How This Fortune 500 High Performer Finally Broke Through To Leadership & Got Promoted
Michelle’s Bespoke Promotion:
From Fortune 500 High Performer to Driving a Reorg to Match Her Vision
Jill Of All Trades
Michelle arrived at my door with a track record of results:
rebuilding departments
enhancing sales
running multiple campaigns and teams,
designing
packaging
strategizing
ideating
implementing
All of these on her own. She is respected and regarded as a future leader, and yet she wasn’t rewarded with the title and compensation to match her responsibilities.
Everyone knew her value, but since she couldn’t succinctly express her unique ability, specialty, or brand, she kept delivering results without getting the promotion she deserved and had been seeking for the past year.
Would she ever move up at her company, or would she have to move on? Either way, creating a path to upper management was possible, but she needed a cohesive brand and vision to differentiate and elevate her story.
Two Paths
We often visualize what we are becoming and what we can accomplish. Michelle had no trouble recognizing who she aspired to be–a future CMO. Yet her discovery was, "How do I get there?"
She proposed a marketing model that was exceptional and played to her strengths. It was an inventive and unique model that did not currently exist at her company.
Once we refined her brand and configured her LinkedIn and resume to match it, she began tapping into her network at creative agencies and brands that might fulfill her vision.
With her vision clearly defined, she identified the right players to share it with. Over time, building up an army of sponsors who were speaking her language and advocating on her behalf.
Then something fun happened.
A few months in, at a department meeting, a senior male leader casually mentioned the marketing model she’d been championing for months and was so sure was out of reach, as if it was a given. Don’t worry, he gave her credit 😉 We had a gooooood chuckle over that one.
Her idea was starting to gain traction.
Nailed It
I’m not going to lie. Internal promotions are tricky. It took more than a few months to lay the groundwork, incept all relevant parties, and align all the necessary stars to build a promotion in her vision’s image.
The details are the stuff of a Game of Thrones episode (if it was set in a highly functional corporate environment with mostly reasonable business people).
The path was sometimes bumpy. There were times when Michelle’s bosses stalled conversations about her promotion’s timing and arrangement. When she would wonder: What can I do while I wait? (I’m proud to say, we always found an answer 😉)
Michelle’s a natural leader whose vast amount of energy just needed to focus on high-impact activities that fed her passions and professional future. Once locked in, Michelle used her influence and commitment against the promise of her value prop to earn her place at the head of a department in the model she envisioned.
Do you want to clearly express your unique abilities, specialty, or brand and get the promotion you deserve? Here are a few ways AC Electric can help with that.