Unspoken rules are certain ways of doing things / that are beyond your job description, / that you need to know / if you want to get ahead / and get promoted. // And they're what high performers do / that they may not even realize. // When I entered the workforce for the first time, / it felt as if I had brought a baseball bat to a hockey game. // I was swinging and swinging and swinging, / trying hard / but realizing that I was playing a very different game / from everybody else. // I was being useful / but not impactful. / I was putting my head down, / doing my hard work, / expecting to receive more important responsibilities, / not realizing that my coworkers, for example, / were certainly doing the hard work, / but they were building relationships / and putting themselves out there. // They were being seen, / heard, / remembered, / and ultimately, / rewarded. // And it was this observation / that led to me realizing / that there are insiders / and there are outsiders. // Insiders are those who have siblings, / mentors, / parents / who've come before them / who can hand down some of these unspoken rules informally / over the dinner table. // Meanwhile, / there are outsiders / who don't know a soul in this new environment / and who end up having to navigate these hidden expectations / often through trial and error. // When I was first starting out, / I saw a pattern. // I saw some people getting promoted, / ending up taking on more important responsibilities. // Meanwhile, / there were others / from under-resourced or underepresented backgrounds / who were struggling / and ultimately quitting / long before they even had a chance to prove themselves. // The workplace is not a level playing field. // If you feel like an outsider / and you're feeling uncertain about what the expectations are / going into a new job, / unspoken rules can start bubbling to the surface. //