The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level

Book description

Maximize your chances to get promoted to the executive level

As predictable career paths have become extinct in most organizations, managers aspiring to the C-level job are left to their own devices to determine how to advance their careers. Even in companies committed to talent development, guidance to aspiring executives is often vague and contradictory. This happens, executive coach John Beeson argues, because executive promotions are made based on the decision makers' intuitive sense of whether or not a manager can succeed at higher levels within the organization. Beeson decodes these leadership criteria--the unwritten rules--that companies use to make decisions about who gets promoted and who doesn't, and identifies the six core "selection factors" that are imperative for success at the executive level

  • Demonstrating strategic skills

  • Building a strong management team

  • Managing implementation

  • Exhibiting the capacity for innovation and change

  • Working across organizational boundaries

  • Projecting executive presence

Filled with stories of managers who successfully climbed up the executive ladder-and some who struggled-The Unwritten Rules is an invaluable resource for aspiring executives.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. 1. Deciphering the Code
    1. 1.1. THE UNWRITTEN RULES: AN OVERVIEW
    2. 1.2. YOUR CHALLENGE
  3. 2. The Feedback That Really Counts
    1. 2.1. WHO TO ASK
    2. 2.2. HOW TO ASK
    3. 2.3. HOW TO RESPOND
  4. 3. Factor 1: Demonstrating Strategic Skills
    1. 3.1. CAN STRATEGIC THINKING ABILITY BE DEVELOPED?
    2. 3.2. GENERATING STRATEGIC INSIGHT
      1. 3.2.1. Broaden Your Range of Strategic Inputs
      2. 3.2.2. Broaden Your Perspective on the Business and the Industry
      3. 3.2.3. Brush Up on Your Knowledge of Strategic Planning
      4. 3.2.4. Let Others See and Hear You Engaging on Strategic Issues
    3. 3.3. STRENGTHENING YOUR ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE A STRATEGIC VISION
    4. 3.4. COMPENSATING FOR LESS-THAN-STELLAR STRATEGIC ABILITIES
    5. 3.5. DEMONSTRATING STRATEGIC THINKING ABILITY IN A STAFF OR FUNCTIONAL ROLE
    6. 3.6. AVOIDING THE FIRST LIEUTENANT SYNDROME
    7. 3.7. FOCUSING ON THE CONTROLLABLE FACTORS
  5. 4. Factor 2: Building a Strong Management Team
    1. 4.1. STEPS TO BUILD A STRONG MANAGEMENT TEAM
      1. 4.1.1. Planning to Upgrade Talent Within the Team
      2. 4.1.2. Taking the Initiative to Attract Talent
      3. 4.1.3. Motivating and Developing People Through Challenging Assignments
      4. 4.1.4. Stepping Up to Performance Issues
      5. 4.1.5. Creating an Adequate Level of Role Clarity and Team Cohesion
    2. 4.2. BUILDING A STRONG MANAGEMENT TEAM: THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
    3. 4.3. BUILDING YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM: A MATTER OF FOCUS
  6. 5. Factor 3: Managing Implementation
    1. 5.1. BUILDING AN INFRASTRUCTURE OF IMPLEMENTATION
    2. 5.2. BUILDING THE FOUNDATION
      1. 5.2.1. Action Planning and Follow-Up Mechanisms
      2. 5.2.2. Focusing the Organization's Attention
    3. 5.3. ELEVATING YOUR GAME
      1. 5.3.1. Instituting Follow-Up Roles
      2. 5.3.2. Leveraging Yourself Through Delegation
      3. 5.3.3. Using the Power of Repetitive Questions
      4. 5.3.4. Identifying and Eliminating Obstacles to Execution
    4. 5.4. DISPLAYING UNUSED CAPACITY
  7. 6. Factor 4: Exhibiting the Capacity for Innovation and Change
    1. 6.1. CREATIVITY VERSUS MANAGING INNOVATION
      1. 6.1.1. Looking at Things in New Ways
      2. 6.1.2. Brainstorming and Experimentation
      3. 6.1.3. Encouraging Risk Taking
      4. 6.1.4. Pushing the Organizational Envelope
    2. 6.2. IT'S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE
  8. 7. Factor 5: Working Across Organizational Boundaries
    1. 7.1. DEVELOPING LATERAL MANAGEMENT ABILITY
      1. 7.1.1. Building Positive Working Relationships
      2. 7.1.2. Developing Organizational and Political Understanding
      3. 7.1.3. Influencing and Persuading Others
      4. 7.1.4. Addressing and Resolving Conflict
    2. 7.2. DEVELOPING YOUR INFLUENCE AND IMPACT
  9. 8. Factor 6: Projecting Executive Presence
    1. 8.1. THE ELEMENTS OF EXECUTIVE PRESENCE
      1. 8.1.1. The Impact of Dress and Physical Carriage
      2. 8.1.2. Public Speaking: A Moment of Truth
    2. 8.2. FINDING YOUR VOICE
    3. 8.3. EXECUTIVE PRESENCE: A PRACTICED ART
  10. 9. Career Development Strategies
    1. 9.1. INCREASING YOUR VISIBILITY WITHIN THE COMPANY
    2. 9.2. BUILDING YOUR EXTERNAL NETWORK
    3. 9.3. CONSIDERING A LATERAL MOVE
    4. 9.4. ENGINEERING A DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENT
    5. 9.5. DEMONSTRATING YOUR LEARNING ABILITY
    6. 9.6. IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT STRETCH ASSIGNMENT
    7. 9.7. FINDING CREATIVE WAYS TO DEVELOP IN YOUR CURRENT ASSIGNMENT
    8. 9.8. CRAFTING YOUR CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN
  11. 10. Navigating Career Dilemmas
    1. 10.1. BALANCING AMBITION AND COMPANY COMMITMENT
    2. 10.2. DEALING WITH A BAD BOSS
    3. 10.3. ADDRESSING A BLOCKAGE SITUATION
    4. 10.4. WHEN THE GRASS IS GREENER: TO STAY OR LEAVE?
    5. 10.5. THE REALITIES OF CAREER NAVIGATION
  12. 11. A Final Challenge to You—and Your Organization
  13. NOTES
  14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  15. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Product information

  • Title: The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level
  • Author(s): John Beeson
  • Release date: October 2010
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9780470585788