“You don’t act like an executive… you act like an employee.” Nobody ever says this, but they should. Breaking through to the most senior roles requires more than just being great at your job:
In the first stage of your career, you’re learning mostly hard skills: advanced analytics, presentation building, UX and UI design, developing larger features with more architectural complexity, or writing bigger and better PRDs. You can objectively learn a set of skills, prove competency through work output, and get promoted fast.
Soon, learning new “hard skills” doesn’t move the needle. A shift happens once you become a middle manager and to grow you need to learn softer skills such as executive presence, storytelling, negotiation, and how to have an ownership mindset.
To learn these skills, you need both psychological and functional learning.
Psychologically: you have to build confidence, manage your ego, create emotional regulation, and change your mindset from employee to owner.
Functionally: you have to learn to present to larger groups, deliver feedback to your team, and negotiate with peers.
Over the last 15 years as a founder/CEO, I’ve made a concerted effort to grow myself both psychologically and functionally. I’ve had extensive executive coaching, attended countless management training programs, joined CEO support groups, watched hundreds of hours of YouTube videos and taken online courses.
I’m not alone: most executives I know have invested heavily in their own self-development. It takes a number of different learning strategies to grow.
Today, we’re launching “The Exec Track” on Maven to add some amazing options for your career and personal growth. 🚀
Explore the collection and become a stronger leader: https://bit.ly/exec-track
