The Internal Operating System of a True Executive

 

People love to tell ambitious leaders to “act like an executive.” Think more strategically. Be decisive. Own the room. Show more leadership presence.   Useful advice, except for one small problem: What does an executive actually do differently?   I’ve spent years trying to demystify that question because getting promoted to VP isn’t simply about becoming better at the job you already have.   At some point, senior leaders have to believe they can hand you a meaningful part of the business and trust you to run it. That requires a different operating system.   I was reminded of this recently when I heard Leila Hormozi explain how she evaluates executives for her nine-figure business.   She was speaking as a CEO deciding whom to hire, but I immediately thought about the other side of that decision: If this is what CEOs need from their executives, what would you need to demonstrate now to prove you can operate at that level?   Because executive behavior often reveals itself long before you have the title. I saw this recently with two clients.   One had just been promoted to Director and was struggling with a decision he knew some people on his team wouldn’t like.   He wanted to be collaborative, so he asked for feedback. Then more feedback. Eventually, instead of making the decision himself, he let the team decide. He regretted it almost immediately.   The mistake wasn’t asking for input. Executives absolutely should. The mistake was confusing collaboration with transferring ownership of the decision.   Compare that with another client who found herself in a meeting that had completely gone off the rails.   People were debating different issues, the conversation kept expanding, and no one seemed capable of landing the plane.   So she stopped the discussion and asked a few simple questions: What are we actually trying to decide? What matters most here? What information do we really need to move forward?   Five minutes later, the meeting ended with a decision.   She didn’t dominate the room or have some brilliant answer nobody else could see. She created direction when the room needed it.   That is executive behavior. And it’s exactly what I mean by having a different operating system.

The 5 Tests of Executive Readiness You don’t need the VP title to start operating like a VP. These five tests will show you where you already are and where your current operating system may still be holding you back.   1. When there’s no direction, do you create it? High performers are often exceptional executors.   Give them a goal and they’ll figure out how to achieve it. Give them a problem and they’ll solve it. Give them an impossible deadline and somehow they’ll make it happen.   That skill can take you very far. But eventually the question changes.   Senior leaders stop asking: Can this person execute our strategy?   And start asking: Can this person help create it?   Executives don’t need someone else to consistently define the path before they can move. They look at the business, identify what matters and form a point of view about what should happen next.   Their internal operating system shifts from: “Tell me the goal and I’ll execute.”   to: “Here’s where I think we need to go, why it matters and how I recommend we get there.”   That doesn’t mean ignoring your boss or making decisions in a vacuum. It means bringing clarity instead of waiting for it.   The test When something is ambiguous, what do you typically bring your leadership team? A question? Or a recommendation?   Gather the information you need, but don’t outsource the thinking. Bring the first draft of the answer.   2. When you enter the conversation, does the thinking change? This may be one of the most overlooked signals of executive readiness. Executives don’t simply contribute to conversations.   They change them.   They challenge assumptions. They connect things other people haven’t connected. They ask questions that expose the real issue underneath the obvious one.   Leila made a point I loved: you know someone is executive material when you leave the conversation thinking differently than you did when you entered it. That’s a high bar. And a useful one.   It’s easier to become excellent at adding value to the discussion.   You know the data. You provide context. You answer questions. You explain what your team is doing.   Executives are expected to do something more. They change the trajectory of the business by changing the quality of the thinking.   The test Think about your last few meetings with senior leaders. Did you mostly reinforce, explain and respond? Or did you introduce a perspective that changed how people saw the problem?   The next time you’re in an important meeting, don’t just ask: “What can I add?”   Ask: “What are we not thinking about that we should be?”   One great insight or gap can demonstrate more executive potential than ten minutes of impressive commentary.   3. If your scope doubled tomorrow, could your organization handle it? One of Leila’s most interesting observations was that when a CEO hires an executive, they aren’t really evaluating one person. They’re evaluating the organization that will exist underneath that person.   A VP isn’t simply responsible for producing great work. They’re responsible for building an organization capable of producing great work at scale.   This is where strong leaders can accidentally limit themselves.   They know everything. They solve the hardest problems. They’re involved in every important decision. Their teams depend on them. Which feels valuable.   Until someone considers doubling their scope. Now their indispensability becomes a liability.   The test Imagine your CEO doubled your responsibilities tomorrow.   Would your current leadership model stretch? Or snap? Can your team make strong decisions without waiting for you? Are you developing people who can take on bigger problems? Can work keep moving when you’re not in the room?   Your job is not to become the strongest person on the team. It’s to build a stronger team.   4. When a problem repeats, do you solve it again or redesign the system? A recurring problem is rarely just a problem. At executive level, it’s usually a signal that something in the system isn’t working.   Maybe ownership is unclear. The incentives are wrong. The process breaks at scale. Two functions are operating from different assumptions.   Strong executors become excellent at rescuing the business from these problems.   Executives ask why the rescue keeps being necessary. Because you cannot scale heroics.   If you solve the same problem brilliantly every quarter, congratulations: you have become incredibly efficient at tolerating a broken system.   The test Look at what keeps landing back on your desk. What have you already solved more than once?   Instead of asking: “How do we fix this?”   ask: “What needs to change so we stop having to fix this?”   Executives don’t just manage the work. They improve how the business works.   5. Can the business succeed without you? This is the most counterintuitive test. High achievers spend years trying to become indispensable. Executives do the opposite.   They build teams, systems and leaders that make their constant involvement unnecessary.   As Leila puts it: “The best executives make themselves unnecessary.”   Which sounds slightly terrifying when you’ve spent your career proving how valuable you are.   But executives aren’t paid to protect their current responsibilities. They’re paid to create the next version of the business.   If you’re still the only person who can make the decisions, maintain the key relationships or solve the complicated problems in your current role, you haven’t created room to take on something bigger.   The test Ask yourself: If I disappeared for a month, what would actually break?   Every answer is a clue.   That’s where you may still be operating as the person who keeps the machine running instead of the executive who built a better machine.

