WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS: 

Strategic analysts move up not because they write flawless SQL, but because they keep strategic awareness across every part of their working life.

This issue gives you a practical way to audit your career end to end and spot the hidden gaps that are actually holding you back.

This is a small insight into my coaching framework - free!

The Dashboard That Changed Nothing

Meet Marcus, a senior data analyst at a Fortune 500 retailer. His monthly customer segmentation dashboard is a work of art. Colour-coded cohorts, smooth filters, fast loads. His manager once called it best in class.

So why did his slightly more junior colleague Fatimah get promoted to Analytics Manager last month?

On Tuesday morning, Marcus stared at Fatimah’s promotion post in Slack and felt lost. His Python was cleaner. His models went deeper. His stakeholder scores looked great.

Fatimah had something Marcus didn’t. She knew that career progress is not a pure technical problem. It is a systems problem. (So much of what I write about relates back to systems eh??)

While Marcus polished code, Fatimah mapped her own development the way she would map a complex system. She listed the parts that drive promotions and began to improve each one with intent. With structure. With small deliberate steps.

This kind of scenario is playing out and messing with careers everywhere. For those that think technical chops alone will see them reach higher, get the promotions, get a seat at the exec table - how do you plan on getting there??

Give me 5 minutes .. and once more - lets look at this structurally, logically, and break it down into a very very simple set of steps you can do TODAY to map out what your career path looks like.

Lets go!

How strategic analysts actually move up .. with a 10-rung audit you can complete today to spot your hidden gaps

Here is what Marcus missed.

Career progress is what I see as the result of ten connected drivers, not one dial called “technical”

Along with these 10 connected drivers, I am going to invoke an author that has nailed the art of getting results with micro steps.. James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems”.

That is our thinking.

That’s how I want YOU to be thinking.

Are you one of those analytics pros who set goals like “I want a promotion” .. then never build the system that actually makes it likely??

That’s just hope.

And hope is not a strategy. You can do better.

How??

• The Career Ladder of Analytics shows you where the system is weak.

• James Clear’s 1% rule shows you how to fix the weak spots with small, steady wins.

Step 1: Map Your Career Ladder

Draw a ladder and split it into 10 rungs. Score your current satisfaction from 1 to 10 in each area:

RUNG 1: TECHNICAL SKILLS

Foundation - what gets you hired

Can you write SQL, Python, and build models in your sleep? This is table stakes. Marcus scored 9/10 here. So does everyone else competing for that promotion.

RUNG 2: DOMAIN EXPERTISE

Credibility - what makes you trusted

Are you the go-to person for your industry's data quirks? Do you understand the business context without asking? Marcus was 6/10 here - good technical skills, but shallow industry knowledge limited his credibility

RUNG 3: COMMUNICATION

Visibility - what gets you heard

Do executives quote your insights in strategy meetings? Can you explain complex analysis in three sentences? Marcus scored 5/10. This was his first bottleneck.

RUNG 4: BUSINESS ACUMEN

Relevance - what makes you valuable

Can you translate data into revenue, cost, and risk discussions? Do you speak the language of business impact instinctively? Fatimah was 4/10 here. This was her critical constraint until she worked on it to make it an 8.

RUNG 5: STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS

Access - what gives you influence

Who champions you in closed-door leadership meetings? Who asks for your opinion before making decisions? You cannot reach this rung without mastering Rungs 3 and 4.

RUNG 6: STRATEGIC THINKING

Positioning - what makes you indispensable

Do you see three moves ahead? Can you connect data to company priorities before anyone asks? Marcus tried to jump here from Rung 3. It didn't work.

RUNG 7: PROFESSIONAL BRAND

Reputation - what precedes you

What does your LinkedIn presence say about you? Would recruiters approach you with leadership roles? This rung only matters if Rungs 1-6 are solid.

RUNG 8: CAREER NETWORK

Options - what gives you leverage

Who would hire you tomorrow? Who do you mentor outside your organization? Fatimah spent seven months building this after optimising rungs 1-7.

