📚 The Library of UX Influence
(complete archive, last updated Februaury 2026, 220 issues and counting)
Great design skills got you to Senior or Lead. Strategic positioning and influence get you to Director/VP.
🚨 Most impactful posts across all topics
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+ 200+ curated guides, scripts, and frameworks sorted by role, challenge, strengths, and more - Based on real career patterns from coaching over 2,400 UXers
SERIES (DEEP DIVES)
🏆 “OWN Your [UX] Career”
Series on the hard truths about UX career growth that nobody tells you.
Why “impact without titles” is a lie told to keep designers complacent
5 hard truths about how being “trusted” quietly caps your growth
Why “FAIR PAY” inside big companies rarely exists (and what to do instead)
Competence Ceiling, or How Excellence Stops Paying Off Once It’s Expected.
📈 “Leadership Cheat Codes”
Tactical frameworks for leading without the title (yet).
🤫 “50 Silent Career Killers”
Deconstructing the hidden threats to your UX career.
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #50 - The Success Ceiling You Built Yourself
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #49 - The Mentorship Mirage
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #48 - Playing Defense Instead of Offense
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #47 - The Feedback Vacuum
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #46 - The “Cross-Functional Chameleon”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #45 - Expertise without Executive Presence
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #44 - The Meeting Magnet Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #43 - The Perfectionist’s Paradox
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #42 - The Low-Maintenance Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #41 - The Org Fluency Gap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #40 - Missing the Moments that Matter
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #39 - Clean design with no point of view
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #38 - The Praise Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #37 - “There’s No Room Right Now”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #36 - The “Well-Rounded” Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #35 - Playing Someone Else’s Game
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #34 - Mistaking Effort for Identity
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #33 - You Think You’re Being Evaluated on WHAT You Do? You’re Not.
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #32 - Mistaking Strategic Fluency for Strategic Power
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #31 - You’re skilled, experienced, and adaptable. So why are you still invisible?
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #30 - The title inflation trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #29 - Being “under-remembered”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #28 - Being “too coachable” (+ a downloadable “Coachability → Authority Self-Audit” diagnostic tool)
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #27 - One Framing Mistake That Hurts Your Career + a downloadable Framework & Worksheet to Help You REFRAME Your Insights for Stakeholders Who Control the Roadmap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #26 - How invisibility stalls your career + a downloadable cheat sheet to start changing that
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #25, or Why Your Eagerness to Please Is Sabotaging Your UX Career - The Hidden Cost of “Yes”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #24 - “Good design will speak for itself”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #23 - The Do-More-With-Less Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #22 - The stakeholder blindspot
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #21 - Are you missing the non-verbal conversation?
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #20 - When your UX ego gets in the way
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #19 - NOT Articulating Your Career Ambitions to Your Manager
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #18 - The “Over-Documentation” Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #17 - Stop Being “FORGETTABLY GOOD” at UX
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #16 - Stop Letting YOUR UX Impact Disappear into “Product Metrics”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #15 - Avoiding PRODUCTIVE conflict
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #14 - Decision paralysis due to over-analysis
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #13 - Overcomplicating the Problem-Solving Process
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #12 - Resisting the org change
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #11 - Holding on to old UX wins for too long
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #10 - Feeling guilty for taking time off
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #9 - Being too ideological about “best practices”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #8 - Forgetting to leverage allies within your org
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #7 - Focusing too much on “What If” scenarios
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #6 - Oversimplifying Complex Problems
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #5 - Confusing Enthusiasm for Startegy
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #4 - Not Engaging in “Invisible Work”
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #3 - Breaking Free from the “UX Therapist” Trap
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #2 - Ignoring the “Art of Internal Persuasion
🤫 The Silent Career Killer #1: Are You a “Process Purist”? - Unmasking 50 hidden threats to your UX career
CAREER ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTIONS
👉 Getting to Director/VP level (most recent to oldest)
Why Good Designers Stay Stuck While Mediocre Ones Get Promoted - The thing keeping you stuck isn’t what you think it is
You’re Not Getting Promoted Because You Sound Like a Designer
Your UX Skills Are Worthless (Without This) - What they don’t tell you about the gap between Senior IC and Director
The Year I Worked Harder Than Ever… But My Level Stayed the Same - And the framework I built to make sure it never happened again
The 7 Questions UX Directors Ask That Senior ICs Don’t - (and the 2 that can quietly backfire if you use them too soon)
The AI Strategy Narrative That’s Getting UXers Promoted Right Now - How to talk about AI in job interviews and stakeholder conversations without sounding like you’re reading from a LinkedIn thought leader post
The Designer Who Made a CEO Cry (And Got Promoted for It) - Why making people uncomfortable can build more trust than making them like you.
