Who managers promote and why
How to be chosen for promotion first
Hello, it’s Ethan & Jason. Welcome to Level Up: Your guide to grow fast, avoid mistakes, and make optimal career moves.
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Who managers promote and why
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At most companies, promotion decisions are fundamentally driven by your manager.
You may need support from peers and customers, but if your manager does not undertake the paperwork, nothing happens.
Reasons for managers to act:
They need someone in a new role. Due to growth or change, they need you to take on new responsibilities.
You are valuable to the manager and/or the team's goals. Managers want to succeed themselves and are paid to help the company achieve goals. The most fundamental reason for promotion is that you are contributing a visible and increasing amount to the success of the team.
Your impact must be visible in the sense that the manager must be able to see it, notice it, and value it.
Your impact must be increasing because if it is the same, your title and pay are fine where they are. Same results, same pay.
The manager likes to work with you. Some people will call this favoritism and no doubt a few commentators will talk about how they have promoted people they did not like, but I am talking about some fundamental human truths.
If a manager struggles to relate or communicate easily with you, the odds are they will tend to see less of your impact and value.
If a manager finds themselves thinking, "Ohh, Ethan, he's smart but so hard to work with," that is rarely going to put you first on the list for the next opportunity. An Amazon VP shared that she sees attitude as a deciding factor for promotions in today's low-growth environment.
As a manager I certainly promoted people with different styles, but to bring someone closer to me and increase my dependence on someone I found unpleasant is just unnatural. Who wakes up in the morning and truly says, "I'm looking forward to adding that person I don't like to my inner team, so that I have to see them more every day?"
I'm sorry that this will offend the sense of justice for some, and I welcome the few wonderful commenters who will swear that they never consider their own feelings in such decisions.
But for everyone else, realize that working smoothly with your manager is almost always key to their support.
I could list more criteria that help a career, but here represents the core:
Be valuable and be compatible.
The more you are valuable, the less emphasis on compatibility.
The more you are compatible, the less emphasis on value.
Note that this second line explains why sometimes we see people in high roles and wonder how they got there. The manager above them found they could trust and rely on the person. Sometimes someone you trust to help you is more important to you than the purely "smartest" person with the most skills.
To add, it is also important to know your skip level (your manager’s boss). In many companies, the manager prepares the promotion, the skip level approves it.
I hope this advice gives you a clearer understanding on what managers look for in next in line promotion candidates. If you’d like to go in-depth, consider (or share with someone) one of our upcoming courses, each 15% off for Prime Day (discounts auto applied in the links):
(starts July 12) Get Promoted Faster: For Early Career ICs & Managers (named a top Maven Leadership & Career course; save $75) — I am known for teaching a class about becoming an executive, but Jason and I have built new material completely focused on the critical early and middle years where you set your trajectory. Whether you feel stuck and want to get moving or are growing and want to grow faster, we have created many hours of specific, actionable "how to" material.
(starts July 18) Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive (1200+ alumni; rated 4.7/5; save $225). For leaders who want to grow to Principal, Staff, Director, or VP. Includes a bonus module on ‘Leading AI Adoption & Application.”
(starts Oct 18) Cracking the C-suite 'How to Get and Master Key Executive Roles' (50 seat limit; rated 4.8/5; save $420). For Directors & VPs who want to grow to C-suite. Every live cohort has sold out, October is the last of the year and we’ve added new AI content across all modules.
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