Michelle: Here's a painful truth about the workplace: being the most skilled person in the room, the go-to expert, can actually be the very thing that stalls your career. Mark: Hold on, that sounds completely backwards. Isn't expertise the whole point? Michelle: You'd think so. But the 'go-to expert' often becomes the 'go-nowhere expert.' They get so good at their specific task that the organization can't afford to move them. They become a permanent fixture, while others, maybe even less skilled, get the promotions and the exciting projects. Mark: Wow. Okay, that’s a terrifying thought. I feel like I know people who are stuck in that exact trap. Michelle: It’s a huge trap. And it’s the central problem that Michael C. Hyter tackles in his book, The Power of Choice: Embracing Efficacy to Drive Your Career. Mark: Michael C. Hyter... the name sounds familiar. Michelle: It should. He’s a major figure in the corporate world. For years, he was the Chief Diversity Officer at Korn Ferry, one of the biggest organizational consulting firms on the planet. Now he's the CEO of The Executive Leadership Council, which is a powerhouse organization dedicated to advancing Black executives. So when he writes a book about career success, it’s not generic advice. It’s a playbook forged from decades of helping underrepresented talent break through very real barriers. Mark: That context changes everything. This isn't just another self-help book. This is a strategy guide from someone who has been in the trenches. Michelle: Exactly. And his core argument is that to avoid that 'go-nowhere expert' trap, the first thing you have to fix has nothing to do with your skills or your resume. It’s about rewiring your internal operating system.

Mark: 'Internal operating system.' I like that. So, where does this rewiring process begin? Michelle: It begins with a concept Hyter calls the 'capacity-building mindset.' It’s the fundamental belief that your abilities are not fixed. You can learn, you can grow, you can develop new skills through effort and practice. Mark: That sounds a lot like a growth mindset. Michelle: It's very similar, but Hyter applies it with a specific, sharp edge. He contrasts it with the 'fixed-capacity mindset,' which is the little voice in your head that says, "I'm just not good at this," or "I've hit my limit." And what's fascinating is who suffers from this. He tells this story about consultants working with a premier research facility. We're talking about PhDs from the best universities, people with patents to their name. Mark: You’d think they would be the most confident people on Earth. Michelle: Right? But they were demoralized. When a colleague got a more challenging project or had a breakthrough, they wouldn't think, "How can I learn from that?" They'd think, "They must be smarter than me. I've reached my personal limit." Even at the highest levels of achievement, this fixed-capacity mindset was poisoning the well. Mark: That's both depressing and weirdly comforting. It means it's a human problem, not just a beginner's problem. But Michelle, I have to ask... focusing so much on mindset, especially for the audience Hyter is writing for, doesn't it feel a bit like it's ignoring the very real, systemic biases they face? It can sound a little like, "Just think positive and you'll overcome discrimination." Michelle: That is the absolute critical question, and Hyter tackles it head-on. He's not saying bias doesn't exist. He's lived it. His point is more nuanced and, I think, more empowering. He builds on this core idea: "It's not the stimulus, it's the response." You can't always control the external stimulus—the biased comment, the missed opportunity, the low expectations from a boss. But you always have the power to choose your response. Mark: Okay, so it’s about agency within a flawed system, not pretending the flaws don't exist. Michelle: Precisely. And he uses his own life as a case study. He tells this incredible story from early in his career. He was ready for a promotion, but his vice president, a man named Bob, told him to his face that he was "intellectually weak" and didn't "have the bandwidth for the job." Mark: Ouch. That's a career-killer. How do you even come back from that? Michelle: You almost don't. He said he started doubting himself, he became quiet in meetings, he struggled to get out of bed. It was a classic downward spiral. The low expectation led to compromised effort, which would have confirmed the low expectation. But then, a new VP named Susan took over. She didn't see him as "intellectually weak." She saw his potential. She asked for his input, gave him challenging projects, and partnered with him. Mark: And let me guess... Michelle: Six months later, he was promoted to director. His talent hadn't changed. His potential hadn't changed. The only thing that changed was the message he was receiving, which allowed him to change his response. He chose to step up for Susan in a way he couldn't for Bob. That's the power of choice in action. It's about reclaiming your own narrative, even when someone else is trying to write a negative one for you. Mark: Wow. So the mindset isn't about ignoring the storm, it's about building a ship that can withstand it. Michelle: That's a perfect way to put it. And once you've built that ship, that resilient mindset, Hyter gives you a very clear map for where to sail. He says career success is like a three-legged stool, and most people are trying to balance on just one leg.

