It took me years to learn this lesson… and I want to save you the some time.

In my upcoming masterclass, I’ll be sharing the 3 things you need to focus on to get a seat at the table (and thrive there), and in today’s newsletter I want to focus on one of them:

The importance of perception

We like to believe that what people think about us doesn’t matter, but sometimes that’s just not true…

Does your boss’ perception matter when you’re trying to get a promotion?

You bet it does.

It doesn’t matter if:

  • You think you’re ready for the next step
  • You’ve got great critical-thinking skills
  • You have solid strategic ideas
  • Your team loves you

If your boss has a different perception, you’re out of luck.

The interesting thing is that most of my clients don’t think this is a problem for them until we start digging in. Maybe their boss is telling them “Keeping doing what you’re doing”. Plus, their team LOVES them, and they get along well with leadership. Surely perception can’t be what’s holding them back.

But 9 times out of 10, it turns out that although they think strategically and have great ideas, they aren’t showing up as strategic leaders. They aren’t projecting the confidence and competence they have.

What does it mean to show up as a strategic leader? How can you start doing this today?

There are 4 elements of strategic leadership that will position you as a leader to those around you. They are:

  • Expertise
  • Insights
  • Judgement
  • Framing

These elements are crucial because they guide everything you say and do, even if you don’t realize it yet. And if you’re thinking, “I don’t know what you’re talking about… I don’t focus on these things.”

That’s precisely the problem.

These are all important, but I want to deep dive into one of them in today’s newsletter because it’s a shift you can make to start seeing instant results. It’s one of the things I spend a fair bit of time on in my program to ensure people ‘get it’, because let me tell you, it can be game-changing.

Demonstrating strategic insights

One of the easiest ways to describe someone who’s presenting themselves as insightful vs. someone who’s not is to compare what they report.

Are you reporting data/metrics or are you presenting insights?

Reporting metrics is just that. Reporting the numbers. Maybe on a good day you’re also sharing some trends you’ve observed. For example:

“Lead conversion was 13%, which was down 4% compared to last quarter”.

And you stop there.

This is a huge missed opportunity to show your stuff…

Presenting insights looks more like this:

Lead conversion was 13%, down 4% from last quarter. At first, this appears to be a sales issue, but after doing a deep dive, I discovered this is due to a change in the mix of our inbound leads – with B and C leads making up the bulk of leads this quarter.

Conversion is actually up across the board – for A leads (at 21% vs. 19%) as well as B and C leads, but because B and C leads convert at such a low rate (9% and 4%) the overall conversion looks lower.

My recommendation for next quarter is to focus our digital channels on A lead sources and dial down the B and C lead sources.

Okay, this is just one example that may or may not resonate with you. The point I’m trying to make is:

Don’t just report the ‘what’ and then stop.

Include the ‘why’ (ie. why is this change happening) and the ‘how’ (ie. how can we leverage this insight for growth).

If you can learn to do this, I guarantee you’ll see a change in the reaction you get when you report your metrics.

How can you start?

One key factor in becoming more insightful is carving out the time to ask yourself the big, strategic questions about the business and think through how to solve them. If you aren’t blocking out time in your calendar for strategic thinking or data analysis, my guess is you aren’t doing this.

Finally, as with anything else, increasing your general knowledge will help you be more insightful. By that I mean, understanding business strategy more broadly, what’s worked for others and why, can help you connect the dots more easily.

Oh, if you liked this newsletter you’ll love my ​free live masterclass happening next week​. Pick the day and time that works for you and be sure to come live, because I’m staying on to answer all of your questions!

Until next time friends… ✌️💜

Katy

PS. The positive feedback from last week’s masterclass was overwhelming, so I’ve decided to add 3 more live dates for next week!! ​Sign up here to save your spot​.