“I hate self-promotion.” - Year-end performance review prep: framing your impact without the cringe
5 Reasons You Still Don’t Feel Like a UX Leader - And how to fix each one (without waiting for permission or a promotion)
How Do I Know If My Portfolio (or LinkedIn) Is Holding Me Back? - The silent reason you’re not getting interviews, callbacks, or promotions.
The Hidden Work That Gets You Promoted - A framework for making strategic UX skills visible
The Unofficial Path to UX Leadership - Why waiting for a promotion might be holding you back (and what to do instead)
How to Move from “High-Performing” to “Promotion-Ready” - 3 actionable frameworks to start now for a promotion in the next 6-12 months
The $2 Million Mistake that Transformed a UX Designer’s Career - Sarah’s Journey to Becoming a Design Director
5 Brutal Reasons Why Your UX Career is Stalling - and how to get on the promotion radar even if you haven’t figured out how to showcase your value...yet (with a self-assessment checklist)
Leadership Launchpad - A 90-day no-BS action plan for success for aspiring UX leaders [7 steps + 3-part downloadable toolkit to transform you from overlooked high achiever to next in line for promotion]
Strategic Networking in UX - 7 unconventional ways to secure your next-level role
The Brag Sheet: A Game-Changing Strategy for Landing Your Next Promotion! - Ready to secure that well-deserved promotion? Unleash the magic of the Brag Sheet!
Mastering the Art of UX Career Advancement, part 2 - Negotiation Preparation Worksheet
Mastering the Art of UX Career Advancement, part 1 - Part 1: Raises and Promotions
How to Take Your UX Mentoring Game to the Next Level - Unconventional Wisdom
INFLUENCE & ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
👉 Building power without formal authority (most recent to oldest)
Why Your “Internal Credibility” Comes from “Outside the Building” - The fastest way to change how you’re perceived at work has nothing to do with office politics
The Real Skill Behind UX Influence → Framing Hard Truths for Buy-In - 5 Stakeholder-Friendly Ways to Say What No One Wants to Hear
“How do I stop explaining design like a designer and start communicating like a partner?” - This is where influence dies (and how to stop it).
How to Influence How People See You - Rewriting how people talk about you starts with what you give them to remember
The “Political Intelligence” Playbook - How to Ensure Your Research Shapes Decisions Without Creating Enemies
The Art of “Gentle Influence” - 5 unexpected ways to win hearts (and design decisions)
Building Influence Fast when You’re New to the Company - The unexpected way to lead when no one knows your name...yet
The UX Altitude Shift - 3 powerful ways to unite your tactical (craft) skills with strategic (business) impact even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a strategist or a leader
Authenticity in Leadership - The CRED approach to leadership credibility
The HEART, PIE, and RICE of UX success - 3 powerful frameworks to measure, prioritize, and prove your UX value
Transform interview anxiety into your superpower with NERVS framework - With 5 effective exercises you can start doing today to shine in your next interview
How UXers can drive change across complex systems - Expanding design influence from pixels to strategy
Winning Over Stakeholder Trust - Unconventional Tactics to Build Credibility and Buy-In
Elevate Your Presentations with Emotional Hooks - Harnessing the power of emotion for memorable narratives
Unleashing the “Power of Failure” - How your “failed” projects can be your strongest asset in securing your next UX role
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION
👉 Speaking business, not design (most recent to oldest)
They Said “Yes”... But It Wasn’t Really a Decision - 9 ways stakeholders avoid ownership (and how UXers can stop paying the price)
The quiet danger of “user-like” thinking - Or, “How do I push back when a stakeholder says, ‘Well, I’m a user, too’?”
