Playbook · Work and career
Should I ask for a raise now, and how much?
For someone who feels underpaid and wants to know whether now is the moment, what to ask for, and how to say it.
In short
A board of named AI experts — The Sales Leader, The Analyst and The Empath — takes your situation, asks three things first, and hands back a plan: the number to ask for, when to ask, what to say in the first two minutes, and what to do if the answer is no. You see one price before anything runs.
Before the board starts
What the board asks first.
What decides this: what your role pays elsewhere, what you have delivered since your last raise, and how your manager makes these calls.
When was your last raise?
What have you delivered that your manager would agree with?
A raise is easier to give for results someone else already saw.
In your own words.
Do you have another offer, or would you look?
What you get back: A plan: the number to ask for, when to ask, what to say in the first two minutes, and what to do if the answer is no.
A real run
One person’s version,
and what the board said.
I have been a customer support team lead at a software company for 2 years and have not had a raise beyond 3% cost of living. This year I cut average response time by 40% and trained 5 new hires; my manager praised both in my review. Similar roles pay about 15% more than I make. Annual reviews are in 2 months.
An example person, written for this page. Everything below is what the board delivered, word for word.
Raise compensation now and target a 15% base-salary increase, with the annual review as the decision deadline. Use a collaborative market-alignment frame, not a demand for immediate payment.
What would change it: A verified HR policy explicitly prohibiting compensation discussions outside the annual-review cycle would reverse the timing recommendation and make the review the correct venue.
The AnalystAsk for a 15% market-alignment raise immediately, using measurable impact and a 3–6 month fallback plan if approval is delayed.
The Sales LeaderAsk now for a 15% raise before review politics dilute your measurable revenue impact.
The EmpathStart the compensation conversation now, but frame it collaboratively and secure a concrete path to a 15% market adjustment.
Schedule a 30-minute compensation-alignment conversation
Questions
Fair questions
about this playbook.
What does running this cost?
Reading this page is free. Running it is a board: on Free it seats 3 experts and its card shows up to 135 credits before anything runs. A board never bills above its card. Nothing is charged until you confirm.
Is the example real?
Yes. The board above ran on a SynthBoard test account with the situation shown. The call, where each expert stood, what would change it and the first step are what it delivered, in its own words. The situation was written as an example; it is not a real person.
What happens when I run it with my situation?
You answer the same three questions with your own facts, then your Chief of Staff shows the board — The Sales Leader, The Analyst and The Empath on Free, more seats on a paid plan — and its one price. The board researches, argues it out and hands back the piece, with the first step and what would change the call.
Can the experts be wrong?
Yes. They are AI and can be wrong. That is why every board seats someone whose job is to argue against the obvious answer, and why the piece says what would change the call.
Keep reading
Close to this call.
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The playbookSynthBoard (synthboard.ai) is one place for your business, your life, and every hard call. Your Chief of Staff keeps what you tell her on file, and 24 named experts on different AI models take the calls — one expert for a consult, a board with opposed seats for the hard ones — and hand back a memo with the call, the dissent and the first move. How it works.