I'm officially writing a book and I'd love to feature YOUR STORY in it. The book is about building a collaborative relationship with your manager and using The Magic Loop to grow your career. I don't often ask readers to share something I've written, but in this case I do want to reach as many people who know the Magic Loop as possible. So if you can, please like this post and perhaps leave a comment, so that word spreads. Thank you. I need stories from anyone who has followed any step of The Magic Loop and gotten results. This includes anyone who has a good story of building a collaborative win/win relationship with their manager where you support their goals and they support your career growth. It also definitely includes stories where things didn't go smoothly. Where it was tough to get your manager to buy in to supporting you, or where the two of you together had to fight hard to get something approved. Stories with bumps in the road are more realistic and more memorable! If you have such a story, please take a couple of minutes and share it in this Google form: https://buff.ly/pVkzOON I'll pick the best stories for follow up interviews. If you volunteer, we'll get to know each other and your story of high achievement may end up in the book. If you need a reminder about The Magic Loop, the five steps are: 1) Do your current job well 2) Ask your manager how you can help them 3) Do what they ask 4) Ask your manager if you could help in a way that also grows your skills toward a particular goal 5) Do as they suggest, and repeat in a loop from step 4 If you want to read more, my reference article on this process is here: https://buff.ly/Z8YzAAN I need stories from people at all career stages and in all kinds of companies and industries. I also want to feature some people from outside of the US all around the world. So in other words, everyone is welcome no matter where you are in your career, as long as you've used some part of the Magic Loop and gotten results. You do not need to have used every step yet. You just need a good, clear story about at least part of the process. I look forward to hearing from you! P.S. Lots of people ask me when the book will be out. The traditional publishing process takes a long time. I am lucky enough to be working with a real book publisher and a great editor, but the result is that the book is scheduled for early in 2028. This long delay is normal.
I learned a tremendous amount working with Ethan over roughly four years across multiple roles and reporting structures. The Magic Loop is real. I applied because a huge part of my own growth came from being given opportunities, taking ownership, delivering results, earning trust, and then being pushed into bigger and harder problems over time. If I’m selected, I’d love to contribute some perspective from my own transition from engineering leadership into broader business and executive leadership, especially the moments where Ethan knew I was capable of more before I fully saw it myself.
Is there a part in there where “i told you so” when telling you that I thought there was probably a market for your coaching 🙃
Ethan Evans love this framework because it turns career growth into a repeatable operating rhythm: deliver results, make your manager’s goals easier, then trade earned trust for stretch scope. My bet is most people miss the “close the loop” step. Show what you delivered, what changed, and what you want to build next. Looking forward to the book.
I like how practical this approach is. A lot of career advice focuses on visibility without talking enough about the relationship with the person people actually work with every day. Some of the biggest career shifts I’ve had came from managers who felt like genuine partners, not just reviewers.
The best manager relationships are built before you need the promotion conversation. Trust has to compound first.
The strongest managers create environments where people can stretch themselves without feeling they need permission for every step.
I've seen how even a single step of the Magic Loop can shift team dynamics for the better. Real stories, especially with challenges, always resonate and help others take that first step.
The strongest manager relationships I’ve seen are built through repeated trust and shared goals over time. People often think career growth comes from one big opportunity, but in practice it usually comes from consistent collaboration, reliability, and conversations about development that happen early rather than late.
The 'bumps in the road' framing is the right call the polished success story is usually the least useful one. In my experience, the real learning lives in the moment someone tried the loop and their manager had zero bandwidth to engage with it. What's the most common reason people give for why it broke down?
The 'hands on the keyboard' framing nailed it. I remember sitting in my first VP role at 10pm rewriting a proposal my team had already drafted, telling myself it needed to be tighter. It did not need to be tighter. What was actually broken was that I had no structure for how decisions should flow without routing through me, so defaulting to the work felt safer than fixing the system. Curious how you coach leaders to see this in their calendar before it becomes a pattern.