Your Next Steps Go back through the five tests and answer them honestly:   When there is ambiguity, do you create direction? When you enter the conversation, do you elevate the thinking? If your scope doubled, could your organization grow with it? When problems repeat, do you redesign the system? And as the business becomes stronger, does it become less dependent on you?   You don’t need to master all five at once. Choose the one where your evidence is weakest and practice it intentionally this week.   Bring the recommendation instead of waiting for direction. Ask the question that changes the conversation. Develop someone to take on more. Fix the system instead of fixing the same problem again.   Because becoming an executive isn’t about looking more senior. It’s about proving you can be trusted with more of the business.   And that proof starts long before you get the title.

7 Habits to Build Executive Presence

 

No one tells you how invisible you can feel in a room full of senior leaders.   You know your business. You’ve done the work. You may even know more about the topic than half the people in the meeting. And yet, somehow, you disappear.   I remember sitting in meetings early in my career, listening carefully, taking notes, waiting until I had something smart enough to contribute. By the time I was ready to speak, the conversation had moved on.   Or I would finally get the floor and give a thoughtful, detailed answer that somehow didn’t land, while the executive who had just summed up their entire point in two sentences got the head nods.   I looked at that leader and wondered: would I be able to command the room like that one day?   For a long time, I thought executive presence was something I would develop as I became more senior. That it will come with the title. I had that backwards.   You don’t become a VP and suddenly learn how to command a room. You demonstrate the behaviors first and the title catches up. And surprisingly, they’re not all about winning in big rooms or making bold moves.   Executive presence is built in ordinary meetings, status updates, emails, Slack messages, difficult conversations, and decisions. It’s built in how you communicate when things are going well and, even more importantly, in how you respond when they aren’t.   And it’s not just one behavior, its a set of small signals that compound and create your reputation.   How you show up every day sends a message. The question is, are you sending the right one?   Let’s see which behaviors scream “executive potential”.

