated 18% above target.
Flagged counterparty risk six weeks before a default event.
I turn brand strategy into commercial growth by making marketing the thing the business measures, not the thing it tolerates.
3 key relationships identified. 2 conversations scheduled this week.
Ship the payments migration by March 15 without losing the Q2 planning window.
Two a week, both in her control. A Monday review of the migration plan with the payments team. A Thursday written update to the CFO.
Three programmes.
Each session ends with something you can use.
You don't need all ten sessions on day one. You need the programme for the moment you're in. The others matter when your career gets to them.
ArriveNew to the role
1 of 3Foundations+The Audit — Knowing what you actually want
“Everyone has had an opinion about your career. You've never really given yours.”
Core statement + commitment document
The next big career decision you make will rest on something you chose or something you drifted into. Worth knowing which, before the decision turns up.
2 of 3Transition+The Translation — Crossing a professional border intact
“You didn't get worse. You crossed a border, and nobody hands out maps at the border.”
Border map + eight-week plan
Every week you spend operating in translation is a week the room reads hesitation where you meant authority. That gap doesn't close on its own. Somebody has to close it, and it has to be you.
3 of 3Execution+The Score — Executing under operational pressure
“You know what you should be doing. You're not doing it. Discipline isn't the reason.”
Operational plan + accountability structure
Next quarter will either build on the last one or scatter like the last one. That comes down to whether you have a system that survives a real week. Most people don't. This builds one.
Be seenReview or promotion ahead
1 of 3Impact+Due Process — Making your impact enter the record
“You did the work. Nobody wrote it down.”
Evidence brief + 90-second opening
Your next review will run on whatever evidence happens to be lying around. If you haven't built any, the conversation starts at zero and you spend it catching up.
2 of 3Positioning+The Positioning Brief — Positioning without performance
“You decided long ago that the people who get ahead aren't quite like you. You've been half right ever since.”
Positioning brief + stakeholder map
The people who decide your trajectory already carry a version of you around in their heads. This gives you a way to update it, in conversations you're probably having this week anyway.
3 of 3Confidence+The Evidence File — Building the evidence case for yourself
“Somewhere along the way you stopped trusting your own judgement. There's a case to be made against that.”
Evidence file + seven-word verdict
Next time the doubt turns up twenty minutes before something that matters, you'll have a file to read instead of a feeling to argue with.
LeadManaging for the first time
1 of 3Leadership+The Leadership Translation — Making the identity shift to leader
“They gave you a team. They didn't give you instructions.”
Leadership mirror + 30-day handover plan
You can't delegate from an identity that still belongs to the job before this one. The identity has to move first. The habits follow it, not the other way round.
2 of 3Communication+The Conversation Debrief — Hearing what isn't being said
“You've spent your career learning to speak clearly. Nobody taught you how to hear what isn't being said.”
Listening diagnostic + two-minute debrief
The conversations that decide things run on two levels: what people say, and what they're protecting. Read only the first one and you'll keep reacting to decisions that were settled before you sat down.
3 of 3Ownership+The Ownership Audit — Owning outcomes without waiting for permission
“You keep waiting for permission. The permission was never coming.”
Posture assessment + ownership rewrite
Every framework in the world needs somebody who has decided to pick it up. If you're still waiting to be handed decisions you already know are yours, start here.
Sixty days inThe check-in for every programme
Day 60Resilience+Signal Map — Reading your own signals before they become crises
“You've been treating it as a test of character. What if it's information?”
Personal signal map + response protocol
Everyone can see the warning signs afterwards. The trick is seeing them while there's still something cheap you can do about it.
Your first session. Free.
The diagnostic is free. So is your first full session, once you've made an account. After that, the rest of a programme is £119, which is less than an hour with a career coach, and you keep what you build.
Three minutes to find out which skill is costing you. Then make an account and take the first session. The whole thing, not a preview of it.
The three sessions for the moment you're in: starting a role, heading into a review, or managing people for the first time. You take them in order, and each one ends with a document you use at work.
Every programme and the day-60 check-in, unlocked for good. Most people take one programme now and come back to the next when their career gets to it. This way it's already there.
“While the typical promotional cycle is 1.5–2 years, I was promoted every year.”
“The First Ten made me put all my cards on the table and clearly dissect my weaknesses, turning them into focused development areas. By demonstrating that progress to my seniors, I was able to rapidly accelerate my growth within the company.”
“I was able to articulate my impact, feel more confident in discussing remuneration, and identify what type of work I find meaningful. The result: a more confident articulation of the value I bring at work, and a balance much closer to my ideal setup.”
“Now three years into my career, these principles are embedded in everything that I do. I have built a strong internal network which is providing me with opportunities. I am more confident and decisive — picking my moments where I know I can make the biggest impact.”
Questions
Why is it called The First Ten?
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Is this a course?
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Do I need to be senior already?
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What does AI actually do inside the sessions?
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How long does a session take?
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Do I get lifetime access?
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None of this gets easier in six months.
The gap costing you now will still be costing you in six months, with six more months of interest on it. Three minutes to find it. The first session is free. The document is yours to keep.
The Ownership Audit opens with this line: “You keep waiting for permission. The permission was never coming.” If that one stung, start there.
Find out which one is yours →