Why Dry Promotions Are a Leadership Failure in Disguise

Have you ever looked around your team and realized your rising stars are quietly burning out?

It usually starts with something that seems like a smart leadership move: you promote someone high-potential into a new role. More responsibility, more visibility, a more impressive title. But one thing doesn’t change—their pay.

That’s called a dry promotion. And if it hasn’t already cost you your best people, it will.

When "Good Enough" Leadership Quietly Kills Culture

In this week’s episode of The Story in Your Head podcast, Ron shares a moment from early in his career—when he was leading major projects, driving real business results, and still getting paid less than everyone on the team. It wasn’t about the money. It was about what the money meant.

It meant he wasn’t seen. He wasn’t valued. It meant the organization was willing to extract performance without recognition.

Sound familiar?

As a business leader, it’s easy to justify dry promotions. Budgets are tight. Raises take time. But if you're building a business to last, the real question isn't what it costs to pay fairly—it’s what it costs when trust is broken.

What Happens When You Get It Wrong

• You erode trust. The moment your team sees responsibility go up while pay stays flat, they stop believing you're playing fair.
  
  
• You lose your top performers. Quietly. They won’t make a scene. They’ll just start taking calls from recruiters.
  
  
• You send the wrong message. That performance doesn’t matter. That loyalty is a liability. That the best way to get ahead is to go somewhere else.
  
  

And When You Get It Right?

You build a culture where:

• People stay because they’re seen and rewarded.
  
  
• High performers grow into strong leaders.
  
  
• Trust becomes a competitive advantage—not a missing ingredient.
  
  

A Simple Leadership Question

Before you sign off on that next promotion without a raise, ask yourself this:

Would I take this deal?

If not, don’t offer it to someone else.

Leadership isn’t about squeezing more out of your team. It’s about investing in them—because people who are valued don’t burn out or bail. They build.

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