7 habits that build executive presence every day Here are seven habits that helped me build my presence long before I had the title.   1. Get to the point faster Early in my career, I thought a good answer proved that I had thought through every angle. So I gave people the journey. The background. The context. The analysis. The caveats.   Eventually, I learned that senior leaders usually want the destination first.   They don’t need the details, they need to know what matters, why, and what you need from them. Don’t aim for through, aim for sharp.   If all they needed is someone who can repeat the details they’ll use GPT. Your job is to do the thinking for them, so they have a much easier time deciding.   The best way to do that? If a senior leader asks for an update, start with the end: “We’re on track for launch. The only risk is vendor timing, and we have a contingency in place.”   Then stop. If they want the backstory, they’ll ask.   It’s better to add more information on demand, than try and backtrack after rambling and sharing too much.   The habit is simple: before you speak, decide what the bottom line is.   Can you make your point in roughly 30 seconds? Not because every conversation needs to be short, but because if you can’t explain the point clearly, you probably haven’t decided what matters most.   2. Speak before you have all the answers This was a big one for me. I used to wait. I was terrified of saying something wrong, or stupid.   I wanted to understand the conversation first. Make sure my point was useful. Avoid saying something obvious. Be certain I had enough information before weighing in. All reasonable instincts.   Except at senior levels, you almost never have 100% of the information but you still need to form a point of view and communicate it.   Waiting to be called on won’t demonstrate your executive potential. Raising your hand, even when you don’t know if you are right will. That means you need to ask the question no one wants to ask.   Make the observation. Offer the recommendation based on what you know today.   You don’t need to pretend you’re certain when you’re not. You do need to become comfortable sharing a perspective before every detail is known.   Because if you wait for complete certainty, there’s a good chance you’ll never get to speak, and no one will see your brilliance.   3. Protect your time and attention This one can feel counterintuitive. We’re often taught that being responsive, available, and willing to help makes us valuable. And it does.   Until everybody else’s priorities start becoming more important than yours.   You accept every meeting. Jump into every fire. Say yes to every request. Solve problems that someone else should own.   Before long, your calendar is full, you’re incredibly useful, and you have almost no time left for the work that actually requires you to lead.   You may feel good about being busy, but to the outside world it would seem like you are wrapped up in busy work, not leadership.   Senior leaders control their time and how they spend it. They know they need to protect where their attention goes. That means sometimes saying: “I can help, but not this week.”   Or: “I don’t think I need to be in this meeting. Can you send me the decision afterward?”   Or simply deciding that a problem does not require your involvement.   Protecting your time isn’t about becoming unavailable. It’s about knowing what deserves your attention and being willing to act accordingly. That is prioritization. And prioritization is a leadership skill.   4. Hold your ground without becoming defensive I’m sure you’ve experienced this one.   Someone interrupts you. A senior leader challenges your recommendation. The room pushes back.   These moments are easy to underestimate, but they reveal a lot about your presence.   Some leaders immediately retreat. Others launch into a long defense designed to prove they were right.   Neither is particularly effective.   Holding your ground with grace can be as simple as: “Let me finish this thought, then I want to come back to that.”   Or: “That’s a fair concern. The tradeoff I’m worried about is…”   Or: “I’m open to changing my recommendation. Can I understand what’s driving your concern?”   You don’t need to win every argument or fight for airtime. You do need to show that your point of view deserves consideration, and can survive a challenge.   5. Build support before the meeting Executives know how to influence others. That might show up as getting buy in, securing headcount or getting more budget.   That influence doesn’t come from building the best deck or having the most information. It comes from securing support way before the meeting starts.   Senior leaders understand that people move the business.   So before an important decision, they talk to the people who matter. They understand concerns. Test their thinking. Find out where resistance is coming from. And build common ground.   Sometimes they change the recommendation before the meeting because those conversations exposed something they hadn’t considered.   This is what politics is all about, in the best sense. It’s influence.   The goal isn’t to manipulate the outcome behind closed doors. It’s to secure support in advance through alignment.   And leaders who can influence others and gain support are perceived as more seasoned and ready for VP and C-suite roles.   6. Make the call when others won’t Some decisions have an obvious right answer, but the big ones often don’t.   You have incomplete information. Every option has a downside. Different stakeholders want different things. And at some point, somebody still has to decide.   No one wants to make a mistake, but part of showing up as an executive is having the ability to choose anyway. To set direction, to pick a lane, even if you are not sure. And, and this is a big one, if it pisses off other people.   Your job as an executive is not to make everyone happy. It’s to do what is best for the company, the mission and the goal.   You can ask for feedback, consider opinions, but at the end of the day, you need to decide.   You won’t always make the perfect call, but that’s okay. It’s not the goal. The goal is to decide, even when it’s hard and take responsibility for a direction when certainty isn’t available.   That is a very different signal from waiting for someone else to make the difficult choice for you.   7. De-escalate when tension rises Executive presence becomes especially visible when things stop going according to plan. A project fails. Someone gets angry. Two leaders disagree.   Suddenly, everyone in the room has more emotion and less perspective and the room get’s noisy.   Don’t get dragged into the chaos. Become a source of calm and composure.   Sometimes that means slowing the conversation down. Separating what actually happened from the assumptions people are making about it. Clarifying what people are really disagreeing about. Moving the conversation from blame to what happens next.   The person who can help a tense room regain perspective carries a very different kind of presence and influence.   Not because they are the loudest or most confident person there. Because when the pressure rises, they help everyone else think more clearly and de-escalte a tense situation.   The real way executive presence gets built Executive presence isn’t something you “perform” for an all-hands presentation. It isn’t what happens during one impressive meeting with the CEO.   And it doesn’t magically arrive once you have enough years of experience.   It’s a practice you build in the daily moments that barely feel important.   The Slack message you send on Tuesday morning. The team meeting where someone interrupts you, and you respond calmly. The update where you choose the headline instead of giving everyone the play-by-play. The decision the room was avoiding and you were able to make.   One of those moments probably won’t change how anyone sees you. But hundreds of them will.   That’s how executive presence gets built. Small behaviors, repeated often enough that they eventually become simply how you show up and how others see you.

