The Yasar Ahmad Podcast

You paid tens of thousands for a degree that taught you nothing about how corporate decisions actually get made. From day one, executives are forming opinions about your future based on rules nobody ever wrote down, and if you're working hard in silence, you're already losing. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. This is the career advice on office politics and workplace visibili...

I stood alongside Simon Squibb, the entrepreneur and investor behind HelpBnk and author of the Sunday Times bestseller "What's Your Dream?", for an unscripted conversation about where careers are actually heading, and why the word "career" might not survive the next 20 years. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. Simon went from homeless at 15 to selling his agency...

Nobody ever tells you you're being frozen out. There's no email, no conversation. The meetings just start happening without you, the messages go quiet, and one day you're standing outside a room you used to run. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. Consider this the career advice on office politics nobody hands you: being frozen out at work is one of the oldest tools in the o...

The fastest way to lose a senior room is to bury your point. This is the bluff technique: bottom line up front, the military habit of getting to the point before you lose them. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. This is practical career advice and communication skills training built on one hard lesson. Early in my career I was presenting to an executive who stopped me halfway through a...

10 career questions HR would never answer honestly, so I will. No corporate script, just how it actually works from someone who ran those departments. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR, director in my early 20s and VP by my 30s. This is blunt career advice and honest career coaching on the questions that decide your career growth strategy more than any degree. Does your degree matter a...

I teach people how to lobby at work, and I won't apologise for it. This is how decisions really get made: every decision about you happens in a meeting you're not in, so office politics isn't optional, you're better off getting there first. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. Someone probably told you to let your work speak for itself. It's the most expensive advice...

After decades in senior leadership, these are the seven rules I run my work life by. Not motivational fluff, the operating principles I use for clearer decision making, faster action, and getting people to back my ideas. I'm Yasar Ahmad. Treat this as practical personal development for your career, the kind of career advice that hands you a system instead of a pep talk. Rule one is relentless...

In executive and board meetings, the best idea almost never wins. The best delivered idea wins. This is the communication skill that decides who gets listened to, and almost nobody teaches it, because the people who have it like to pretend it's a personality. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. I've spent decades in board meetings and exec sessions at companies like Zalando, Hel...

Most career advice tells you to be less selfish. This one does the opposite: I'll show you how to be ruthlessly selfish in a way that actually builds your career strategy, your reputation, and your standing with the people who decide your future. Recorded on a plane, so bear with me. I'm Yasar Ahmad. I've scaled companies to billions, managed teams of hundreds, and coached first minist...

When your manager calls you indispensable, they've usually already decided not to promote you. This is how promotions really work: I sat in the room where that decision gets made for almost two decades, and being overlooked at work while carrying double is quietly costing you about a pay band a year. I'm Yasar Ahmad. Here's the career advice nobody hands you on how to get promoted, and...

There's a particular kind of sting when someone steals your idea in a meeting. They say the thing you just said, the room lights up, and the credit lands on them. If you've felt it, here's how to make sure it never happens again. I'm Yasar Ahmad, a former global VP of HR. Over 20 years I've sat in the rooms where ideas get traded like currency, working with leaders from HelloFr...

You can be the best worker on your team and still be invisible to the people who decide promotions and pay. This is the full masterclass on how to get promoted, how promotions really work, and how to stand out at work, without playing office politics or burning yourself out. Book a strategy call here: https://ovdlab.com/book/team/strategy-discovery-call/15minFind out about September cohort here: h...

There's a 2-second window that tells you everything about someone's character. It's the 2 seconds after they're told they got something wrong, before the professional face goes back on. Most of us miss it because we're busy reading charm. I've hired and promoted people for the better part of two decades, and the same thing holds up every time: pressure, power, and the small...

Why do idiots keep getting promoted? Because they worked out what's actually being scored, and you didn't. I've sat in the calibration rooms where those decisions get made, and here's what really happens. Chapters:0:00 Why idiots keep getting promoted0:08 Inside the calibration room (90 seconds that decide you)0:34 Is corporate a meritocracy? The 10/30/60 maths1:02 Does hard work g...

Can you take a conversation from threat to trust in one sitting? When a discussion turns heated, most people wing it, and that's exactly when it falls apart. This is the system I use to turn it around. There are two parts. First you regulate yourself, because none of the clever tactics work while your face is hot and your stomach's in knots. I use the Stoic sequence: notice the feeling, na...

Get my free RESUME template here: https://ovdlab.com/blog/my-resume-that-landed-me-my-vp-roleOver my entire career I rejected more than a million resumes. Almost every one failed for the same five reasons, and nobody ever told the person why. I ran hiring at companies like HelloFresh and Wipro, where we brought in thousands of people a month and sat on a database of 3 to 4 million resumes. Yours g...

The man hired to clean up FIFA just ran the biggest decision in sport as one man. That is the leadership and governance failure that quietly plays out in ordinary companies every week, and almost nobody catches it until it's too late.____As mentioned in the video:Complete my free career diagnostic. Learn about the secret rules holding you back and how to fix it! 5000 people have already completed...

School rewards your child for doing what they're told. The working world pays for the opposite, and hardly anyone closes that gap in time.____As mentioned in the video:Complete my free career diagnostic. Learn about the secret rules holding you back and how to fix it! 5000 people have already completed it. Dont get left behind. 👉🏽https://ovdlab.com/assessment____I spent years running hiring and...

Most senior leaders can't verify whether you deliver. They can only verify whether you stay calm when something goes wrong. That's why steady, well-spoken people get promoted while stronger performers wait, and it's where this Q&A starts.____As mentioned in the video:Complete my free career diagnostic. Learn about the secret rules holding you back and how to fix it! 5000 people hav...

Most people scroll past their company values as corporate mumbo jumbo on a wall. Used properly, those same values are the sharpest accountability tool you have at work, for holding yourself in check and for steering a room without ever telling someone they're wrong. Recorded from the car, so bear with me. I break down the three values I actually run my work on: relentless prioritisation, custo...

Executive presence isn't charisma you're born with. It's one learnable skill, clarity, and it's the reason some people sound senior the moment they open their mouth while sharper colleagues get overlooked for years.____As mentioned in the video:Complete my free career diagnostic. Learn about the secret rules holding you back and how to fix it! 5000 people have already completed it....

How you frame an idea at work decides whether it gets a yes or a wall of "why". Tell your boss "I need £300K to upgrade the platform" and watch the questions pile up. Reframe it as "can we afford to lose £3 million in our busiest period if it drops?" and the room goes quiet.____As mentioned in the video:Complete my free career diagnostic. Learn about the secret rules...

On the 1st of August, a computer did something no human had done. It solved ten open problems in maths. A Fields Medal winner looked at the proof and said he would send it to a top journal without hesitation. That is not the part that keeps me up at night. Everyone is bracing for a jobs recession. I am not. I spent twenty years in boardrooms signing off restructures. Jobs vanish. Jobs appear. That...

You know your point. So why are you still talking?🔍 Find out exactly where you're losing visibility at work:Free diagnostic → https://www.ovdlab.com/assessment📚 Deeper playbooks and frameworks:https://www.ovdlab.com/shopMost professionals over-explain not because they lack confidence but because nobody ever taught them to cut. This video changes that. In this video you'll get:→ The real...

Most professionals think working harder is enough. It isn't.🔍 Discover your workplace visibility score: www.ovdlab.com🛒 Resources to help you win at work: https://www.ovdlab.com/bioThe mistake that holds people back at work isn't poor performance it's invisibility. You can be the most capable person in the room and still get passed over, if the right people don't know what you&#3...