Hi Reader,

Welcome to the 10th edition of the 3-2-1 (check out previous issues here).

I write about transforming ICs into Impact Contributors.

And today, we’re talking about the gap between what companies expect and what they actually enable.

Let’s get into it.

3 Things for Work (in L&D)

1. When There’s Nowhere to Promote a Star Employee (HBR)

• Career advancement doesn’t only mean climbing the org chart. Rebecca Knight argues that decoupling title progression from career growth is how you retain high performers. People stay committed to organizations that invest in them.
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 6 min read

2. Why Employers Continue to Fail on L&D (HR Executive)

• Over 85% of employers believe they’re delivering the skills development employees need. Employees substantially disagree. The gap isn’t effort. It’s alignment.
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 5 min read

3. Addressing the Barriers Blocking Employee Development (Gallup)

• 59% of CHROs say development is what their organization struggles with most. Yet only 45% of employees participated in any training last year. The result? 58% of employees seek learning outside what their employer offers.
• 🏋 Effort ≈ 6 min read

2 Things for Life

1. My “Digital Assistant” Experiment (LinkedIn)

• I wrote about my dedicated Mac Mini running Claude Code as a kind of always-on assistant. It pulls meeting transcripts, surfaces forgotten follow-ups, processes voice memos, and updates contacts automatically. The post hit 15,000+ impressions, which tells me I’m not the only one thinking about this. The big shift for me: it stopped feeling like a tool and started feeling like a coworker who never forgets anything.

2. Jhāna Retreat App (Free meditation app)

• I’ve been exploring jhāna meditation recently. Jhānas are progressively deeper states of meditative absorption in Buddhist practice. My friend Johnny Miller built this free app using Claude Code to make learning more accessible. It’s a 22-session audio retreat with progress tracking. If you’re curious about going deeper with meditation, this is a great starting point.

1 Idea from Me

Ownership is a capability, not a slogan.

I had a conversation this week that got me fired up.

An engineer I have a ton of respect for was describing what it’s like to be an IC at a fast-growing tech company.

Sound familiar?

This is the pattern everywhere. Companies tell ICs to “take ownership” and “drive impact.” But they don’t teach them how.

No one teaches you to influence without authority. No one shows you how to navigate ambiguity. No one protects your time to actually grow.

You get a learning stipend and a Udemy login. Good luck.

Then when you don’t magically become a strategic operator, leadership is “disappointed.”

So they hire externally. Someone senior. Someone who has zero incentive to help you develop.

And you’re left wondering what you did wrong.

Here’s what I’ve learned working with L&D teams and ICs at companies like Faire, Otsuka, and IMG Academy:

The problem isn’t that ICs can’t own things. It’s that “be an owner” is a destination, not a direction. Nobody teaches them how to get there.

If you want ICs who drive impact without waiting for permission, you have to equip them with the skills to do it. Influence. Communication. Judgment. Sense-making.

Ownership isn’t a mindset you can demand. It’s a capability you have to build. And if companies keep expecting the destination without providing the direction, they’ll keep losing the people who want to get there.

If you're an L&D leader looking to develop these skills in your org, I created a playbook to get you started → The Ownership Playbook.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your Sunday!

I’ll be back in two weeks ✌️

Andrew

P.S. 👉 If your organization is struggling to develop ICs into strategic contributors, hit reply. I do a free 30-minute strategy call to help you think through what’s missing.