Your Next Steps Don’t try to fix all seven. Pick the one habit on this list that would most change how you currently show up and practice it deliberately for the next two weeks.   If you ramble, lead with the headline. If you wait until you know everything, practice forming a point of view sooner. If your calendar belongs to everyone except you, protect your priorities. If pushback makes you retreat, practice holding your ground.   The goal isn’t to “have executive presence” for your next important meeting. It’s to practice these behaviors often enough that when the important meeting happens, you don’t have to perform. You just know what to do.

Calibration audit: who would advocate for you today?

Run your Calibration Audit Start by identifying three to five senior leaders who could influence your next move.   That might include your manager, your skip-level leader, executives you work with, senior cross-functional stakeholders, or people who participate in talent and succession conversations.   For each person, your goal is to figure out where they sit on this scale:   0: They know me They recognize my name and generally know what I do.   1: They know my work They can speak specifically about my scope, contributions, and business impact.   2: They believe I’m ready They have seen enough evidence to believe I can operate successfully at the next level.   3: They would advocate for me They would actively make the case for my advancement, recommend me for opportunities, or defend my readiness if someone challenged it. But don’t score them based on instinct.   Use these three questions to decide where they really belong.   1. Do they know enough about my work to make a case? Not simply, “Do they know who I am?” Could they explain what you own, the problems you solve, the business impact you have created, how your scope has grown, and why your work matters to the company?   If the answer is no, you probably don’t have an advocacy problem yet. You have a visibility problem.   They cannot make a compelling case with information they don’t have.   2. Have they seen evidence that I’m ready for the next level? Strong performance in your current role is not the same as confidence that you can succeed in the next one.   Would this person have examples of you demonstrating the things that matter at the next level?   Strategic judgment. Influence across teams. Leadership beyond your immediate scope. The ability to make decisions with incomplete information. The ability to connect your work to broader business priorities.   The specific criteria will vary by company and role, but the principle is the same.   If they know your accomplishments but have only seen you execute extremely well, they may respect you without seeing you as ready. That is a perception gap.   3. Would they actually put their credibility behind me? This is the hardest question. Would they say: “I think she’s ready.”   Would they recommend you for an opportunity before you knew it existed? Would they push back if someone questioned your readiness? Would they make the case for you instead of simply staying neutral?   That is advocacy. And it is a much higher bar than being respected.   Now look at the pattern Once you score each person, don’t just count the 3s. Look at where people are getting stuck.   If several influential people are sitting at 0, you have a visibility problem. If they know your work but what they know does not support your next-level story, you have a positioning problem. If they respect your work but have not seen enough evidence that you can operate at the next level, you have a readiness or perception problem. If they believe you are ready but are not actively advocating for you, you have an advocacy problem. And if your manager is your only 3, you have a concentration problem.   That last one matters more than it looks.   Your manager should advocate for you, but they should not be the only person capable of making your case.   The strongest promotion cases have multiple voices reinforcing the same story from different parts of the business. Think of it like getting five-star reviews in real life to get a ‘yes’ from the room.   What can you change in the next 30 to 60 days? You do not need five new sponsors. You need to deliberately move one or two important relationships up the scale.   Start with someone who has real influence and is currently sitting at a 0, 1, or 2.   Then ask: What would this person need to know, see, or understand to move one level higher? If they are at 0, create meaningful exposure.   That could mean presenting your recommendation instead of having your manager do it, sending a concise update after an important milestone, joining a cross-functional initiative, or getting closer to a business priority they already care about.   The goal is not to “get more visibility.” It is to help them understand your contribution and your value.   If they are at 1, focus on the story they currently have about you.   Ask yourself: If this person described me in a calibration meeting today, what would they say?   Then compare that to what someone would need to say to justify your next promotion.   If they see you as a strong operator but the next role requires more strategic leadership, find opportunities where they can see you shaping direction, making tradeoffs, or influencing decisions.   If they see you as a deep expert but the next role requires enterprise leadership, create evidence that you can operate across teams and priorities.   You cannot talk someone into seeing you at the next level. You show them with evidence.   If they are at 2, make your ambition explicit. A lot of leaders assume senior leaders know they want a promotion.   They often don’t. You do not need to ask: “Will you advocate for my promotion?”   Instead, you can say something like: “I’m working toward a VP role over the next couple of years, and I’m intentionally trying to build more enterprise-level experience. I’d value your perspective on what you think I still need to demonstrate.”   That conversation tells them where you are going and gives you useful information about whether they see you getting there.   Then keep building the relationship through repeated experiences, not one awkward sponsorship ask.   Because advocacy is rarely created in a single conversation. It is built when someone has seen enough of your work, judgment, and potential that they feel confident saying: “I know what she can do, and I’m willing to bet on her doing more.”

