Introduction

Who This Is For?

Hey you.
Yeah, you — the overachiever with a calendar full of back-to-back meetings, a boss who “loves your energy,” and a resume that looks like it should be making six figures... but somehow isn't.

Let me welcome you to your new favorite corner of the internet.
This is The Corporate Cheat Code — where we stop pretending that the system is fair, and start exploiting it like the mediocre execs who’ve been doing it for years.

I’m Jessica D. Winder — an HR exec, corporate strategist, and woman who learned the hard way that if you play by the rules, you lose.

But if you learn the rules and choose which ones to break?
You win.

Let’s begin.

Corporate Lie #1: “Hard Work Pays Off”

🧨

This is the lie they feed you from day one:

• Work hard.

• Put your head down.

• Keep your attitude in check.

• Your time will come.

Nah.
If hard work actually paid off, every Black woman I know would be a millionaire with stock options. We’d all be vacationing in Bora Bora with a concierge-level AmEx and a therapist who calls us for advice.

Instead?
The workplace is full of mid-tier managers with:

• Average IQs

• Inflated egos

• Zero cultural competence

...sitting pretty because they understood one thing you didn’t:

It’s not about working hard.
It’s about working the system!

This Week’s Cheat Code: Manage Up or Die Trying 🔥

“Managing up” sounds gross.
It gives brown-nosing, bootlicking, suck-up energy.
But it’s actually the most elite leadership skill no one taught you.

Why?

Because in every performance calibration session I’ve sat in (yes, I was in the room), here’s what happened:

✅ Best results? Didn’t always win.
🏆 Made their boss’s life easier? Golden.

How to Manage Up Like a Pro 🎯

1. Learn Your Boss Like a Client

You study customers to sell them a product.
Study your manager to sell your value.

Ask:

• What keeps them up at night?

• How do they define success?

• What are they afraid of?

2. Mirror Their Communication Style

• If they write 3-sentence emails, don’t send a dissertation.

• If they live in Excel, don’t give them a Canva graphic.

Speak their language so they don’t have to translate your brilliance.

3. Make Them Look Good (Strategically)

Your boss isn’t loyal to you.
They’re loyal to their reputation.

Give them wins they can take upstream — and they’ll protect you not out of love, but out of self-preservation.

4. Don’t Brag — Align

Try this:

That’s not bragging.
That’s executive presence.

Power Move of the Week 🥷

Copy your skip-level manager on a strategic win. Just once.

Why?

Because most decisions about you are made in rooms you’re not in.
Your skip-level needs to:

✅ Recognize your name
✅ Associate it with impact

Try this:

Boom.
Now you’re not just a team player — you’re a rising star.

Real Talk: The Ladder Is a Lie!

You’ve been taught to climb.

But the corporate ladder was never built for you.
It’s rigged with:

• Hidden rungs

• Broken steps

• Gatekeepers with generational privilege

The real ones don’t climb.
They build their own platforms.
Or they find the shortcuts.

That’s it for this week.

Keep showing up. Keep rooting for the ones who get it. And most of all — keep moving with purpose.

— Jessica

P.S.
If this hit home, share it with your people. The real flex? Winning together.