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Thought this was interesting. Across 160 teams of researchers, just about all failed to make good life outcome predictions on things like GPA, evictions, layoffs, and others. Data followed 4.5k families across 15 years, with 13k features (varied over time). Haven't looked at it directly yet, but will be turning the docs and data inside out... In the meantime, authors claim this as showing the limits of ML. Oh, and it's published in PNAS, so you know there's some big publication energy there.
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/15/8398
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I've definitely been thinking about this a lot as well. Some of the most lazy, no offense, people in my office seem to have the most visibility and are considered some of the most productive despite that literally being the opposite of true. It's kind of a bummer because some of our hardest workers get little to no recognition for everything that they do for the company.
Networking is key
Absolutely it’s what I refer to as the Trump effect most rewarded not the most qualified. Very disappointing and reason most people have keep quietly quitting because the hard work goes unnoticed for so long you just give up on trying. Welcome to corporate America next stop burnout and anxiety.
Warning, here comes a ramble from a former "high producer" on the claims front line at an insurance carrier...
I was a high producer and got glowing reviews and of course the usual just under inflation level annual raise. They couldn't afford to promote me as they literally would have needed 2 people to replace me. To put numbers on it (because insurance companies love numbers) the countrywide average for my position was 241 claims a year. I handled 411 during one insane year and was always in the high 300s. This was full soup to nuts handling of a slate of 3rd party auto BI and homeowners estimating claims with plenty of seat time in my company car. More than a few times I'd be on a roof looking at hail damage and talking to a plaintiff attorney about a BI claim on my cell phone.
Was at the company for 29.5 years (got out as soon as I could) and retired on a pension at age 55. A VP came to see me and literally begged me not to retire.
It's been 8 years of "production" working as an independent adjuster under my own LLC since then. I generally earn what I did in salary at the corporate job and work about 35% as hard at most. A few years back during the big hail storm we had in Denver, I made quite a bit more. Add the pension on top, so earning more overall than I did when I worked there.
Actually enjoying my work now as some of the claims are quite involved, but I don't have massive volume so I can focus on them as needed. Have had a few total loss fires, commercial losses, etc. It's been interesting learning new things. I also say no to some work, trucking claims for example. I'm not interested in heading out to see a flopped over big rig at 2AM, I don't care what they pay.
My clients wonder what planet I came from because I turn things around fast and am thorough and understand coverage. Most IA's don't have long experience at an insurance carrier, and old get it done or drown habits learned at the insurance company die hard. I highly recommend checking out the IA route post retirement from a carrier, your experience is valuable, monetize that gray hair - lol
The big thing is I get health insurance to 65 (63 now) and that made it possible. Worked my butt off for those good benefits, which are gone now of course. I stay in touch with some friends who have moved up the ladder, one runs their large loss group. He asked me what I earn and was bummed as I make more than the large loss folks do. Now that the benefits are gone they need to pay a lot more if they hope to retain good people that actually get stuff done. Good people won't take the kind of abuse I did for long. They had the golden handcuffs on me, I couldn't quit. It felt like they were trying to kill me but I hung in there. Resented it while going through it, but now on the other side I can say it was worth it. I've received 400K in pension benefits over the last 8 years, add the cost of the family health insurance to that. Whew. What a ride...
Pro
Production isn't the primary aspect of most businesses. They need producers on the lower levels but as you move up it's how much you can motivate others to produce. Leadership skills are key for success and the skills you listed are the important ones for advancement. Producers are generally not the best leaders. The majority spend so much time producing they don't develop the skills to help others or motivate them. We need both kinds of people however leadership is actually a rarer quality than production.
You nailed it! I’ve worked with people who are great producers but not great leaders and sometimes lack vision. The higher you get in the org chart the more important it is to see beyond what’s right in front of you. If all they see in a person is that they’re a great producer, they may be cautious to lose that production.
Instead of focusing on why that other person didn’t deserve it, have meaningful conversations with your manager about how you can develop your leadership skills. Leading without authority is invaluable.
I think a big part of how visible you are is if you play the office politics or not. I hate to say that but it is true. Sometimes it is not about what you know but rather who you know.
This hits the proverbial “nail” square on the head. If they like you because they worked with your mother when you were just a baby or you make them feel good by brown nosing all the time, you can do no wrong and will be moved up the ladder effortlessly. I have seen it for over 30 years now and it’s hard to watch.
Performance matters. Visibility matters. But let’s be honest - sometimes favoritism matters too. Corporate environments fall into either of those categories (performance & visibility vs. favoritism). And it’s a pyramid - fewer seats at the next level. The part people struggle with is accepting that reality and deciding what to do next. You can stay and play the game more intentionally. Or you can move to an environment where your work has a clearer path upward. Quietly waiting for someone to notice isn’t a strategy. I help professionals navigate that decision here in my private Facebook group: https://www.Facebook.com/groups/fasttracktopromotion
I once knew a guy that would create scripts to kick off processes that he would otherwise have to babysit himself as those processes ran. He woud do this late night on weekends. While the scripts would be running, he would take off down the street to the nightlife strip and live it up. He'd return later to verify all was well, then he'd go home to his wife and kids. While I applauded his "working smarter" ethic, his moral compass was way flawed. Yet he managed to move up the ladder, eventually moving on to a vendor's role, and continued to wear lip gloss as he moved up. He was never any good at crossing t's, or dotting i's, but he knew how to play this game and got really good at doing just enough to be on the radar, even if his projects left a lot to be desired. To those that mattered, they saw him as someone that was getting it done. They themselves never saw the actual results, or should I say "lack thereof". If you're a producer that wants to move up, learn to play chess because every move does count... either for you, or against you.
Visibility to leadership and how well you schmooze with the higher ups is literally everything in corporate America. Work is a game and it requires that you play it to really get ahead.
SOFT. SKILLS.
Network, network, network
I've seen so many people "fail up." And so many leaders with horrendous leadership skills but somehow they stay in charge. Thankfully one of those (my VP) is retiring at the end of the month.
It also depends on what you mean by "produce." The leaders at my company set their own goals and have the ability to change them for themselves, but us lower level staff get held to our goals.