How to Become a VP or C-Level Executive

The key to getting (and keeping) a VP or C-Level job is to demonstrate the required leadership and people management skills before and after you get the job.

You need to demonstrate these skills before you get the job in order to get the promotion. You need to demonstrate these skills after you get the job in order to keep it.

But how do you get good at skills you’ve not necessarily been formally taught?

How does a good salesperson learn how to be a good sales manager and leader?

When does an exceptional engineer learn about managing other engineers?

The reality is that in 90% of companies, you’re never formally taught or get a chance to learn these skills.

Doing the work and managing the people doing the work are two completely different skills.

Skills don’t magically fall from the sky. They have to be acquired in some way, shape, or form.

The only ways to learn the skill of managing people are to:

1) Have a role model or mentor that you emulate (e.g., My bosses at McKinsey and in industry were fabulous people leaders and I learned a lot by watching them over many years.);

2) Be taught the skill.

For example, if you’ve never seen anybody ride a bicycle before, it’s nearly impossible to learn. If you see an older sibling, other kids at school, or your neighbors riding a bicycle, you can try to copy them.

Yes, you’ll fall and stumble a bunch of times, but you can eventually figure it out if you try enough times and are willing to tolerate the stumbling.

The other way is to have someone teach you the skill you want to acquire. Teaching involves taking a skill and breaking it down into its component parts. It’s teaching each part one at a time, allowing you to practice each part in isolation before putting them all together.

[I’ve taught six people to ride a bicycle (each time in under an hour). Five were children (including my three daughters) and one was a friend (aged 45 that had never been taught).]

After a ton of requests, I’ve decided to teach a class on How to Manage People Effectively. Over the last decade, so many of you have successfully advanced in your career.

In a recent survey, I was surprised at how many people some of you are managing. I think that’s wonderful.

Upon further reflection, I’m a bit shocked that so far, I’ve never actually taught a class on How to Manage People Effectively. It’s long overdue.

It’s the most commonly asked request for help that I receive in my inbox. It’s the issue my clients’ teams struggle with the most (they promote successful individual contributors only to see them struggle and fail as managers).

If you currently manage people or plan to do so in the future, it is critical to learn this skill. To receive my articles on How to Manage People and to be notified about my upcoming class, just complete the form below.