Introduction

You’ve read a lot of books that tell you how to be a better leader. Still, you stay right where you are—raising your hand, asking for more. Yet nothing changes. You might even be in a leadership position right now, but you still struggle to pull yourself out of the weeds.

What is that one missing piece in your career development?

There is a chasm between where you are right now and the leader you want to become—a chasm that you need to cross first, but might not even know is there. You sense it because sometimes it’s right in front of your face. It’s when you get a glowing performance review but not a promotion. It’s when your colleague’s title changes but yours doesn’t. It’s when you receive a special project but no additional compensation.

This book gives you a step to the missing piece. I’m going to show it to you, and you’ll be able to cross that chasm. In the blink of an eye, you’ll be on the other side.

And it is glorious.

I was acookie-cutter corporate coach for many years. I taught leadership skills, time management, and things like that—things that made my clients better managers. And they did become better, more effective managers. But what they also got was more work and more responsibility—and they didn’t get the recognition or the larger voice at their organization. They didn’t get the “seat at the table” that their better management skills were supposed to bring. I felt disappointed, like my clients did, that more leadership skills didn’t result in leadership positions.

As a coach, I didn’t just want corporate women to become better managers. I wanted them to get recognized for their talents and hard work. Get promotions! A seat at the table! I wanted them to feel fulfilled.

So I started to coach on more than typical “leadership skills.” I realized that being the hardest worker doesn’t lead to a promotion,but…

deliberately managing your career, and your life, does.

I taught women to take charge of their promotion, instead of being led by their boss. And as I helped more and more clients reach their dream positions, some of them reaching theC-suite and beyond, patterns started to emerge.

Through this work I uncovered astep-by-step process that takes corporate women to the executive level. These are women who have gone from underappreciated,under-recognized, and underpaid to becoming a valued member of the leadership team. And throughout this book, I will show you how to do that as well.

Promotions are easy using my process outlined in this book, and if you aren’t where you want to be, you simply have been focused on the wrong things.

Before we dive into all of the amazing tools and s