What Really Gets You Promoted

You’re already a high performer. You deliver results, earn strong reviews, and are trusted with responsibility.

And you likely built your career on a simple, logical belief: if you work hard, produce results, and do the right thing, recognition will follow.

That belief serves you well … until it doesn’t.

At senior levels, promotions are no longer rewards for effort. They are executive decisions shaped by trust, visibility, advocacy, and the perception that you’re ready. Understanding this shift is what separates those who plateau from those who continue to rise.

What your rise does require is a mindset shift - in how you think, how you communicate, and how you show up as a leader. 

In this article, I’ll introduce my four-part Executive Elevation framework, a practical way to understand how executive advancement actually works. The framework is organized into four core pillars and adaptable to the nuances of individual careers

Pillar #1: Career & Goal Alignment

This is where alignment begins - between your vision, your goals, and the leader you're becoming. In so doing, you become the CEO of your own career. 

Here's what I recommend: create two levels of goals working in harmony:

Step 1: Create your Bold Vision. This is a longer-term picture of the leader you know you aspire to be. Imagine where you want to be three years from now. Think big and bold. 

Step 2: Define a precise 12-month outcome. Set one specific, measurable result: Maybe a promotion to VP or into the C-suite. Maybe leading a high-performing team on an enterprise-wide initiative. 

The vision pulls you forward. The 12-month target directs your daily decisions.

Steve Jobs said it best: "If you are working on something that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you."

Pillar #2: Strategic Visibility

Strategic visibility means your most impactful work is seen, understood, and valued by the right people - especially senior leaders.

Here's the disconnect: you believe your great work should speak for itself. But at the senior levels, the work doesn't speak - you speak for the work.

Senior executives are overloaded, managing complexity, scanning for opportunities and risks. They're not reading your ten-page report. Your job is to translate your contributions into strategic outcomes. 

This is where weekly strategy time (a weekly appointment with yourself) becomes essential. Ask yourself: "Of everything I accomplished this week, what one thing would the CEO find most valuable?"

Then describe it in clear outcome language:

• "I prevented a $3 million client from leaving by restructuring our delivery timeline"

• "I implemented a workflow change that freed ten hours of team capacity and reduced errors by 30%"

This outcome language becomes the foundation of your executive communications and promotion conversations.

Pillar #3: Executive Narrative

Strategic visibility gets leaders to look at you. Your executive narrative determines the story you tell.

A promotion is always a bet on the future. No one in the C-suite bets on a future they can't see.

Your executive narrative communicates your vision, leadership value, strategic potential, and alignment with enterprise priorities.

Every week ask yourself: "Did I communicate like the leader I'm becoming - or the role I'm currently in?"

Future-focused leaders get promoted. Task-focused leaders stay where they are.

Your narrative needs to paint a picture of where you're going. You need to build political capital by showing senior leaders you understand the bigger game.

Pillar #4: Your Influence & Alignment Network

This is about creating high-trust relationships with senior leaders who shape the direction of the organization and your career.

Executive promotions are shaped by relationships - by the people who trust you, advocate for you, and believe in your leadership. And this mostly happens behind closed doors.

Ursula Burns often spoke about how critical others were in her rise at Xerox. She didn't just build relationships - she proved her value and built trust. She once said: "Dreams do come true, but not without the help of others..." That support helped propel her from an intern to CEO.

Building your network requires four steps:

Step 1: Identify your elevation allies - senior leaders who shape decisions.

Step 2: Understand what they care about - strategic outcomes, risks, value creation, enterprise priorities.

Step 3: Create value in a way that is visible to them - doing the right work in the right way.

Step 4: Build thoughtful, two-way relationships - executives want grounded, thoughtful leaders with clarity, integrity, and a point of view.

When you build your network with intention and alignment, senior leaders don't just support you. They champion you. They say your name when it matters.

As Peter Drucker once said: "The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said."

Adapt the Framework to Your Career

This is where the entire Executive Elevation Framework comes together:

• Your aligned goals give you direction

• Strategic visibility puts you on the radar

• Your executive narrative makes your future potential unmistakable

• Your influence and alignment lifts you into the next level

Most importantly, this framework is not meant to be applied mechanically because executive careers are shaped by context.  For example, organizational culture, timing, leadership dynamics, and personal priorities all matter.

The real work for you is discerning how these pillars apply to your situation: where to place emphasis, what to strengthen now, and what can wait. Advancement at this level is less about following a checklist and more about making intentional, well-calibrated decisions over time.

As you think about the Executive Elevation Framework, consider which pillar feels most relevant to your current season of leadership.

If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear what stood out for you. Email me at [email protected]