The “L7” Problem — Stuck at Senior Manager — How to Break Through to Executive
News: I teach a LIVE course (6 hours) on Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive. I go in-depth on HOW to address key problems in getting promoted. The first cohort sold out. Click here to see live course details and enroll. I've seen who makes it and who does not. I've seen why external leaders get hired instead of promoting internally. This process does not have to be a mystery to you.
Many people hit a blockage at the senior manager level and become stuck.
More people come to me for help growing from Senior Manager (Amazon L7) to Director (Amazon L8) than any other transition.
Many months ago a Sr. Manager I am coaching was successfully promoted to Director (yay)!
On the day of their promotion, their first question was “How do I help my top L7s get there faster than I did?” That’s telling.
While I write in part about Amazon here, this same transition is a bottleneck everywhere in the tech industry and I suspect in other careers as well.
3 main reasons people get stuck.
There are simply a lot of Senior Managers in a company. Amazon now has over 3,000 Directors (L8). From this we can imply that it probably has 15,000 to 20,000+ Senior Managers. From talking to clients at Microsoft, Google, and Meta, there are similar large cohorts in each company. With so many people, there is a struggle to get noticed and some starvation of next-level projects.
There are a limited number of true executive jobs. This is related to, but not identical to point one. Think of it as supply and demand. Point one says there is a large supply of aspiring L7s. Point two says there is limited demand for Directors and VPs. A typical Director might have 5 to 8 Senior Managers under them. If we assume one new Director role comes available per year (a high rate for many environments), the wait for the spot could still be 5 to 8 years.
There are significantly different skills expected. Senior Manager is where leaders must pivot from a focus on mainly getting things in their area done (what we expect from line managers) to setting true strategic direction. Executive leadership requires collaborating across a very wide scope (divisions in a large company, or the entire firm in a smaller one), and the influence skills (politics if you prefer) to get things done with very different people.
What can an aspiring high performer and leader do about this?
Recognize the competition and the problem. Rather than remaining blind or having unmet expectations, at least see where you are and make a plan.
Itemize your skill gaps and get to work on them. Getting to Director (or whatever the executive rank is at your company) is not simply a matter of doing what you know better, longer, and faster. Just as you “changed jobs” going from individual contributor to manager, now you need to “change jobs” again to transform into a strategic decision-maker and influencer.
Win based on your strengths. Everyone, including your boss and your peers, will tell you what gaps you need to close, but the truth is people are promoted for standing out positively for what they do best, not for an absence of flaws. To break through to the executive level you need to be seen as the best at something and to have one or more clear “wins.” You must reduce flaws only to the degree that they are not crippling. People are promoted for what they accomplish, not what downsides they minimize.
Be patient. Yes, have a plan and strive every day, but realize that executive promotions take time. You only need one or two of them in a career, so expecting them quickly is unrealistic. Doing so can frustrate you and burn you out, setting you back. You have to balance pushing with being patient inside, knowing that careers are decades long.
Hire a coach. Whether me or someone else, coaches see this transformation many times and can comment on your needs dispassionately. I currently coach about 25 executives, two-thirds of whom are making the Sr. Manager to Director switch. Thus, at any given time, I am looking at the performance of 15 of your peers, seeing their strengths and gaps relative to your own, and am therefore in a position to guide you. Simply stated, you can go it alone or you can get help from an expert. I hope that is an easy choice.
Ultimately no one blog post can give you personalized advice on every aspect of your situation.
Note: If you are reading this and you are not yet a Senior Manager, great, you can plan around this bottleneck. If you are already a Director or higher, you can recognize this problem and help your key performers (or lose them).
Audience Insights
I have consolidated additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience, including:
To break through to executive, you must expand your scope of influence. It’s no longer just about being the best [insert role], you must work through others and work across departments.
Rather than viewing the supply/demand simply as a bottleneck…use it to pinpoint where there are needs. Or even better, where can you be a change agent and invent a new need?
Manager and skip-level sponsorship and advocacy is critical.
Build a reputation of being reliable and trusted to deliver impactful results. Be known for “Solving problems for your boss.”
Network early and bring value to others.
Have a sponsor who is considered independent and will say in the room “we need to promote X because X delivered on Project A, B, and C”.
You must be visible. Build frequent simple communication (frequency is better than big occasional announcements).
Gauge your “promotion-readiness” by asking your manager “what would need to be true…”. For example: “what would need to be true for me to be up for promotion in 9 months?” Get the candid feedback and prioritize how you will level up.
Proactively help your manager prepare for the promotion review room. This means providing hard data, anecdotes from influential executives who will not be in the room, and identifying key advocates who will be in the room.
Do not rely on your manager to do the preparation alone. It is YOUR career and thus the strongest career ownership lays with you.
Recall The Chicken and The Pig story. They consider starting a restaurant that will serve ham and eggs. The pig declines, saying to the chicken, in this restaurant, you would only be involved but I would be committed.
Courses: How to Break Through to Executive
The Executive job is demanding and complex.
That’s why good executives are rare and highly paid.
My course Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive teaches you the specific standards by which executives are selected and how to manage your promotion process to show you meet them.
Watch the below video clip on “What are the standards of great executive performance” on the Personal, Team, and Company level.
To reach as many people as possible, I offer the same course in two different formats, live and on-demand. Note: the live course gets updated with every cohort based on feedback and new learnings. Select the format best fit for you.
Live online course (cohort and date-based).
On-demand course (individual, async, watch at your own pace).
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