🚩Tactical Memo 111: Every Job Has 2 Descriptions and Only 1 Is Written Down
You hit every item on the written one. The other one is what your rating comes from.
Justin Bateh
November 05, 2026
Tactical Memo #112 | Navigating Modern Work · Career | 4 min read
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In brief The situation: You're being rated against a version of your role nobody printed. The mistake: Doing the written job perfectly and waiting for it to be enough. The move: Find the second description, write it down, confirm it with your manager. |
The story
You hit every item on the written list.
The projects delivered. The reviews came back fine.
Then the stretch role goes to someone else.
You never saw the comparison happen.
The reason you get is that she has more exposure, and he's ready for the next level.
Go pull up your job description and look for either of those words.
They aren't in there, and they were never going to be.
Nobody was grading that document. Not for her, and not for you.
I sat on the manager side of those rooms as a COO. I can't remember anyone opening a job description in one.
Every role has a second description nobody writes down, and that one decides how you're rated. Here's how to work with it.
The moves
1/ Read the last 3 promotions, not the posting
Pull up the last 3 people promoted into the role you want.
Nobody announced why they got picked.
Look at what each one was known for in the 6 months before the move, and look for what all 3 share.
The second description is already written down in who got chosen.
2/ Ask what excellent looks like one level up
Ask your manager to describe outstanding performance in the role above yours, in specifics.
Most people ask how they're doing in the role they already have.
Asking how you're doing gets you a rating. Asking what excellent looks like gets you the criteria.
Say this "If someone were outstanding in this role a year from now, what would they be doing that I'm not doing today?" |
3/ Collect the words used on other people
Pay attention to how leaders describe the people they rate highly.
Write down the words that keep repeating, and notice which ones have never been used about you.
The words leaders repeat about other people are the words they'll reach for when your name comes up.
4/ Find the problem your boss keeps carrying
Notice what your manager handles personally every week and NEVER hands off.
That's usually the thing nobody has been trusted to take from them.
The unwritten job sits on top of whatever your boss can't put down.
Ask this "What's the thing you keep handling yourself that you wish someone else owned?" |
5/ Write the second description in 5 lines
Put the unwritten job in writing in 5 lines.
If you can't write it, you don't know it yet.
Use your own words, not the language from the posting.
A job you can't state in 5 lines is a job you can't aim at.
Do this The problem I'm trusted with is ______. The decision people come to me for is ______. The thing my boss stopped worrying about because of me is ______. The room I need to be in is ______. The word I want leaders using about me is ______. |
6/ Confirm it with the person who rates you
Read your 5 lines to your manager OUT LOUD and ask what you have wrong.
Do it in an ordinary check-in, well before review season.
I've watched good people find out in March that the job quietly changed back in October.
You want to be wrong about the job in 10 minutes, not in 10 months.
Say this "Here's what I think the job actually is. Tell me what I have wrong." |
7/ Pay for it by dropping something
Name what you'll stop doing or hand off to make room for the second job.
Say the trade in the same conversation, so it's a decision your manager made with you.
The unwritten job stacked on a full written job is how good people burn out and still get passed over.
Say this "To own that, I'd hand off the weekly reporting. Is that trade worth it to you?" |
The outcome
| Most people | You |
|---|---|
| Work from the written description | Work from the one that decides your rating |
| Ask how they're doing | Ask what excellent looks like one level up |
| Guess at what leadership values | Collect the words leaders keep repeating |
| Add the unwritten work on top | Hand something off to pay for it |
| Find out the real criteria at review time | Confirm the job out loud months earlier |
Proof. As of August 2026, only 22% of U.S. employees said they have a clear definition of what exceptional performance looks like in their own role. Gallup, 2026
This week
Most people who get passed over did the written job well.
I learned this one later than I should have.
The ones who move up found the second description and worked it where people could see.
They just read it earlier than you did.
Pick 1 of the 7 and run it the next time you're in front of your manager.
You'll be rated against that second description whether you ever read it or not.
Reply
What's one thing you're measured on that nobody ever put in writing? Reply with that one line. I read every one.
Until next time.
Justin Bateh, PhD
CEO @ AI Operators Lab
Founder & Editor, Tactical Memo