Breaking the Tech Glass Ceiling and How to Master the Five Currencies of Influence
- 6 hours ago
- 6 min read
Daniele Forni is an executive coach for non-standard and neurodivergent leaders, and the founder of The Human Spikes Labs. A former Director at HSBC with fifteen years in banking across Europe and Asia, he is a University of Cambridge alumnus and the author of books on leadership, neurodiversity, strategy, and meditation.
“I’ve hit the glass ceiling.” I hear this from brilliant technical professionals almost every week, software engineers, risk managers, and investment bankers who are solving problems most of us can’t even describe, yet keep getting passed over for promotion. The reason? They’re told they’re “just not great communicators.” In this article, I’ll show you why that feedback is misleading and introduce a powerful framework that will change the way you influence the people around you.
Why do technical professionals hit a glass ceiling?
If I’d known what I know now, my early career would have looked very different. But as my receding hairline can attest, we usually learn the most expensive lessons exactly when we think we already have all the answers. When I pivoted into executive coaching and started my course at Cambridge, I expected to uncover the secret to human psychology. Instead, I found that the missing pieces of executive leadership had been sitting right in front of me the whole time. I just wasn’t looking at them.
The pattern is remarkably consistent. Technical professionals dedicate years to mastering their craft, deliver exceptional results, and then hit an invisible wall. When they ask why, they get the same vague feedback: “You need to work on your communication.” But no one tells them what that actually means.
Research backs this up. According to a study by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Stanford Research Center, 85% of job success comes from soft and people skills, while only 15% comes from technical knowledge. For engineers specifically, soft skills are the most sought-after qualities in over 80% of job postings. Yet, most technical education programs barely touch on them.
Everyone can become a charismatic leader
When my clients hear they need to be “better communicators,” they immediately picture a charismatic extrovert with a booming voice and a perfectly tailored suit (and a head full of hair!). They assume they lack some mystical, innate trait that makes people listen.
I can tell you from experience: they’re wrong.
Effective communication has almost nothing to do with having a radio-quality voice or a magnetic personality. Early in my career, I was genuinely baffled by a Managing Director who had a higher-pitched voice than mine but could move mountains with a single sentence. What was he doing that I wasn’t?
I used to joke that human perception is roughly 40% how you say something, 40% how you structure it, 20% what you look like, and approximately 0% the actual content. It’s why some leaders can talk for twenty minutes, say absolutely nothing of substance, and still have the room nodding in agreement. They’ve mastered the architecture of the message, while us technical folks are still focusing on the content, ignoring the how. The good news is that these are learnable communication habits that any leader can develop.
Structuring communication is not a new concept. The art of rhetoric has been taught since Roman times, Cicero was a master of it. So how did the modern technical professional lose this art?
What makes soft skills so hard for technical professionals?
The world has become hyper-technical, and we’ve paid a price for it. We spend decades mastering Python or financial modeling, but we treat “soft skills” as an optional elective. Ironically, these skills are infinitely harder to debug than any codebase.
I spent years hyper-focused on technical perfection. I built risk management software and investment decks with airtight logic, assuming that if the content was sound, the buy-in would follow automatically. I treated humans like computers: input logic, receive approval.
But when I tried to explain my successes or when I tried to ask for more resources, no one was hearing me.
Humans are not compilers. They don’t execute commands exactly as written; they filter them through a messy web of ego, stress, and personal perspectives.
Breaking the glass ceiling requires a mindset shift: communication isn’t a “soft” skill. It is a critical, complex system that requires its own architecture. As Harvard Business School explains, success increasingly hinges on the cooperation of people across your organization over whom you have no formal authority. Over the years, I have collected nearly a hundred structured frameworks to help technical minds navigate human communication. But there is one tool, in particular, that consistently produces a lightbulb moment for my clients.
How can you influence people without direct authority?
