I’m about two years into a corporate strategy role at a Fortune 100 tech company. Title-wise, I’m still where I started—Senior Strategist, same level. I see people getting promoted, and I’m honestly trying to understand what’s actually different about them versus what I’m doing.
My work is solid. I’ve owned a few significant initiatives, got good feedback from my leadership, nothing’s falling apart. But I’m starting to think “solid” might be the ceiling here unless I’m deliberately building something different.
So I’m curious: what’s the actual skill gap between the people staying at my level versus the ones who move into more senior roles or director positions? And I don’t mean abstract stuff like “strategic thinking” or “leadership.” I mean the specific, concrete things that actually matter.
Is it about surfacing new strategic problems that nobody else is seeing? Is it about how you operate across functions? Is it about managing up better? Or is it about something totally different that I’m just not seeing?
I want to be intentional about this rather than just waiting for a promotion slot to open and hoping I’m the one tapped. What have you actually observed from people who’ve climbed here, and what did they specifically do differently?
the dirty truth is it’s almost never about doing your current job better. its about identifying problems leadership doesnt even know they have yet and positioning yourself as the person who can solve them. people who get promoted are the ones who basically ignore their job description and go find leverage points. most people just… dont.
also—super blunt—sometimes its just about internal politics. like you could be crushing your work but if you’re not visible to the right people, you stagnate. so yeah, skills matter, but so does being in the room where it counts.
two years in and not promoted is actually a signal you should pay attention to. not saying leave immediately, but if solid work isnt moving the dial, your company might just not have advancement bandwidth. seen it a thousand times.
this is honestly making me think abt long-term growth even b4 i get into a strategy role. good to know what i should actually be pushing toward
wait so ur saying just being good at ur job isnt enough? thats kind of depressing lol but good to know early
The promotion inflection point in corporate strategy typically occurs when someone transitions from executing assigned strategy work to identifying and framing new strategic priorities. At your level, this usually means: you’re working on initiatives leadership has already defined as problems. To move up, you need to be the person who defines what the next set of problems are. This requires three capabilities: deep market sensing to identify shifts before they’re obvious, organizational navigation to build consensus around nascent issues, and credibility to convince leadership that your framing is correct. Most talented strategists plateau because they excel at the first—market sensing—but never develop the latter two, which are actually the binding constraints on advancement.
The second advancement factor is cross-functional influence at scale. Early-career strategists move things through formal authority or data. Senior strategists move things through relationships and narrative. By year three, you should be able to point to initiatives that happened because you convinced skeptical functions to align around your view. This is different from collaboration—it’s actually changing minds and mobilizing action. If your work is sound but nothing’s shifting, that gap is likely the constraint.
Two years is still early for a promotion in many orgs. Keep doing great work and positioning yourself strategically—your moment will come!
also, honestly? relationships really do matter. i notice the people getting promoted are the ones who have visibility with the CEO and the CFO and business unit heads. they’re not working in isolation. they’re at dinners, they’re in the room for random strategy discussions, they’re asking thoughtful questions in all-hands meetings. so yeah, keep your work at a high level, but also be present in ways that get you in front of senior people.
One additional insight: people who advance often shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive problem-definition around month 18-24. If you’re still primarily assigned work versus sourcing your own priorities, that’s a behavioral shift worth making immediately. It signals readiness for the next level and gives you something concrete to discuss with your manager about promotion potential.