So you're already doing the executive job.
You're setting strategy, leading people, carrying the pressure, but you're still not in the executive suite.
Learn how to fix that today.
Welcome back to Speak Up, the number one ranked business communication podcast.
This is for high performing introverts, including you, social introverts who have learned that being brilliant does not automatically make you influential.
If you're already respected but starting to sense that your visibility doesn't quite match your capability, you are in the right place.
I am your host, Laura Camacho, your career accelerator and executive presence strategist.
By the end of this episode, you will know why high-performing leaders often get trapped doing two jobs at the same time strategist and executor.
The hidden perception problem that causes senior leaders and boards to overlook internal talent.
And the critical mindset and leadership shift That helps directors, senior directors, senior leaders step into executive roles.
So what is the most confusing part about this?
Oh, your boss tells you, oh, you're almost ready, but you're just not quite there yet.
Even though you feel like you're doing the work.
You're acting like an executive doing the work but not being treated like one.
This happens a lot of times to people who have worked their way up inside a company.
They've been there a long time and it has to do with the way people perceive you.
It's like in your family, they may not realize.
You're a big deal at work.
You know, it's just because they knew you when you were the entry level.
So if you started lower, you proved yourself, you've taken on more responsibility.
And eventually you became the person responsible for the direction of an entire function.
And your day still looks like this.
You're expected to think about the three year strategy.
And then you're answering questions like, oh, how am I supposed to do this?
So those are two completely different jobs.
If you're setting the strategy, leading the department, managing the people, solving the problems, executing the work all at the same time, you are operating at an executive level, but doing the work like the most responsible and reliable doer on the team.
Because you know how to do it because you've been doing it.
Your team could still be treating you like the person who jumps in and helps them get the work done.
So they keep asking and you keep helping because that is what you have always done.
Now, over time, this creates kind of an exhaustion that high achievers rarely admit to.
But I hear about it.
Yes, you feel burnt out overwhelmed, pulled in too many directions, trying to lead at the highest level and communicate at that level, but you're also stuck in the weeds, and that can definitely shake your confidence.
But the real danger is not just the stress.
I'm just acknowledging that this is a very stressful and exhausting position to be in, but it also is a situation that shapes how other executives see you.
And these are people that are deciding your future, the CFO, the CEO, the board.
They're forming opinions about you without seeing you operate as an executive because you're not in those rooms consistently or you're not speaking like you belong there.
So what they see is someone who's running the department, someone who's executing, managing a team.
They don't see someone who's setting the strategy for the entire company.
They don't see the executive.
So when it comes time to fill that C-suite role, it's dangerous for you because People can be thinking well, maybe we should bring in someone from the outside, even though you've been doing the job all along.
So it's not just me saying this.
Studies on managerial time allocation from Harvard Business Review, Mintzberg Leadership Research, consistently show that senior executives spend the majority of their time on communication, alignment and stakeholder influence, not execution.
And by the way, all three of those things are communication.
Typical executive time distribution, listen to this, 60 to 80% communication and alignment.
So we'll say 80% alignment, 10 to 20% strategy, almost nothing in execution.
So a C-suite is spending their day communicating strategy, aligning stakeholders, making decisions, not doing the execution.
If you're stuck in that middle zone doing both, that's a trap.
Most high performers believe something keeps them stuck.
Part of that belief is the conviction that their great work is going to lead to their promotion.
But promotions to executive leadership do not happen because someone works harder.
That's the biggest Myth, we need to bust.
That top promotion happens because someone looks and sounds like an executive in the room.
That's how you speak, how you influence stakeholders, how you handle tough questions, how you position your ideas.
And on the other side, there are people that are in the executive suite.
And they don't sound like it.
And they're still doing too much work.
So this is really about those of you who are in this trap.
I want you to get out of it.
Right.
I want you to stop trying to prove your value through execution.
Instead, show it through leadership, through direction.
That means communicating your ideas clearly, handling the tough questions and empowering teams instead of solving problems.
So one thing I've noticed with people who are caught up in this dual track is that their strategy work sometimes is siloed like it's the strategy project, but it's not permeating through everything they say.
I want you to think about this.
Senior leadership today, it's really not about competence.
I mean, that is assumed.
It's about communicating your perspective in a way that shapes perception and builds influence.
And that is to lead to better business decisions.
That means you need to be out of your lane sometimes.
It means you need to express a point of view.
If you are not expressing your point of view, then people assume you don't have one.
And, by the way, if you get my book, The Practical Guide to Effective Communication, there's chapter 11 is only about giving your point of view out.
Your point of view is your unique way of seeing how important the work is that you're doing, how it connects to the overall business success.
And that's the life-changing shift you need to make that your job is to help the whole company make better decisions.
You've already learned the operational part.
You need to have other people doing that and you guiding the direction that the company is taking.
You're listening to this and thinking, oh my gosh, Laura is reading my mail.
This is where I am right now.
If you're driving strategy and executing, so something is like not quite right there.
The gap that you're dealing with right now is exactly what I deal with in the executive presence mastery system.
We work in four critical skill sets speaking powerfully in high stakes meetings, influencing senior stakeholders, leading teams without getting pulled into execution, and positioning yourself as the executive that your organization needs.
So if you're ready to stop doing all that operational excellence and be more seen as the person setting the direction,
There's a link in the show notes, set up time and let's talk about it.
Have a fantastic day and I will catch you on the next episode.
