CFO Corner Week 39: Your Manager Is Your Advocate - Are You Giving Them Anything to Work With?
If your manager had to decide your raise tomorrow, what would they be working from? For most people, the answer is memory: the last few weeks, one big project, maybe one mistake. At many companies, raise planning starts in the fall, before your review is ever on the calendar. This week's CFO Corner covers two moves to make now: update your brag list, and have one short, strategic conversation with your manager.
The Reframe
Your raise usually isn't decided in your review. It's decided in a planning meeting where your manager advocates for you alongside everyone else on the team. Your job isn't to win an argument. It's to make their case easy. A brag list isn't bragging. It's documentation for the person in your corner.
The Myths to Clear Up
"Good work speaks for itself." Only if someone wrote it down. Managers can't hold a year of your wins in their heads.
"Bringing up raises early is pushy." Asking how a process works is professional, not pushy.
"I'll bring it up at my review." By then, the budget may already be set.
Move One: Update Your Brag List
Block 30 minutes and go month by month through your calendar, sent email, and messages. Capture four things:
Results with a number attached
Problems you solved
Work you took on beyond your role
Feedback and praise (screenshot it)
Then translate tasks into impact. "Ran onboarding" becomes "Rebuilt onboarding and cut new-hire ramp time from six weeks to four."
Move Two: The 20-Minute Conversation
Ask your manager for time to understand the process, not to ask for a number. Three questions:
"How does the raise process work here, and when do decisions get made?"
"What would it look like for me to be at the top of the range this year?"
"Is there anything you'd need from me to help make that case?"
Bring your market research from our episode on researching your salary number.
The Math: Why 20 Minutes Matters
On an $85,000 salary, a 3% raise is $2,550 and a 5% raise is $4,250, a $1,700 difference. Because that difference becomes part of your base, it repeats every year. Over five years, it's worth at least $8,500, before future raises compound on it. It can also affect percentage-based bonuses, retirement contributions, and your starting point at your next job.
The Reality Check
This doesn't guarantee a bigger raise. Budgets can be fixed. If you hear "no room this year," ask about a title change, expanded scope, a bonus, professional development funds, or a set date to revisit. And if the answer is always no, your brag list works just as well in an interview.
Pull Quotes
"Good work speaks for itself only if someone wrote it down."
"That might be the highest-paying 20 minutes of your year."
Key Takeaways
Raise decisions often start before your review, so act now.
Your manager is your advocate. Give them the evidence.
Impact beats tasks: attach numbers and outcomes to your work.
A small raise difference compounds into thousands over time.
"No budget" is the start of a conversation, not the end.
This Week's Homework
Block 30 minutes to update your brag list, month by month.
Book a 20-minute check-in with your manager within two weeks.
Send a recap email after the conversation with what you discussed and when you'll follow up.
