We’ve all been there: receiving great feedback, excelling in our role, and feeling like our hard work is paying off. But what happens when that positive momentum hits an invisible wall? What if you’re consistently told you’re on the right track, but the path to your next promotion or opportunity feels perpetually blocked, not by your performance, but by unseen forces within the organization?

This is a story about an accomplished manager we’ll call “Alex,” whose journey sheds light on a common but insidious issue: “soft toxicity.” This is a quiet, pervasive form of workplace dysfunction that can be far more damaging than overt conflict.

Alex was a high-achiever, consistently earning top performance reviews and demonstrating a dedication to going “above and beyond.” Alex met all the criteria for a well-deserved promotion to a leadership role. Yet, when the time came, the promotion was stalled.

The reason given was not about performance. Instead, Alex was told that a previous, unrelated promotion had not worked out, and senior leadership was now hesitant to endorse another new leader. In essence, Alex had to bear the professional side effects of a past leadership miscalculation, a clear example of how individual careers can be impacted by organizational politics.

After a change in leadership, Alex found a new manager who seemed supportive and listened during their 1:1 meetings. This provided a false sense of security. Despite clear communication about career goals, the positive interactions with the manager never translated into tangible advocacy with their peers or senior executives. Alex was kept in a perpetual state of professional limbo; too good to receive critical feedback for growth, yet never quite good enough for a promotion.

This cycle of unfulfilled promises began to take a toll. Alex, working in a different time zone from the company’s core leadership, started to feel sidelined and disengaged. The initial frustration turned into a quiet, draining sense of burnout.

Alex’s story is a stark reminder that even in environments where direct feedback is positive, a lack of genuine advocacy, misaligned leadership, and unaddressed organizational issues can create a deeply frustrating and ultimately burning experience. It highlights the invisible walls that can rise, often silently, within an organization, hindering growth and engagement.

In the next post, we’ll delve deeper into what “soft toxicity” truly means and how to identify its subtle but destructive patterns before they lead to burnout.