Why You Get Rejected After A Great Interview | Amazon Bar Raiser Explains (1000+ interviews)

A 17-year Amazon and Gap veteran who ran 100+ promotion pane;s, trained thousands of professionals, and was a bar raiser (1000+ interviews) told me the #1 reason people don't get promoted. It's not your work. It's that nobody knows who you are. I had to sit with that one.Myra Deshmukh spent nearly two decades on the other side of the table. She was the one deciding who gets promoted, who gets hired, and who gets put on a PIP. She left Amazon as a Senior L7 leader to build Leadership Lab, where she now coaches tech professionals on the one skill nobody teaches them: communication. She's also a mom who will tell you honestly that she didn't like her kids during her corporate years. That conversation surprised me.We got into it. The IC-to-manager transition and why most people fail at it. What "tell me about yourself" actually means from the interviewer's side. Why your boss was probably never trained to manage. How visibility kills more promotions than performance. The South Asian cultural disadvantage nobody talks about. And what happens to your relationship with your kids when you finally have control over your schedule. It's a lot. But it connects.If this helps you, drop a like, subscribe, and tell me what part you want a deeper follow-up on.Chapters00:00 Trailer01:15 Welcome + what this conversation is about03:30 Being liked vs. being respected as a new manager14:45 The loneliness of mid-level management20:30 Avoiding hard conversations costs you 10x later29:15 "Oh shit" — the moment you realize you're accountable for your team32:00 Micromanagement is a trust and mechanism problem41:00 Why most bad managers are actually good people46:45 What being an Amazon bar raiser actually taught her53:45 "Tell me about yourself" — how to nail it in 45 seconds58:30 How she got hired at Amazon with zero e-commerce experience1:05:30 Communication: the meta-skill nobody formally teaches1:15:15 The #1 reason promotions don't go through1:20:45 Why she left Amazon and the love-hate exercise1:24:45 "I didn't like my kids" — the headspace shift after quitting1:28:00 OutroAbout the GuestMyra Deshmukh spent 17 years at Amazon and Gap in leadership roles where she hired, promoted, and developed hundreds of professionals. She was an Amazon bar raiser, ran promotion processes, and started an L&D team from scratch through a single doc. She now runs Leadership Lab, teaching communication and career skills through corporate workshops and her Maven course "Confident, Clear, Compelling Communication."Connect with NikhilLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=nikhilkapahiYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InnerScorecardSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3S5eGHfSQeG9gVvWbfOktTInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/inner.scorecard/X: https://x.com/innerscorecard_Website: https://www.nikhilkapahi.com/Connect with Myra DeshmukhLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/myradeshmukhWebsite: https://www.leadership-lab.co/TikTok: @leadershiplabcoInstagram: @leadershiplabcoNewsletter: "Sticky Situations" — leadership-lab.coSubscribe for more conversations like thisThe Inner Scorecard is for people chasing meaningful work, better leadership, and a calmer mind while still playing to win.#InnerScorecard #Podcast #MyraDeshmukh #LeadershipLab #AmazonCulture #CareerGrowth #ICtoManager #InterviewTips #CommunicationSkills #ExecutivePresence #BarRaiser #BigTech #WorkLifeBalance #Promotions #SouthAsianProfessionals