What direction is your career heading?

Promotion to Director Isn’t About Time Served

I recently received the following email from a reader seeking advice on transitioning from a director role to a VP-level role. I thought this was a great question and worth sharing.

A reader recently asked about moving from Director to VP.
The better question is how leaders decide someone is ready in the first place.

The reader wrote:

I have been in the workforce for approximately 8 years, working for several different companies. I have been working for a fairly large company with a good brand and am considering leaving for greener pastures.  My goal is to become a Director-level or VP-level within the next 3-5 years, and ultimately a VP. I am not seeing it happen at this company. I feel like working at a Startup will give me many more opportunities to grow with a company and expand my skill set in a shorter period of time. What advice do you have for me as I begin my job search?

Great question, and thanks for writing in!

I share my feelings with start-ups here. Based on personal experience, I would not be where I am without my corporate experience. I received ten times as many opportunities while working at a growing startup. 

Strategic vs. Tactical

Instead of answering the question “What steps can I take”? I thought it would be helpful to discuss what I look for when hiring or considering a candidate for a director-level position. Reaching the Director level and the VP are two distinct roles. This will vary by company, but in my opinion, directors think strategically but are more tactical than strategic. VPs are more strategic than tactical and are not overly concerned with the day-to-day tactical details. When I think of a VP, I think of someone managing an entire discipline for longer-term goals. When I think of a Director, I think of an individual who manages two to four smaller units within a discipline.

Consider a VP of Sales for small to medium-sized companies. The VP of Sales has the following direct reports: the Director of Outside Sales, the Director of Inbound Sales, and the Director of Sales Operations. Any of these directors could be an individual contributor or lead a team.  

Skill sets

This is my personal opinion, but Directors and VPs have the ability (or show the potential) to do the following:

Communicate effectively at two levels above their current title

As a VP, you can effectively communicate with SVPs and C-level execs. This doesn’t mean small talk in the elevator or over beers. The ability to deliver confidence can and will make a difference to the bottom line.  VPs can effectively pitch strategic initiatives and persuade senior peers to adopt new programs and ideas. Everyone has ideas, but Directors and VPs can move ideas from proposal to funding and through successful execution.

VPs have breadth and depth of experience

If you are in marketing, you don’t just have experience in brand marketing; you have experience in brand, social, PR, and content marketing.  You won’t be an expert in all marketing categories, but you can make informed business decisions when presented with the facts. No company should expect you to be an expert in all the sub-disciplines. You will be surrounded by colleagues who have specific depth. The idea is that at this level, they will be managing a larger group, and that group will be diverse in terms of talent and responsibilities. When you are a manager or a director, you are generally responsible for several direct reports who work with the same sub-discipline. A VP will be responsible for 15-20 people across different sub-disciplines. The leader of this group needs to understand and have experience with these different skill sets.

Experience managing multiple sub-disciplines to achieve specific company goals

Depending on the company’s size, a Director is typically responsible for the department’s tactical aspects and for implementing the Vice President’s strategy.  A VP will consider the other departments as the company works towards the goal. 

Represent our company

Directors can represent the outside with similarly titled customers and vendors. A VP will usually work with VP peers outside of the company. This means knowing the company’s business, presenting yourself in a way that reflects your peers, and being able to entertain and host these customers.

A VP earned respect across the enterprise

VPs will inspire not just their teams but also thinking across the enterprise. VPs will have credibility across the enterprise. Think about the all-company meeting where all department heads got up on stage and gave their quarterly updates.  If you are a Sales VP, you have the respect of not just Sales and Marketing but of the technology and operational departments. You probably don’t write code, but you understand technology and utilize all the tools available to your company. If you are the VP of Technology, you know the trials and tribulations of the sales and marketing departments, and these departments have confidence in you to build the product.

Advice to someone wanting to take their career to the director level of leadership

• Meet with other VPs regularly.  AKA, find mentors or advisors at the next level up.
• Update your manager about your long-term goals.  If you do not let them know where you want to go, they won’t be able to help you get there.
• Act, communicate, and dress for the position you are gunning for. To reach the Director level, you must present yourself as a Director, both in appearance, demeanor, and voice.  If others don’t see you working at the Director level, it won’t happen.  Not on an occasional basis, but day in and day out.  Consistency is the name of the game.
• #PMA Positive Mental Attitude.  VPs will overcome any problems; they don’t add fuel to the fire.

Hopefully, this provides insight into how I think about both roles.

See you at the after party,

HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

A Hard Reality Check

I would not be doing you a service if I didn’t say this.

If you don’t see a path to Director at your current company, it will be difficult to land that title at a company of similar scale.

Why?

Because Directors and VPs don’t wait for ideal environments.
They learn how to operate inside imperfect ones.

Politics.
Underperformers.
Strong personalities above them.
Limited resources.

Those aren’t disqualifiers. They’re operating conditions.

Senior leaders are promoted when decision-makers consistently recall that they handle complexity well. Not occasionally. Not in perfect quarters. Consistently

They earn trust when their reactions become predictable under pressure. When things tighten, they stabilize rather than escalate.

And they expand their scope by reducing the load on others, not by adding to it.

If you’re not making progress where you are, the question isn’t just whether the company is limiting you.

It’s whether the people above you see evidence that you can:

• Handle friction without broadcasting it
• Move initiatives forward across personalities
• Represent the business beyond your immediate team
• Operate with judgment when visibility is low

That reflection matters more than the job search.

Understanding how leaders are evaluated under pressure changes how you prepare for promotion.

If you want a deeper look at how hiring and promotion decisions are actually made inside organizations, I go deep in the book, How Managers Decide, Remember, and Defend Your Work.  

See you at the after party,

HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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