Maximize your chances to get promoted to the executive level As predictable career paths have become extinct in most organizations, managers aspiring to the C-level job are left to their own devices to determine how to advance their careers.

1 Deciphering the Code 1 2 The Feedback That Really Counts 21 3 Factor 1: Demonstrating Strategic Skills 43 4 Factor 2: Building a Strong Management Team 69 5 Factor 3: Managing Implementation 89 6 Factor 4: Exhibiting the Capacity For Innovation and Change 109 7 Factor 5: Working Across Organizational Boundaries 131 8 Factor 6: Projecting Executive Presence 153 9 Career Development Strategies 179 10 Navigating Career Dilemmas 207 11 A Final Challenge To You—And Your Organization 221 Notes 229 Acknowledgments 233 About the Author 235 Index 237

AS PREDICTABLE CAREER PATHS HAVE become extinct in most organizations, managers aspiring to the C-suite are often left to their own devices to determine how to advance their careers. Even in companies that devote considerable time to talent development, the messages to aspiring executives are often vague and contradictory. In some cases, your boss may find it hard to articulate what is holding you—an otherwise top-performing manager—back from advancement. In other cases, the issues affecting your ability to move up the ladder have been identified by your superiors, who hesitate to provide feedback for fear of de-motivating a valued manager the company doesn’t want to lose. What you need is real guidance on what the make-or-break issues are when it comes to your career success.In The Unwritten Rules, top executive coach John Beeson de-codes the leadership criteria—the unwritten rules—that companies use to make decisions about who gets promoted and whose careers become stalled. He identifies and describes the six selection factors you must develop to lead effectively at the executive level:DEMONSTRATING STRATEGIC SKILLSBUILDING A STRONG MANAGEMENT TEAMMANAGING IMPLEMENTATIONEXHIBITING A CAPACITY FOR INNOVATION AND CHANGEWORKING ACROSS ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIESPROJECTING EXECUTIVE PRESENCE This practical and insightful book covers the capabilities necessary to be considered a candidate, the characteristics that prevent someone from becoming a serious candidate, and those capabilities that—after all discussions are over—are most critical in decisions about who advances to the executive level. Drawing on years of practical experience and interviews with senior executives, Beeson shows how to demonstrate convincingly to C-suite decision makers that you have what it takes to make it to the top. Filled with the stories of managers who successfully climbed up the executive ladder and others who struggled and failed to achieve their career goals, The Unwritten Rules provides the insight you need to sharpen the leadership capabilities that will truly maximize your chances of getting to the next level.