confuseddesi

I currently manage a team of product managers at a major tech company. I have been working on trying to get promoted to director (which is the next title up) and a lot of it seems to be networking with various VPs to get them to vouch for me. My manager seems a bit passive in getting me promoted - he has given me scope and it’s now up to me to set up the right conversations to make the case easy for him. I am not sure if this is the way things are supposed to be - part of me thinks he should be taking a more active role in setting up the right conversations to get me promoted.

However, as I reflect on this promotion process, I find two things:

- I am mostly motivated to get promoted because it is the next step. I look at my manager’s life and I don’t envy him. He works crazy hours and it’s taking its toll on him.

- I am mostly trying to get promoted to not stagnate. But honestly, if it were culturally acceptable and I didn’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, I would be happy in my role for the next 20 years.

So my question is to this group - how have you thought of being promoted? Is it worth it to not stagnate? Is the self-promotion to VPs with your boss waiting for it to happen the norm if you do want to get promoted?

Hi all, I'm currently working with a friend on an interesting start-up idea - it's kind of a mashup of Papyrus and Dollar Shave Club. We're trying now to better understand our target audience to see if there would be a market for the service. If you have time, our short 2 minute survey is located here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qlLQFwsWTkKyeSBkkl2kBt5fK-uOkW1Cheo0SijiGqY/viewform?usp=send_form. Thanks again everyone!