This framework comes from Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford’s Influence Without Authority, and it addresses a dilemma every technical leader faces: how do you get things done when you don’t have direct managerial power over the people you need help from?
In the modern, matrixed workplace, you constantly need cooperation from people who don’t report to you. “Break the silos” they tell you…but how?
Very simple…start trading!
First, you need to identify what their favorite “currency” is, what they actually care about. Then, you can offer it in exchange for their cooperation.
And when you do, you stop begging for favors and start making deals. There is not one better than the other; they all depend on you and the counterpart you want to trade with. Here is an outline:
What are the five currencies of influence?
1. Inspiration-related currencies
These appeal to a person’s desire to find meaning, purpose, and significance in their daily work.
Vision: Framing a task as a crucial part of a project that has broader, strategic importance – turning the mundane into the meaningful.
Excellence: Appealing to their desire to build something “best-in-class” or set a new standard.
Ethical Correctness: Championing a good cause or doing what is fundamentally the right thing for the end user or the company.
2. Task-related currencies
These focus on the practical. They appeal to the desire to get the job done more effectively.
Resources: Lending them your budget, hardware, personnel, or best developer.
Assistance: Rolling up your sleeves to help them clear a bottleneck or heavy workload.
Information: Giving them the inside track on critical data, technical insights, or institutional knowledge they’ve been struggling to find.
3. Position-related currencies
These center around enhancing a person’s standing, reputation, and trajectory within the organization.
Recognition: Making sure the right people know they were the hero of the project.
Visibility: Giving them the stage to present a solution to stakeholders or be seen as a leader on a high-profile initiative.
Networking: Connecting them with the mentor, leader, or influential contact they’ve been trying to meet.
4. Relationship-related currencies
These are based on the fundamental human need for connection, mutual support, and psychological safety.
Understanding: Actually listening to why their department is struggling and acting as a safe sounding board. In diverse teams, this also means developing cultural intelligence to bridge different perspectives.
Personal Support: Publicly backing them up when a meeting gets contentious or a decision goes sideways.
Inclusion: Ensuring they feel like a valued part of the team and the strategic inner circle.
5. Personal-related currencies
These fulfill an individual’s personal needs and reinforce their sense of autonomy and self-worth.
Gratitude: A sincere, specific “thank you”, not a generic Slack emoji.
Autonomy: Giving them the freedom to run the project their way without hovering.
Ownership: Letting them feel that a piece of the project is entirely theirs to drive.
How do you start using the five currencies?
Shattering the glass ceiling requires you to stop viewing communication as a distraction from your “real work.” At a certain level of leadership, communication is the work.
The next time you’re banging your head against a wall because a stakeholder “just doesn’t get it,” stop arguing the technical merits. Pause. Ask yourself: what currency do they trade in, and how can I offer it to them?
This is just one of nearly a hundred structured frameworks I use with my clients to help technical leaders navigate the human side of their organizations. When you find the right key, you’ll realize the glass ceiling wasn’t a ceiling at all – it was just a locked door, and you finally have the combination.
And, all of a sudden, you have become a highly successful currency trader.
Ready to break through your glass ceiling?
If you’re a technical professional who is tired of hearing “you need to communicate better” without being told how, I’d love to help. I work with software engineers, risk managers, and investment bankers to build the influence and communication skills that turn technical experts into executive leaders. Book a free application call with me and let’s talk about what’s standing between you and your next promotion.
Read more from Daniele Forni
Daniele Forni, Executive Coach and Tech Founder
Daniele Forni, known as The Data Shaman, is an executive coach for non-standard and neurodivergent leaders. He helps senior professionals leverage unconventional traits using rigorous science, AI tools, and strategic wit. As founder of The Human Spikes Labs, he champions the Spiky Profile concept: exceptional leaders are defined by their peaks. An alumnus of the University of Cambridge and author of books on leadership, neurodiversity, and meditation, Daniele previously spent fifteen years in banking and risk management across Europe and Asia.
