The VP-Level Intro: 4-Part FormulaWant to create your own introduction to shape perception? Use this in meetings, offsites, interviews, and exec roundtables. 1. Start with basics Name + title. Calm, steady, two beats. 2. Add strategic context Explain the business value you drive (not your task list). → “I lead our digital operations team to automate revenue-critical workflows across product, marketing, and sales.” 3. Show one outcome Pick a result that signals scale, impact, or velocity. → “Last quarter our rev-ops overhaul cut sales cycle time by 18%.” 4. (Optional) Add a one-liner of personality A light touch makes you memorable—without turning it into a TED Talk. → “I’m leading our finance transformation… aka ‘spreadsheet therapy.’” The 60-Second Script (Steal This)Copy, personalize, and practice: “I’m [Name], [Title] at [Company]. I [lead/own] [scope] to [business outcome]. In [timeframe], we [proof: metric/result]. This quarter we’re focused on [next strategic priority]. [Optional personality line].”
Examples across functions - Product: “I’m Priya, Director of Product at Dogdash. I lead our collaboration suite to accelerate cross-team delivery. In the last two releases, we increased active teams by 22%. This quarter we’re simplifying enterprise onboarding to cut time-to-value in half.”
- Engineering: “I’m Marco, Senior Eng Manager at Shoplist. I own checkout performance. Over six months we reduced p95 latency by 31%, unlocking +7% conversion. Now we’re rolling out edge rendering globally.”
- Operations: “I’m Lina, Head of BizOps at Datalane. I centralize forecasting and planning to improve capital efficiency. Our new model cut variance by 40%. Next up: automating quarterly scenario planning.”
Pick the Right Proof PointYour metric should be: - Business-relevant: Revenue, margin, retention, adoption, cycle time, cost to serve, incident rate not vanity metrics.
- Time-bound: “In Q2” or “over the last six months.”
- Directional: Up or down and by how much.
- At your altitude: Team-level if you lead a team; portfolio-level if you lead a function.
If you can’t share a number (NDA, early project), use concrete proxies: “launched across three regions,” “adopted by top 10 enterprise customers,” “cut approval steps from 7 to 3.” Won’t This Sound Like Bragging?Only if you deliver it like you’re campaigning for Best Actor. Stating outcomes is not bragging, it’s leadership. You’re giving people the information they need to place you correctly. Keep the balance: - Credit the team (“my team,” “with our partners”).
- Own the result (don’t hide behind “we” to avoid accountability).
- Stay fact-based (numbers, timeframes, outcomes).
If people don’t understand the value you bring, they won’t think of you when it’s time to promote someone. The most effective executives do the work and ensure the right people understand the impact. |
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