I talk to a lot of women who are smart, strategic, and hard-working, yet aren’t where they want to be career-wise. The thing is, being curious and a really hard worker will get you pretty far. But it won’t get you to the VP level.

I can remember my own situation like it was yesterday. I had great ideas. My team loved me. I was working my butt off and was 100% dedicated. And still, I wasn’t able to get that VP title. It wasn’t until years later, after becoming a VP and EVP, that I realized what held me back for so long. And that’s something I like to call:

The perception problem

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 the problem until we start digging in. And 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.

This is a really important distinction to make. You can think strategically and still not be creating the perception that you’re a strategic leader to those around you.

What does it even mean to show up as a strategic leader?

There are 4 elements of strategic leadership that may seem small but will position you as a leader to those around you. And they build on one another… starting at the bottom and moving to the top. They are:

  • Expertise
  • Insights
  • Judgement
  • Framing

These elements are crucial as 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”

Well, that’s precisely the problem.

But I want to deep dive into one of these elements in today’s newsletter, because it’s a shift you can make to start seeing immediate 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 separate someone who’s positioning themselves as strategic and 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 is 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.

Upon closer inspection, conversion is 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).

Do this, and I guarantee you’ll see a change in the reaction you get when you report your metrics.

How can you start doing this?

One of the key factors to becoming more insightful is to carve out the time it takes to make this happen. If you aren’t blocking out time in your calendar for strategic thinking or to dive into the data, my guess is you aren’t doing this.

Finally, as with anything else, levelling up 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, and if you liked this newsletter you’ll love my program designed to get you VP-ready in just 12 weeks. It now comes with a full year of support to ensure you land your dream role and crush it once you get there. There’s an info and Q&A session happening on Tuesday at 12:30pm ET where you can come meet me and get all of your questions answered, in time to take advantage of the $1,000 discount that I’m offering until the end of November!

Send me an email at hello@insightstoactioncc.com and I’ll send you the invite!

I’d love to work with you to help you master this skill and so many others to get to the next level in your career.

Until next time friends… ✌️💜

Katy

PS. Only one week left to join my group program at the lowest price it will ever be! Not only will you learn everything you need to know to land that VP role and own your seat at the table, you’ll get a full year of support to ensure you transition smoothly, along with 1:1 coaching and a community of amazing women. It doesn’t get much better than that! ​Details and sign up here​.