Gen X keeps getting passed over because we built careers as the fixer, and boards promote vision, not maintenance. Colby Morris calls it the Tactician Trap, and there are four ways out of it.

The average American CEO is now 61, a full decade older than in 2000. The Boomers held the top seats longer than anyone planned, and now that they're letting go, the torch is going straight to Millennials. But the reason isn't age. Recruiters keep saying the same thing about our generation: tacticians, not visionaries. That's a reputation, and we built it ourselves, one fire at a time. This one is personal. Colby has spent his career as the operations guy, building startups from scratch and walking into companies that were on fire, and he's heard "we need you right where you are" more than once. Here's what that sentence actually means, and what to do about it.

Colby Morris: "We need you right where you are is not a compliment. It's a ceiling somebody painted a real nice color."

What is the Tactician Trap?
The Tactician Trap is Colby Morris's name for the Gen X version of the competency trap: you get so good at fixing things that fixing things becomes the only thing anyone can picture you doing. Four ways out, covered in the episode: lead with direction instead of maintenance, say your take in the meeting instead of the hallway, own the human side of AI, and build the person who can take your chair.

Why is Gen X getting passed over for promotions?
The average US CEO is 61 now, up from about 51 in 2000, and new CEOs were getting named at 48 then versus 55 by 2023. The Wall Street Journal found the share of large-company CEOs in their fifties fell from roughly 51% to 43% in eight years. About one in five workers over 40 say they get skipped for challenging assignments. Boards cite AI readiness, but the recurring word from recruiters is that Gen X reads as tactical rather than visionary.

What does "we need you right where you are" really mean?
It means you are too useful in that seat to be let out of it. The follow-up Colby heard, "who would take your place, we don't have anyone like that," is the tell. That isn't a reason. It's a to-do list, and the episode covers what to do with it.

Research and references
Colby Morris: "Who would take your place isn't a reason. It's a to-do list." · Wall Street Journal reporting on CEO age and Gen X succession · Herminia Ibarra, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader (the competency trap and outsight) · Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Related episodes
The Gen X Leader's Guide to Managing Millennials and Gen Z · Debunking the Myths of Psychological Safety for GenX Leaders · GenX, You Figured It Out Alone. Stop Expecting Them To. · What Gen X Gets Wrong About Leadership

Connect with Colby Morris
Colby Morris is the founder of NXT Step Advisors, building people-first leaders through keynotes, executive coaching, and leadership training. NXTStepAdvisors.com, or connect with Colby on LinkedIn.

Support the show

• Colby's LinkedIn Profile
• NXTStepAdvisors.com

When you're forced to deliver a performance rating you don't believe in, don't defend it and don't hide behind the system. Split the number from the truth: hand off the company's rating cleanly, tell the person the real thing that number can't hold, and make sure the review is never the first time they hear where they stand. Colby Morris calls it The Split.

Forced ranking. The curve decided before you even walk into calibration. A person who crushed the year, and you're handed a "meets expectations" to deliver and told not to blame the system. It's about the most people-last thing in corporate life, and you're the one holding the bag. This is a fired-up, people-first take on how to get through that room without lying to your people or torching your own credibility, including the two gutless moves almost every manager makes, and what to do when the raise is as rigged as the rating.

Colby Morris: "The rating is the company's word. The truth is yours."

What is The Split?

The Split is Colby Morris's framework for delivering a performance rating you don't agree with. Three moves: deliver the number without wearing it, say the true thing the number can't hold, and shrink the annual number by telling people the truth all year long. The how for each is in the episode.

What do you do when you're forced to give a rating you don't believe in?

You stop doing the two things that backfire: selling a number you don't buy, which your people smell instantly, so trust dies, or hiding behind the system, which makes you look powerless and half the time isn't even allowed. The third path, the one that keeps you human, is in the episode.

Why do performance reviews feel rigged right now?