What Stakeholders Need to Hear (But You’re Not Saying) - The missing link between great design and leadership buy-in
Fix the Pain Before Adding the Sparkle - Practical ways to get stakeholders to focus on fixing what matters most
When Stakeholders Know Just Enough UX to Be Dangerous - How to guide stakeholders from UX buzzwords to better decisions
The Art of the Strategic “No” - How to push back on bad ideas without pushing away stakeholders
Mastering the Art of Tactful Pushback in UX - 10 strategies and exercises for navigating stakeholder dynamics for max UX Impact
Unconventional Do’s and Don’ts of UX Storytelling - Pushing boundaries in user experience narratives
TEAM LEADERSHIP
👉 Leading with or without the title (most recent to oldest)
How a UX team lost $2M by listening to users (and what they should’ve done instead) - 3 principles that prevent it from happening again
Is Your Team Fighting... or Innovating? - The 3-color system that helps you diagnose tension before it kills trust
“How do I grow when my manager keeps praising me… but never gives me opportunities?” - You’re being praised into stagnation.
How to Hire the Right UXer in 60 Minutes (Without Wasting Anyone’s Time) - A focused, high-signal interview process that respects both sides
How to Frame Research as a Team Win (Not a Delay) - Crafting a research-first approach that even skeptics can get behind
Tough Teams, Happy Teams - 5 strategies to fight burnout and boost your team’s resilience
How “value” thinking fuels your UX team - Or, 5 ways to inspire ethical dedication
UX Team-of-One at a Tech Startup - The thrills and challenges of startup UX mastery
Mentor, Coach, or Both? Which Path to Choose? - Decoding the Dynamics of UX Mentorship and Coaching
Should You Start Your Own UX Mentorship Practice? - Pros and Cons
How to Create a Successful UX Mentorship Program - In 7 easy steps, with exercises
FUTURE-PROOFING & AI STRATEGY
👉 Staying relevant in the AI era (most recent to oldest)
Most UXers Are Preparing for 2026 WRONG - The career move smart UXers are making while everyone else chases AI certifications
Stop hoarding certifications like Pokémon cards - Because you’re learning to learn. You should be learning to DO.
Future-proof your UX career with AI personalization skills - 3 strategies for designing trustworthy AI experiences
Heart Beats and Mind Maps: The Future of UX Leadership - Rethinking Leadership Paradigms
GENERAL STRATEGY & CAREER WISDOM
👉 Career moves that compound (most recent to oldest)
Stop Confusing Loyalty with Fear - Many UXers think they’re being faithful to their company. They’re actually just afraid to leave.
What I’m Seeing in UX Leadership Right Now - Private Strategy Note #1 — October 2025
Stop Asking. Start Telling. - You’ve been doing it backwards your whole career
You Sound Like You’re Selling Cupcakes, Not Solving Business Problems - Every time you say “user-centered”, executives stop listening
The Most Expensive Work UX Does (That Nobody Notices) - Hint: it’s not design. It’s decoding everyone else’s half-baked asks.
The “3-Year Itch” → Should I Stay or Should I Go? - What that nagging voice in your head is REALLY asking you...
Where will you be in 12 months? - Every day you wait is another day watching less experienced people get the opportunities you deserve.
Why Nobody’s Paid Attention When You Presented Your UX Vision - There’s always one moment that makes or breaks it. You probably missed it.
Why everyone loves working with you (and why that’s the problem)
The biggest lie in UX: “Empathy makes great leaders.” I’ve seen 200+ empathetic designers get passed over. - Here’s what to do instead--
3️⃣ strength-finding exercises I give my most stuck UX clients - Not a quiz. Not a reflection journal. These work because they cut through the noise.
How do I get out of “order taker” mode when I’ve been in it for years? - They trust you to ship. Not to shape. Here’s how to flip that.
How do I build real career security in a field that keeps reinventing itself and cutting people like me? - UX feels disposable. You don’t have to be.
Work with Marina
(very limited spots every month)
Strategic Sounding Board (single 60-min session)
How to Expense (templates)—
Last updated: January 2026 | 220 issues and counting