My business partner, Ethan Evans (retired Amazon VP, LinkedIn Top Voice) developed a popular concept called “The Magic Loop” that works at any level of your job – from junior to manager to IC to director to VP.
It’s about managing relationships effectively in both directions of the organizational hierarchy.
Table of Contents
Starting with Observation
The Magic Loop begins with the power of observation—carefully watch your manager, understand their work style, and note the types of questions they regularly ask.
Then follow these five steps.
The Five Basic Steps
Step 1:
Excel at your assigned work first.
Step 2:
Ask your manager, “How can I help you?” Surprisingly, 90% of managers never hear this question from their direct reports.
By simply asking, you’ll immediately stand out.
Step 3:
Whatever task they assign, complete it excellently. Remember, you build credibility and trust by delivering consistent results.
No one will hand you a $10 billion product to lead immediately because you haven’t established trust, credibility, or a track record yet.
You must earn these over time.
Step 4:
After cycling through steps 1-3 several times, the magic happens in step 4.
Now when you ask, “How can I help you?” request a task or goal that aligns with your personal career objectives.
Perhaps you want a promotion, increased visibility with key stakeholders, expanded scope, or management experience.
For example: “One of my goals is to learn how to manage people. With summer interns arriving soon, could I lead and mentor two of them? Would that help you?”
Step 5:
Rinse and repeat.
Advanced Magic Loop Techniques
Once you’ve built sufficient trust, you can implement two advanced forms of the Magic Loop.
First, proactively present solutions: “Hey manager, I noticed this problem. Here’s my recommendation to fix it. Are you comfortable with me implementing it?”
The ultimate form is taking initiative: “Hey manager, I noticed we had this problem. I’ve already fixed it. Here’s what I did.”
Conclusion
The best performers skillfully blend all three approaches, exercising good judgment about when each is most appropriate.
While taking initiative is valuable, constantly defaulting to “just do it” isn’t ideal—your manager often possesses more information and context than you do, making their input essential in certain situations.