Are you actually VP-ready?

 

January has a funny way of making people reflective.   You start the year with ambition. Maybe even clarity. And yet there's a quieter thought underneath it all: I want the VP role… but am I actually close, or just hoping this is the year it finally happens?   Most high performers don't ask that question directly. They assume the answer will reveal itself through hard work, scope, or time. And that assumption is exactly what keeps people stuck longer than they need to be.   Because at the VP level, readiness isn't something you feel. It's something other people decide.   But that doesn't mean you have to wait and see what happens. You can impact how stakeholders see you and influence that decision.   Today I want to help you uncover where you stand so you can use the next 90 days to close any gaps and start positioning yourself for a promotion.   The Problem Most High Performers Misdiagnose Here's the most common belief I see at the beginning of the year, especially among Directors and Senior Directors: If I'm already doing VP-level work, the promotion should follow.   On the surface, that logic makes sense. Promotions used to reward execution, output, and reliability. But at senior levels, the criteria shift. Quietly, but decisively.   VP promotions are not decided based on how much you carry, how hard you work, or how many fires you put out. They're decided based on confidence. Specifically, whether senior leaders feel confident putting their reputation behind you.   That means you can be highly capable and still not be seen as ready. Not because you're missing skills. Because your perception, influence, and sponsorship are not aligned with your contribution.   This is where a lot of strong careers plateau.

The Gap Between Performance and Perception Let me show you what this looks like in real life, so you can assess if you are in a similar situation.   One of my clients, let's call her Tina, was a Senior Director. She had broad scope. Her work materially impacted the business. And when her manager went on maternity leave, Tina stepped in and effectively ran the function. Executive meetings, strategic decisions, cross-functional leadership. She handled all of it.   From her perspective, the conclusion felt obvious. She was already doing the job.   What shifted things for Tina was not a missed promotion. It was an honest assessment. She agreed to look at her readiness through a different lens and to ask senior leaders how they actually saw her.   The feedback surprised her. Everyone respected her. Everyone trusted her. Everyone liked working with her. And yet, she wasn't being discussed as an obvious VP candidate.   The reasons were consistent. She didn't have enough relationships at the right altitude. Her work was important, but she wasn't consistently connecting it to business outcomes in executive language. Her influence wasn't reaching the highest levels, even though her work was solid. And because she hadn't made her ambition visible, no one was sponsoring her for a role they didn't know she wanted.   Tina wasn't missing capability. She was missing alignment between how she saw herself and how her stakeholders saw her.   That gap is exactly what many high achievers miss. And it's the reason talented professionals hear "you're not there yet" or "next cycle" while exceeding expectations.   Uncover Your Readiness: Take the Assessment I know every part of you may scream "Maya, I'm there" because you have the same scope as VPs at my company, but that's the problem. You're evaluating your readiness from your perspective, not theirs.   This is why I use a VP readiness audit early with clients, and why I'm sharing it with you. Not as a test. Not as a judgment. But as a way to replace your assumptions with clarity.   Executives don't evaluate readiness in shades of gray. They look for clear signals. That's why these questions are intentionally yes or no.   Read them slowly. Answer honestly. And resist the urge to explain. Are senior leaders already talking about you as a future VP, even when you're not in the room? Do you get pulled into conversations before decisions are made, not just after plans are set? Are you accountable for outcomes that materially affect the business, not just execution? Have you expanded your scope in the last twelve months without waiting for permission? Do you have at least one senior leader who actively advocates for you, not just supports you? Would someone at the VP or SVP level stake their reputation on promoting you? Are you trusted to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information? Do leaders seek your perspective when trade-offs get messy or political? Can you clearly articulate your VP-level value in one or two sentences without listing tasks? If a VP role opened tomorrow, would leadership already see you as a credible candidate?   Before you move on, pause and count your yeses. Not the answers you wish were yes. Not the answers that might be yes "with more context." Just the honest ones.   Because what matters next isn't how capable you are. It's how clearly that capability is registering at the level where VP decisions are made.   How to Evaluate Your VP Readiness Score This isn't about passing or failing. It's about understanding where the gap actually is, so you stop guessing. Here's how to read your result.   8 - 10 yeses You are likely already seen as VP-capable by at least part of the leadership team. If you're not in the role yet, the issue is usually not readiness but timing, opportunity, or sponsorship alignment. This is where small, strategic moves can make a disproportionate difference, for example clarifying who is advocating for you and ensuring your name comes up when roles are discussed.   5 - 7 yeses This is where most high-performing Directors and Senior Directors land. You're probably doing work above your level and delivering meaningful impact. But your readiness is not consistently visible at the altitude where VP decisions are made. The risk here is staying in this zone for years by assuming execution alone will close the gap. This is a positioning problem, not a capability problem.   Below 5 yeses This doesn't mean you're not "good enough." It usually means you are over-indexing on delivery and under-indexing on influence, visibility, and sponsorship. Many people in this range are indispensable operators who haven't been taught how executive readiness is actually evaluated. The good news is that this gap is fixable once you see it clearly.   Pay close attention which questions you answered no to. If your noes cluster around influence, sponsorship, and being discussed in rooms you're not in, you're dealing with a perception gap. If they cluster around scope and decision-making, you may be ready to deliberately expand your role instead of waiting to be asked.   This is exactly what Tina uncovered. Once she stopped interpreting her readiness through effort and started evaluating it through executive signals, the path forward became obvious.   What VP Readiness Actually Requires VP readiness is not about doing more. In fact, doubling down on output often makes the gap worse.   At this level, readiness is built through: Strategic visibility, not constant availability Business framing, not task lists Sponsorship, not silent support   This is the transition from being a high-performing leader to being an obvious executive candidate. January is not the time to push harder. It's the time to see clearly where you're under-positioned.

Your Next Steps Look back at the assessment and identify the one "no" that surprised you the most. That answer is not a weakness. It's direction.   When you stop guessing where you stand and start evaluating what's missing, you give yourself something most high performers never take: control over your path to VP. That's where real momentum starts.