Casting the aura
Senior contributors should change the shape of the curve, not just help carry the weight.
TLDR: Senior employees should “cast the aura” and this should be an explicit requirement for promoting them. Your organisation should coalesce around people who embody the traits you want to spread.
Culture is a competitive advantage to the extent it drives desirable behaviours. A company’s culture is ineffective if it does not do this, and it gets escalatingly more difficult to build and maintain culture as the organisation crosses ~30, ~100, ~1000 people.
A crucial point that organisations often overlook is whether the individuals selected for promotion are culture-carriers. This is something that gets talked about a lot but is very difficult to define because it varies by field and by firm.
In my opinion, a crystal-clear test if someone is ready to be a senior-level individual contributor is simply - do they cast the aura?
Is the organisation perceptibly better through their presence even without direct contributions?
If they left tomorrow, would the organization feel less capable, less clear, or less confident?
Do people naturally turn to them — not because of their title, but because they trust their judgment?
To succeed as a senior employee - think staff software engineer, VP investment banker, partner at a law firm, or similar - people must learn to have impact and influence that spreads beyond their own work. There are books on this - Staff Engineer’s Path is the one I read most recently, but they tend to be domain-specific and are a fairly plodding read.
Casting the aura is a simpler test, generalises across every organisation, and once you’ve seen it you can’t unsee it.
What is “The Aura”?
The aura is the idea that the organisation is noticeably better because you’re in it, and your colleagues are performing noticeably better simply because you’re around.
If the team is digging a hole and you’re digging a hole with them, you’re probably not casting the aura. If the team is digging a hole and you notice that they are about to hit a water line, and you show them where to find a map and grab a shovel to help them dig around it - before telling their boss that the team is doing smart work by using the map - you might be casting the aura.
It shows up in many different ways and is an advanced technique, idiosyncratic to the person casting it.
Why does The Aura need to be “cast”?
Any sufficiently powerful technology is indistinguishable from magic. I frame it this way because it forces people to think differently. If you are thinking that The Aura is a Specific Thing you can do, like yeah I’ll give some input on key decisions and then I’ll have The Aura, that is not correct and not how The Aura works, and it’s not sufficient for being great as a senior team member.
Getting this framing also helps avoid "moving goalpost syndrome". The classic behaviour of an organisation unsure about promoting a team member is to delay:
"Well you should have more input on key decisions." -> Ok I am having input on decisions, when promotion? "Well you should be more of a team player, and give more feedback." -> OK I am giving feedback and........."Well you need to have more influence" -> fuck me it's been 18 months already, they aren’t going to promote anyone anyway, this process is a sham
In this scenario, this person does not cast the aura and is instead pursuing the narrowly specific behaviours the organisation thinks it is looking for. This doesn't work. Organisations want a Gestalt whole in a senior employee. It's not about acquiring one or more additional skills; it's about operationalising the whole piece to be effective.
In other words - the aura must be cast, a little like Harry Potter but more like spectrum broadcast. It is not a technique or a pattern of behaviour you can imitate but more of a way of being - and people absolutely notice it when they see it.The aura must be cast, a little like Harry Potter but more like spectrum broadcast. It is not a technique or a pattern of behaviour you can imitate but more of a way of being - and people absolutely notice it when they see it.
One example is energy. What does your presence do to a room? Nothing? If you had to spread calm without saying a word, how would you do that?
This is handwavey bullshit?
Yeah but it’s facts dawg. If you want more tangibles, Chad GPT says people who cast the aura have:
Clarity & Optimism – hearing their take on an issue makes it seem more solvable.
Presence – Others feel more capable and secure because they’re here; they are steady and confident.
High Standards – their actions pull others to a higher level. They inspire excellence.
Context and Judgment – organisational memory and pattern recognition, helping teams avoid mistakes and focus on what matters.
Military literature is full of examples, as you’d expect. Caesar’s De Bello Gallico is a good read - this person sets the standard. It is not a coincidence that he was the senior-most individual contributor in his 4800-person organisation. Most business books overlook the organisational aspects of success; generally they focus on what happened in the organisation (big picture) rather than how each team contributed to the result.
Here is a real example
If you’ve read previous posts you’ll know I like to use examples from outside people’s experience. Bricklaying is a personal favourite - because we are not here to discuss the right way to lay bricks, but the generalisable principles that make a team of bricklayers effective - so this story is about a Roman centurion.
Read the below anecdote, as recorded by Julius Caesar. Pay attention to what you notice. Would you have promoted this person into a senior role? Why?
Here’s what I noticed:
P. was in hospital for 5 days (low context, absent from decisions)
Stuff starts going wrong, people panic
Leaves hospital, doesn’t require permission to act (demonstrates initiative, commitment, outcome focus)
Goes straight to the gate (demonstrates judgement; does exactly the right thing with no guidance or context)
Peers follow him; my read is they were already looking around for leadership (demonstrates influence; the situation was already being acted on before explicit authority could be notified or arrive)
Others in the area imitate his behaviour, begin acting correctly, and continue after he departs (sets the standard, inspires action by example even when no longer present)
Think of how the median manager would handle this situation. My suspicion is the typical formal manager would probably gather the team, conduct a short briefing, take them to the problem, and issue instructions. That’s fine and a great approach, but it’s slow in a crisis and it wasn’t necessary here because the team is well trained and has great senior employees.
P. Sextius Baculus is already a known quantity, which is why the team follow him. In fact, if you read the book, you will see Caesar call out his behaviour on three separate occasions, precisely because he wants the organisation to follow the example this man sets.
Casting the aura: More examples
Rege-Jean Page in the Dungeons & Dragons film is great at this. Watch the way other people watch him. Yeah, it's caricature, but there's a deeper truth to it. It’s interesting how he chose to convey it, because his character is literally supposed to have a holy aura that influences colleagues, thanks to his god’s divine powers.
The CEO in Margin Call casts the Aura, as does his protege Mr Sell-It-All-Today (Simon Baker). Kevin Spacey, noticeably, does not - but he switches it on for a few moments during the fire sale, and Paul Bettany lacks Aura completely (and complains about being passed over for promotion). Notice I did not say they are not skilled.
The main character of Tacitus’ Agricola is a people-manager, and an aura-caster. Outlaw Platoon by Sean Parnell describes why the Aura matters:
Our company’s weeks in training divided the men into cliques, and that created tension…personalities clashed, and some men didn’t give their full measure…. Those who appeared to measure up earned respect. Those who didn’t were regarded with distrust and became outsiders. An inner circle formed around the men who demonstrated they could handle anything thrown at them. They were men of character, and they became the core…. I was lucky; when a platoon coalesces around alpha males who lack character, bad things happen.
This is literally why medals exist; the wearer becomes a walking billboard, and now they have a reputation to live up to. Plus, it shows everybody else who to emulate. Promotions work much the same way in the workplace.
Bottom line:
Culture is a competitive advantage to the extent it drives desirable behaviours. Senior employees must make the organisation better both directly through contribution (frequently assessed) and indirectly through culture and standards (often overlooked).
Casting the aura is how you demonstrate you are one of these people, and looking for the aura is part of how you identify them.
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