Your Next Steps Take ten minutes this week and run the audit. List the three to five people who could influence your next promotion. Score each one from 0 to 3 using the three questions above.

What to Do in the Next 60 Days to Win Your Performance Review

 

The 60-Day Plan to Own the Process Promotion decisions start taking shape long before you sit down with your manager for the review. If you want to influence the outcome, you have to start early.   It is the same principle executives use to build buy-in, influence decisions, and drive change.   They do not wait to see which way the wind blows. They shape the process toward the outcome they want.   You can do the same to make sure the decision reflects the full value of your work, not incomplete information, vague impressions, or whatever your manager happens to remember.   Over the next 60 days, your job is to proactively influence the process. Here’s how:   60 days out: Clarify what winning requires Before you build your case, you need to understand what case you need to build.   Ideally you want to have this information early in the year so you can direct your work and invest your time in developing the right skills and relationships. But if you were not able to do that, this is your last chance to gain these insights and use them to your advantage.   You may not be able to rewrite the entire year in eight weeks, but you can still close a visible gap, add a strategic win, strengthen an important relationship, or gain exposure to the right leader.   More importantly, you can tailor your business case to the specific criteria leaders want to see.   Schedule a conversation with your manager about how your performance will be evaluated and what outcome is realistically on the table.   Questions to ask: What distinguishes an exceptional rating from a solid one? Where do you believe I have had the greatest impact this year? What concerns or gaps could affect my review? What would you need to see to confidently advocate for me? Who else will influence the final decision? When will calibration or promotion discussions begin?   You are not asking your manager to guarantee an outcome. You are identifying the criteria, the potential objections, and the decision-makers.   45 days out: Build the proof and the support Now you can identify the three to five contributions that make the strongest case. Not every project belongs in your performance review.   A long list of work may prove you were busy. It does not prove that your performance was exceptional.   Choose the contributions that best demonstrate your value and the level at which you are operating.   For each one, capture: The business problem, risk, or priority What you specifically led The result you produced Why that result mattered What it demonstrates about your leadership   Your evidence may include revenue, cost savings, growth, or improved customer outcomes. But impact does not always fit neatly into a spreadsheet.   It can also look like: Accelerating an important decision Reducing business risk Expanding your scope Aligning teams around a shared priority Improving the performance of your team Leading through uncertainty Building a capability the organization did not have   The question is not simply, “What did I do?” It is, “What changed because I was there, and why does it matter?”   Build support around the evidence This is also the time to engage the stakeholders who have seen your work firsthand.   Do they understand the full extent of your contribution? Would they describe your impact the same way you would? Are they willing to advocate for you when you are not in the room?   This is not the time to ask five people for generic praise. It is the time to have substantive conversations about the work you did together, the outcomes you created, and the value you brought.   This is also where you tell them you are working toward a promotion and ask whether they would be willing to support your case.   Don’t assume leaders will advocate for you just because they’ve worked with you. They may think the world of you and still be oblivious to what you are trying to achieve. Your job is to activate them.   You can do it in two stages. First ask for feedback. You might say: I am pulling together the strongest examples from this year and want to make sure I am accurately reflecting the impact of this work. From your perspective, what changed because of what we accomplished?   