Want to Get Senior? Focus on Your Business Acumen

Check out this TED Talk from Susan Colantuono…

Colantuono outlines the three keys for advancement. If you want to get the promotion – go from mid-level manager to senior executive then you need to:

(1) Use the greatness within you

(2) Engage the greatness in others

(3) Achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes

Makes sense right? Well, Colantuono posits that women are only being advised to focus on #1 and #2, but not on #3. What do you think? At first blush, this seems oversimplified – men have figured it out, but women somehow haven’t gotten the memo on the needs for sustaining business outcomes! As I reflect on women in my network though, so many of us are focused on getting our current job done exceedingly well – excelling within the scope of our roles. Collectively, we so busy doing our jobs, that we may not be showcasing our ability to achieve beyond that – to be more strategic, assess risks and opportunities and set the direction for a business.

Related to this, it is interesting that most women’s events and mentoring sessions seem to focus on being a women in business or succeeding in  a “man’s world”, but not on hardcore “business, strategic, and financial acumen”. We would benefit from not just more conversations on developing this acumen in our respective fields, but more importantly how to showcase it so that hiring managers know we have those skills.