EP 19: 3 Ways To Unstick Your Finance Career (When There's Nowhere Left To Go)

Nobody is blocking your promotion. Your manager just can't afford to lose you. If you disappeared for four weeks and everything broke, you're the most valuable person in the room — and the least promotable. Kev and Ash unpack the competence trap: why being reliable, fast and cheap to deploy quietly locks you into the role you already have, especially in the flat org structures most finance teams now run. They get honest about the yes-man years, the cultural pressure to never push back, the imposter syndrome that makes you over-commit, and the humbling moment leadership asks what you actually do — after a year of Sunday reporting. Then the practical part: three concrete moves to get unstuck, plus the point nobody makes — sometimes stable isn't stuck. Sometimes a 9-to-5 that gets you to daycare pickup is the right call for the season you're in. What we cover Why reliability is a floor, not an upside Flat structures and the missing rungs between FM and CFO Saying yes to everything, and what it actually costs you Busy vs valuable — and the retrospective framework to tell them apart The "just stop sending it and see who screams" test (4 hours a week back) Career stagnation vs career stability as a parent