This gives you better evidence. It also helps key stakeholders connect your contribution to the result, so they are more likely to reinforce that story later.   Then ask whether they would be willing to support your case when the opportunity arises.   This is how you create leverage: multiple credible leaders independently reinforcing the same conclusion that you are ready for promotion. Evidence proves your case. Sponsorship helps that evidence travel.   30 days out: Turn your work into a business case Do not wait for the self-assessment form. By 30 days out, you should have a concise one-page case for the outcome you want.   Include: The three most important outcomes you delivered How your scope, influence, or leadership expanded How you surpassed the expectations of your current level Evidence that you are operating at the next level, when relevant The rating, promotion, compensation, or scope outcome your performance supports   This should not read like a list of projects. It should make the connection between your work, its value to the organization, and the outcome you are asking for.   For example, instead of saying: Led the launch across three cross-functional teams.   You might say: I aligned product, sales, and marketing around a single launch plan, resolved competing priorities that had delayed execution, and helped the company launch six weeks earlier than projected.   The first version tells me what you worked on. The second tells me what your leadership made possible.   Socialize the case before the formal review Once you have the case, review it with your manager.   Ask: What is strongest here? What is missing? What could be challenged during calibration? What additional evidence would help you advocate for this outcome?   This is your opportunity to surface objections while you still have time to address them.   You should also reinforce the relevant parts of the case with sponsors and senior stakeholders.   That does not mean sending everyone your one-page document. It means scheduling a conversation to make your impact and your ask clear.   By building the business case, you have already done the hard work of collecting the evidence and connecting it to meaningful business change. Now your manager and sponsors have clear language they can repeat.   By the time formal review conversations begin, your case should already be circulating and building support for the outcome you want.   The final two weeks: Prepare your advocates By this point, the case should already be clear. Now you need to make sure it is complete and easy to defend.   Use the final two weeks to: Add any final results or stakeholder feedback Close small but meaningful gaps your manager identified Reinforce your strongest outcomes in regular updates Prepare clear responses to likely objections Confirm that your manager understands the outcome you want Write a self-assessment that reflects the case you have already socialized   Do not bury your strongest evidence beneath a twelve-month diary of meetings, responsibilities, and completed projects. And do not end your self-assessment with vague language about wanting to continue learning and growing.   Growth is not an ask.   Be clear about what you believe your performance has earned.   That might sound like: Based on the impact I delivered, the expansion of my scope, and the level at which I have been operating, I believe my performance supports a promotion to VP.   Or: Based on these results, I believe my performance aligns with the criteria for the highest rating.   You are not making a demand. You are drawing a clear conclusion from the evidence and aligning expectations.   The 60-Day Performance Review Test Before your review, you should be able to answer yes to these six questions: Do I know how the decision will be made? Do I know what could prevent me from getting the outcome I want? Can I explain my three strongest contributions in business terms? Does my manager have a case they can confidently defend? Do credible stakeholders understand and support that case? Have I clearly asked for the outcome I want?   Every “no” tells you where to focus next.   A performance review is not simply a verdict on the year you had. It is a decision about what that year should earn you next.   Do not leave the conclusion to chance.   Give your manager the evidence, support, and language they need to advocate for the outcome you have earned.

Your Next Steps Schedule a conversation with your manager this week. Clarify the criteria. Ask what could hold you back. Identify the people who will influence the decision.