Because increasingly they are. Glassdoor's 2026 data found 88% of performance-review mentions negative, up from 83% in 2021. Mentions of PIPs have risen almost eightfold since 2021, and stack ranking and forced distribution mentions are up more than fourfold. Post-layoff cost control and higher performance bars are tightening curves while raises stay flat.

How do you handle a review when the raise doesn't match the work?

You don't oversell. Piling on praise and then handing over a two-percent raise turns the praise into an insult. You name the gap honestly and go fight for the person somewhere you actually have room. The full move is in the episode.

Research and references in this episode

• Colby Morris: "The system can rank your people. It cannot own them."
• Glassdoor, 2026: 88% of performance-review mentions negative (up from 83% in 2021); PIP mentions up almost eightfold since 2021; stack ranking and forced distribution mentions up more than fourfold.
• Kim Scott, Radical Candor: care personally and challenge directly.

Related episodes

• Employee Reviews That Don't Suck
• One-on-One Meetings That Work
• How to Have Tough Conversations with Employees
• You Got the Title. You Didn't Get Their Respect.

Connect with Colby Morris

Colby Morris is the founder of NXT Step Advisors, where he helps organizations build people-first leaders through keynotes, executive coaching, and leadership training.

Learn more at NXTStepAdvisors.com or connect with Colby on LinkedIn.

Support the show

• Colby's LinkedIn Profile
• NXTStepAdvisors.com

When you're promoted over your former peers, the job is to redraw three things on purpose: the relationship, the standard, and your own support system. Colby Morris calls it The Redraw, and it's the difference between a promotion that sticks and one that quietly falls apart inside ninety days.

Here's what nobody warns you about. The day you got the title, the line between you and your team got erased. If you don't redraw it out loud, and fast, your people redraw it for you, usually with the worst possible story. This episode gets into the two instincts that sink new managers, why going easy on your work friend quietly torches your credibility with everybody else, and the move to make with the one person on your team who wanted your job. If you got promoted from inside, or you're about to, this one's built for you.

Colby Morris: "The line between you and your team gets erased the day you get promoted. If you don't redraw it on purpose, everyone draws their own version, and they draw it wrong."

What is The Redraw?

The Redraw is Colby Morris's framework for leading people who used to be your peers. It has three moves: redraw the relationship, redraw the standard, and redraw yourself. The episode walks each one, including the exact first-two-weeks conversation that sets the whole thing up.

Why do so many new managers fail when they're promoted from within?

About 60% of new managers fail within their first two years (CEB), and the rate climbs when someone is promoted from inside to lead their former peers. Gallup's 2026 State of the Global Workplace found managers drive roughly 70% of team engagement, while manager engagement itself hit a record low, with the steepest declines among managers under 35 and women, the two groups most likely to be promoted from within. We keep handing the hardest version of the job to the people we prepare the least.

How do you manage people who used to be your peers without losing their respect?

You stop pretending nothing changed. As Colby puts it in the episode, the closeness was never the problem, the pretending is. You redraw the relationship on purpose and out loud, you hold the standard evenly even with your closest friend on the team, and you rebuild your own support so you're not leading from isolation. The how, including the mistake Colby made with his own best friend at work, is in the episode.

Research and references in this episode

• Colby Morris: "The closeness was never the problem. The pretending is."
• CEB: roughly 60% of new managers fail within two years, higher for those promoted from within.
• Gallup, 2026 State of the Global Workplace: managers drive about 70% of team engagement; manager engagement at a record low.
• Brené Brown on clear communication: "Clear is kind."
• Patrick Lencioni on peer accountability.

Related episodes

• What to Do When Taking Over a New Team
• One-on-One Meetings That Work
• Stop Going to Your Boss About Your Coworker
• Your Boss Isn't Ignoring You. They're Just Not Hearing You.

Connect with Colby Morris

Colby Morris is the founder of NXT Step Advisors, where he helps organizations build people-first leaders through keynotes, executive coaching, and leadership training.

Learn more at NXTStepAdvisors.com or connect with Colby on LinkedIn.

Support the show

• Colby's LinkedIn Profile
• NXTStepAdvisors.com