Career

Senior leaders ask me all the time how to position themselves for a promotion. Most of the advice they’ve been given is the wrong advice. It’s:• Make your accomplishments visible.• Build relationships across the org.• Take on stretch assignments. All true. None of it tells them what actually determines whether they get promoted. Here’s what…

Most leadership advice you read is written for a room you’re not in. It’s written for the leader of a 12-person team in a stable company with a clear strategy and a healthy budget. The advice is: empower your people. Give them autonomy. Trust them with hard problems. Great. Sound. Useful for that room. If…

Senior leaders almost never lose authority all at once. They lose it in small phrases, repeated over months, that they don’t even know they’re saying. Four I’ve watched undermine smart, capable executives and what to swap them for. 1. “Sorry, can I just add something quickly?”Translation to the room: I’m not sure I deserve to…

Career capital is not the same as career velocity. Two senior leaders. Same industry. Same starting point ten years ago. One is now a SVP at a household-name company. Big title. Public profile. Speaking at conferences. The other is a VP at a less-known company. Quieter. Smaller team. Most people would tell you the first…