Skills Are Cheap. How You Work Is What Sets You Apart.

Most people think seniority is equal to skill level.

To advance as a data analyst, get better at SQL, math, and data visualization. To advance as a developer, get better with algorithms, system design, and debugging.

In reality, seniority isn’t based on these types of skills. It’s how you work.

I’ve hired hundreds of people over my career, and fired dozens. I’d say that 98% of the exits had nothing to do with talent on core skills.

Promotions and rating calibrations are similar; leaders like me aren’t debating technical skills when determining who will advance and be rewarded.

Skills are abundant. True professionalism is rare.

Skills are a Commodity

There are millions of people who can build a financial model, or write code, design a landing page, run an ad campaign, or analyze data.

Once you cross basic competence, the market is flooded with people who can do the same thing technically.

Talent isn’t what creates differentiation. You’re in a sea of sameness when looking at skills.

People who obsess only about “being better at the craft” often cap out in their careers. They’re focused on the thing that is table stakes, not the thing that’s going to set them apart and really accelerate their outcomes.

Yes, there’s a base level of skill that’s needed to get a role. I’m not going to hire an analyst who doesn’t have a functional understanding of SQL.

But remember, there are millions of people who know SQL. There are millions of people who have the same skills as you.

Skills might get you into the room, but they aren’t what grow your career.

The Real Differentiator: HOW You Work

These are the traits that separate the top 5% from the middle of the pack.

• Accountability: Say what you’re going to do, then do what you said. Hit your commitments.
• Visibility: Your boss, team, and customers know where the work stands without having to ask.
• Judgment: You make good calls on when to simplify, escalate, or clarify.
• Agency: You don’t need to be pushed. You know what needs doing, and do it.
• Curiosity: You explore edge cases, ask questions early, and think ahead.

With these traits, your boss relaxes when they assign you something because you remove worries, not create them. Your customers are confident in your ability to deliver, and want to continue doing work with you.

Your boss or customer is now freed up to solve whatever problems they need to solve because they’re not down on your level doing basic coordination. They can make commitments to their boss or customer because you’re so clear and easy to do business with.

Remote Work: Distance Makes Weakness Obvious

When everyone is in an office, you can hide behind proximity. People can see you fiddling at your desk, ask questions on the fly, or correct misunderstandings quickly.

Remote strips away that safety net. You only have what you produce and what you communicate. All of the positive traits listed earlier - either their presence or absence - become more apparent in a remote work environment. Get them right, and it’s a strong differentiator.

If you go dark, people assume the worst. If you’re unclear, work slows down. If you fail to proactively update, people lose trust.

Remote work punishes passive workers and rewards deliberate ones.

Two Real Examples

To drive the point home, let’s contrast two different approaches to work. Consider that these two people have the same technical skill. Which one do you prefer to work with? What outcomes can they drive, and what happens to their careers over time? Who is going to be more successful?

Person A

• After a meeting, they send a list of commitments and actions from the call.
• They proactively check off items as they progress.
• They escalate questions early.
• The work moves quickly and doesn’t need chasing.
• They set expectations clearly: timeline, scope, assumptions, and risks.
• They clarify ambiguous instructions early instead of guessing and reworking later.
• Their written communication is structured, easy to follow, and actionable.

Person B

• Communication is sporadic.
• Deadlines pass quietly without comment.
• I have to initiate status checks because context isn’t forthcoming.
• I don’t know if they’re working, stuck, confused, or off on a tangent.
• Assumptions are unstated; I discover misalignment only in the final output.
• Even if the technical output is fine, the process drains time and attention.

I would reward Person A with more work because working with them creates frees my mental capacity.

With Person B I would hesitate to assign them anything important. In fact, I would start performance management conversations because this is unacceptable.

Even if a given work artifact produced is identical between the two, HOW Person A got there is superlative compared to Person B.

Person A will be seen by the boss as an accelerant. Person B will be seen as a liability.

Every boss is crushed for time. Depending on team size, they’ve got maybe 4-8 people just like you reporting to them, times 4-8 for however many levels they have in the org. They’ve got independent goals to drive PLUS they’re accountable for everyone in the team. They’re making sure today happens while looking around corners for tomorrow.

A leader can’t just “trust” that you’re going to deliver. And if they do, it’s only because you have spent years building that trust together.

Work is complex and interdependent and things go wrong. Assumptions are exposed and people aren’t on the same page. A leader needs open and transparent communication. They need to know you’re investigating and managing risk, and will deliver the work product on time, and to the desired specifications with high quality.

Why Poor Communication Is So Expensive

When an employee is not transparent, their manager or client becomes the project manager by default.

This tax is invisible but very real: brain cycles spent chasing updates, rechecking timelines, or asking whether work is actually happening.

Junior employees think they’re saving time by “just doing the work,” but what they’re really doing is imposing friction on others.

High performers remove this friction; low performers add to it.

If your boss or client has to ask you for an update, you’ve already failed.

I used to do this all the time in my corporate world, and I do it now with customers. If my boss asked me for an update in Slack, I didn’t think “Great, they care about me enough to ask!” or, “Argh, I wish they’d just let me work.”

I’d think, “Oh crap, they needed information or context and I didn’t provide it at the right time, or in the right format, or in a way that was clear. I better make an adjustment.”

Communication is Part of Your Work Product

Junior employees often think a “perfect” scenario is that a task is sent to them, they work heads down on it for as long as it takes, and then they send it out complete. No communication, no alignment, no coordination, no follow up. No annoying distractions from sitting down and doing the work.

They’re a black box.

If your work can be done like that, then you’re a glorified calculator, not an independent thinker and agent of the world. AI is going to very quickly steal that work, because why hire an emotional human calculator when you can hire a literal calculator?

Your boss and customer aren’t paying for the task; they’re paying for reduced risk and reduced management overhead. Communication and coordination and alignment show that you’re working on advanced complex tasks that require these components.

Make People’s Lives Easier, Not Harder

When you’re operating as part of a team, ask yourself this: Are you making people’s lives easier? Or harder?

How can you make their lives easier?

• Send commitments after meetings.
• Provide updates before being asked.
• Flag risks early.
• Make assumptions explicit.
• Never go dark.
• Keep your client or boss out of the “chasing” role.
• Let people relax knowing you’re on top of it.

Do this repeatedly, and you’ll separate yourself from the pack. Do this repeatedly, and watch your career accelerate.

Call to Action

Be the person everyone wants more of.

In any job the people who communicate clearly and take work off other people’s plates rise fast. The ones who require chasing get quietly sidelined.

The world has plenty of skilled people. What it lacks is people who can be trusted. If you master how you work - especially remotely - you instantly move into the top 5%.

This week, assess yourself relative to the traits discussed today. How frequently are you demonstrating the positive skills? Are you a little more like Person A or more like Person B?

Treat your boss like your customer. What do they need? How can you make their life easier?

This week make some adjustments, show improvement, and watch for their reaction. Email me at kevin@catalyst.group18.co and let me know how it goes!

Kevin