Made the jump to corporate development but stuck at manager level. Senior leadership keeps praising my technical skills but says I need ‘better stakeholder management.’ From those who climbed the ladder - what specific politics/navigation skills made the difference in your promotion to director+ roles?
Learned this the hard way - you need to manage up differently than banking. Started doing monthly ‘here’s how our acquisitions support CFO’s priorities’ decks for execs outside M&A. Got my first promotiom cycle after the CMO became my unexpected champion. Politics > modeling here.
McKinsey research shows 68% of CD promotions require cross-functional influence. Track how your work impacts other departments - e.g., ‘My integration analysis reduced R&D’s software spend by 20%.’ Quantitative relationship-building matters.