RUNG 9: LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Impact - what multiplies your value

Who have you developed lately? What decisions do you own? What processes have you built? Only accessible after proving Rungs 1-8.

RUNG 10: WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION

Sustainability - what keeps you climbing

Can you sustain this performance for five years without burning out? Do you have the energy reserves for the next promotion? The pros who reach the top maintain this throughout.

Step 2: Find Your Career Bottlenecks

When Fatimah first mapped her wheel, the story was clear. Technical skills: 8/10. Domain expertise: 7/10. But Business Acumen sat at just 4/10, and Strategic Thinking at 6/10. Those two scores were her bottlenecks.

She focused on business acumen first. Attending finance meetings, learning P&L basics, speaking in ROI terms. Within seven months, she moved it from 4 to 7. That improvement unlocked her promotion.

Marcus's wheel was different. Technical skills at 9. Communication at 5. Most other areas hovering at 3 to 5. That's a textbook technical plateau where one strength can't compensate for multiple weak areas. My theory: Your two lowest scores are the bottlenecks. They limit your rise more than any extra coding trick will.

Ok, that is enough for this week .. Part 1 gives you much to ponder, some concrete action to take. (Nothing happens without action)..

Next week we will cover the copy-paste career acceleration system. This part 2 will be the HOW to your WHAT.

Marcus's story matters more this week than ever. Here's why: while you're perfecting your 10 rungs, AI is eliminating 489 analytics jobs every single day. The question isn't whether your role will change, it's whether you're building the right rungs to survive it..

TADAA: The AI Demolition of Analytics Arrangements

Welcome to this week's special report on Career Annihilating Events. We're tracking the most significant job-killing news from the past seven days where AI is replacing the white-collar workforce. Here are the three most devastating stories that broke between September 27 - October 4, 2025.

#1 MOST CAREER ANNIHILATING: Paycom Replaces 500 Back-Office Roles with AI Automation (October 1, 2025)

Oklahoma City-based HR software firm Paycom eliminated over 500 employees in what it explicitly described as "workforce restructuring" to enhance automation and AI-driven solutions. The company stated the layoffs impact "only non-client-facing roles that have been automated", marking the first major layoff in Paycom's 27-year history. Terminations took effect immediately, with affected employees receiving WARN notices on Wednesday morning.

Source

#2 MODERATELY CAREER ANNIHILATING: Accenture's "Talent Rotation" Actually Cuts 22,000 Jobs - But Plans Hiring Surge (October 2, 2025)

Accenture eliminated 22,000 employees in 2025—double initially reported figures—as part of an $865 million restructuring, with CEO Julie Sweet stating the company is "exiting on a compressed timeline people where reskilling is not a viable path". The twist: despite the bloodbath, Accenture expects overall headcount to grow in fiscal 2026 across the US, Europe, and Asia, reflecting strong demand for AI-driven services—meaning they're swapping out workers who can't adapt for those who can.

Source

#3 SOMEWHAT CAREER ANNIHILATING: Analysis Reveals 50,000 AI-Driven Job Cuts in 2025 - 489 Per Day (October 4, 2025)

RationalFX analysis of layoff data through October 1 reveals that 50,184 of the 180,094 tech sector job cuts in 2025 were "directly related to the implementation of artificial intelligence and automation tools," averaging 489 jobs eliminated per day. The report tracked 413 companies across the US, Europe, and Asia, with American firms accounting for 66.3% of all cuts, while analyst Alan Cohen warned that AI adoption has "left the workforce smaller and more automated" heading into 2026.

Source

The analysts who climb fastest are not the ones with perfect code.

They are the ones with a system that makes growth inevitable. A system that elicits WHY, WHAT and HOW to get to where you are going. WHEN is then up to you!

Your technical skills got you here. Your career system will get you where you want to be.

Best,

Tom.

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