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Issue #39 | 03/18/2026
From the Editor
Hey fam!
No one gives you authority. You have to build it.
You have to look it as well.
75% of respondents felt that a well put-together person conveys greater confidence and authority, with three-fourths also saying looks affect their perception of someone's competency.
In one UK survey, two-thirds of hiring managers admitted they'd be less likely to employ a woman who came to an interview without makeup.
I used to think showing up and doing the work was enough.
It's not. Research shows 55% of a first impression is purely visual, and a CareerBuilder survey of nearly 3,000 employers found that 41% say employees who dress professionally get promoted more often. In financial services, that number jumps to 55%.
What no one tells you is that for women, there's a tax built into this. Grooming accounts for the entire earnings advantage women see from the so-called "beauty premium." Not your face. Not your bone structure. Your effort. The polish. The intentional presentation. Which means it's something you can actually control.
The frustrating part is the window is small. There's a look that signals authority and a look that signals "not leadership material" and they're closer together than anyone wants to admit.
So I’m going to do my skincare and my webcam look for the day which may include a button down b/c I’m feeling fancy.
Also in this issue:
Why the best managers at top tech companies "basically never have preventable emergencies" (and the 3 habits that separate them)
What AI is doing to the gap between good managers and bad ones—and why 2026 is make-or-break for your management brand
The counterintuitive move that builds more influence than any reorg or title change
Sincerely,
Phedra Arthur Iruke
You Can't Automate Good Judgement
AI promises speed and efficiency, but it’s leaving many leaders feeling more overwhelmed than ever.
The real problem isn’t technology.
It’s the pressure to do more with less — without losing what makes your leadership effective.
BELAY created the free resource 5 Traits AI Can’t Replace & Why They Matter More Than Ever to help leaders pinpoint where AI can help and where human judgment is still essential.
At BELAY, we help leaders accomplish more by matching them with top-tier, U.S.-based Executive Assistants who bring the discernment, foresight, and relational intelligence that AI can’t replicate.
That way, you can focus on vision. Not systems.
Job Board
🦸 Hero Role of the Week
We’re going to keep our Florida theme this week.
500+ jobs pulled. One caught my eye.
Head of Strategy & Business Operations | Adyen | Amsterdam or Chicago
Why This Role is Exciting
If you've been the person who actually holds the strategy together while everyone else argues in the room, this one's for you.
Adyen is looking for a Head of Strategy & Business Operations to sit at the intersection of where the company is going and how it actually gets there. You'd be shaping global strategy, running the operating rhythms that keep a multi-billion dollar fintech company aligned, and partnering directly with leadership on investment decisions and trade-offs. Their client list includes Meta, Uber, Microsoft, and H&M. The stakes are real.
This is the role delivery and operations leaders should be paying attention to. Read the job description carefully: they want someone who can influence outcomes without direct authority, translate complex problems into clear decisions, and drive execution forward across a cross-functional environment. That's not a "strategy consultant who makes decks." That's a senior delivery professional with business acumen and executive presence.
15+ years of experience required. Office-based in Amsterdam or Chicago.
Why this matters for you: Even if you're not applying, this job description is a blueprint. It shows exactly how companies frame delivery and operations expertise when it belongs in the C-suite conversation. The words they use are "trusted partner to leadership," "end-to-end owner," "systems thinker." Start using those words about yourself.
No spoilers. Go find it. Filter on Director-level roles in the last 7 days, and it should be one of the top results
👉 Browse this week's top roles 👇
New roles added daily.
Gif by marchmadness on Giphy
Professional Development
💡 Micro-Tip of the Week
The Influence Audit
Before your next big meeting, ask yourself:
How do I look?
Who will actually decide here?
Who will they consult before deciding?
Am I in either of those rooms?
If not, your job this week is to get into the consultation room. Offer to draft the memo. Volunteer to gather the data. Be so helpful they can't have the conversation without you.
Influence isn't granted. It's accumulated one pre-meeting at a time.
Industry News
A few things from Big Tech & business leaders that you can steal in 10 minutes
Management in the Age of AI
Source: Stay SaaSyThe gap between good managers and bad managers got a whole lot wider in 2026. Why? AI tools changed the math on what managers must do to stay relevant. "Managers must be builders in 2026... Without hands-on fluency with AI tooling, you will be fundamentally unable to help people get better at their job." The new expectation: managers who can build in an hour what used to take five hours of meetings.
Source: Raconteur
Shopify wiped all recurring meetings from employees' calendars overnight and deleted or restricted group Slack channels, calling it a "chaos monkey" approach — borrowed from software engineering's practice of randomly breaking system components to test resilience. Organizational behavior experts warn that imposing sudden, top-down changes without warning prolongs stress, reduces cognitive capacity, and can backfire on the very productivity gains leadership was after. The article's bottom line: radical change can work, but only when there's already a foundation of psychological safety and trust — otherwise you're not creating a new culture, you're just creating anxiety.
The Happy Demise of the 10X Engineer
Source: Andreessen HorowitzThe a16z piece argues that modern software infrastructure (open source tools, cloud platforms, GitHub) has commoditized coding to the point where the mythical "10x engineer" advantage largely disappears, because building software now looks more like snapping Lego pieces together than artisan craftsmanship. The real winner of this shift is the problem-solver and business builder, not the person who has been coding since age 12, meaning the future belongs to people who can identify and solve the right problems, not just write the most elegant code.
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From the Community
Resource of the Week
"The First 90 Days" by Michael Watkins
If you're thinking about making a move to a more strategic role, this book is essential. Not for the new job itself — but for understanding how leaders think about transitions, stakeholder mapping, and building credibility fast.
Pro tip: Read it BEFORE your next interview cycle. It'll change how you talk about your approach.
Energy
🎤 Phedra's Take
This week's theme: Building Influence Without Authority
Here's my take: We've been told that influence comes from titles, headcount, or being the smartest person in the room. That's backwards. Real influence—the kind that survives reorgs, outlasts managers, and gets you invited to rooms you weren't assigned to—comes from being systematically helpful in ways that compound.
What I've learned: The delivery professionals who get promoted to Director and VP aren't the ones with the most technical depth. They're the ones who've built "weak tie" networks across the organization—relationships with people who aren't in their direct chain of command but who trust their judgment when decisions need input.
Your move this week:
Identify one decision happening this week where you want input but weren't invited
Find the person organizing that decision (usually the staffer, not the decider)
Offer something concrete: "I pulled some data on X that might be relevant—want me to drop it in the doc?"
Repeat weekly. In 90 days, you'll be in rooms you never had to ask to join.
That’s it for this week.
Keep showing up, keep cheering each other on.
How I can help?
The Delivery Career Decoder is the first comprehensive career transformation system designed specifically for delivery professionals, program managers, and technical operations experts who are ready to break through the "execution ceiling" and step into strategic leadership roles. This is a proven methodology that leverages your unique strengths as a delivery professional while systematically building the strategic positioning, executive presence, and communication skills that open doors to VP, Director, and C-suite opportunities.
The Business of Delivery Team
P.S.
You got this!