Mark: A three-legged stool. I'm intrigued. What are the three legs? Michelle: The first leg is the one everyone focuses on: Technical Skills. This is being good at your job. Your ability to code, to write, to analyze data, to sell. It's the baseline. It gets you in the door. Mark: Right, that's the leg I thought was the whole stool. Michelle: And that's the trap! That's what gets you stuck as the 'go-nowhere expert.' Hyter argues there are two other, equally important legs. The second is Relational Skills. This is your ability to connect with other people, to build trust, to make people want to work with you. Mark: So, not just being competent, but being someone people like and trust. Michelle: Exactly. And the third leg is Influence Skills. This is your ability to shape outcomes. To persuade people, to get buy-in for your ideas, to mobilize resources, and to drive change. It's about making things happen. Mark: Technical, Relational, Influence. Okay, that makes sense in theory. But it still sounds a bit like corporate jargon. What does it look like when someone is missing those other two legs? Michelle: Hyter gives this perfect, almost tragic, story of a tax consultant he calls 'Joy.' Joy was a young Asian American woman, and she was a technical genius. She worked 60-70 hour weeks, she was the go-to person for every complex tax law question. Technically, she was a 10 out of 10. Mark: She sounds like the ideal employee. Michelle: That's what she thought. But she was deeply frustrated and bitter. She kept getting passed over for promotions. She saw a white male peer, who she felt was less capable, get assigned to a huge, high-profile client. She was convinced it was discrimination. Mark: And was it? Michelle: It's more complicated. Her leaders saw it differently. They saw someone who never delegated, who prioritized her own work over helping her team, who was cynical, and who hadn't built any real connections. She had the technical leg of the stool, but the other two were completely missing. She couldn't build relationships, and she couldn't influence anyone. So they saw her as a brilliant individual contributor, but not a leader. They couldn't risk putting her in front of a major client or in charge of a team. Mark: Wow. That is a tough pill to swallow. I know people exactly like Joy. They're amazing at their work, but they're miserable and stuck. So what does building 'relational' and 'influence' skills actually look like in practice? It sounds so... political. Michelle: It's less about being political and more about being strategic. For relational skills, he tells his own story. Three years into his first job, he was in meetings with the company CFO, a larger-than-life figure. But the CFO never acknowledged him in the hallway. He was invisible. Mark: A familiar feeling for many junior employees. Michelle: So what did he do? He didn't complain. He didn't get cynical. After a big company meeting, he walked right up to the CFO, introduced himself, said he appreciated his leadership, and asked if he could have 15 minutes of his time just to get better acquainted. Mark: That takes guts. I would have been terrified. Michelle: He was! But the CFO was so impressed that someone at his level had the confidence to ask, he said yes. That 15-minute meeting turned into an hour. A relationship was born that became a mentorship, and that CFO's support was invaluable to his career for years to come. That's a relational skill in action. It's a proactive choice. Mark: And what about influence? How do you build that without feeling like a fraud or a manipulator? Michelle: Hyter gives a great example of a young supervisor who was assigned to a reengineering committee. The supervisor was convinced it was a waste of time and wanted to quit. But his coach—Hyter—told him to see it as an opportunity. He advised him to have one-on-one conversations with every single person on the committee outside the formal meetings. To understand their goals, their pressures, their interests. Mark: So, do the homework. Michelle: Exactly. He learned what mattered to each person. Then, when he presented his own idea, he didn't just talk about its technical merits. He framed it in the context of how it would help the other members achieve their goals. A version of his idea was implemented, and his standing in the company soared. That's influence. It's not manipulation; it's building alliances and finding mutual benefit.

Mark: So it really is a two-part formula. First, you have to fix the internal software—adopt that capacity-building mindset and believe you can grow, no matter what negative messages you get. Michelle: Right. You have to choose to believe in your own potential. Mark: And second, you execute the external strategy. You build the three-legged stool. Don't just be the best at your job; you have to actively, strategically build relationships and learn to influence outcomes. Michelle: That's the whole model. And what makes this book so powerful, and why it has such a strong reception among its target readers, is that Hyter isn't presenting this as a nice-to-have. Given his background advising Black executives and other underrepresented leaders, the subtext is clear: for many, this isn't optional. This is the essential toolkit for navigating a system that wasn't always built for them. Mark: It’s a survival guide and a success guide rolled into one. It’s not just about thriving; it’s about how to get to a place where you can thrive. Michelle: Exactly. It's about moving from a position of reacting to your environment to actively shaping it. It’s the very definition of the power of choice. Mark: So for our listeners, what’s one concrete thing they could do this week, inspired by this book? Michelle: I think a great first step comes from that CFO story. Think of one person in your organization—it could be a senior leader, a peer in another department, anyone—who has influence or knowledge that you could learn from. Someone you don't know well. Your challenge for this week is just to take one small, proactive step to build a connection. Send an email asking for a virtual coffee, introduce yourself after a meeting, or just compliment them on a recent project. Mark: I love that. It’s small, it’s actionable, and it’s a direct move to build that second leg of the stool. It’s a choice. Michelle: It's a choice. And those small choices, compounded over time, are what drive a career. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.