Let me be direct: the people who get stuck at Director level are rarely underperformers. They are often the most technically capable people in the room. The problem is that the skills that earned them the Director title are not the same skills that earn them the VP title. That distinction — once you truly internalise it — changes how you operate entirely.
Here are the five moves I have seen make the difference, consistently, across industries, geographies, and organisational types.
Stop solving problems. Start framing them.
Directors are valued for their answers. VPs are valued for the quality of their questions. There is a fundamental shift in how senior leaders contribute, and it happens at the level of problem definition, not problem resolution.
When you walk into a leadership meeting and say "I have identified the issue — here is my solution," you are operating as a Director. When you walk in and say "I think we are solving the wrong problem — here is what I believe the real question is," you are operating as a VP. The latter is rarer, harder, and infinitely more valued.
In practice, this means slowing down before you respond. When an issue lands on your desk, resist the instinct to fix. Instead, ask: What is the real problem here? Who else is affected? What are we assuming? Leaders who surface the right questions get promoted faster than those who simply deliver the right answers.
Build relationships above and across — not just down.
Most Directors invest heavily in managing their teams well. That is necessary, but not sufficient. Your network at the level above you is your promotion engine — and most people have almost none of it.
VP-level professionals are known beyond their own function. They have genuine relationships with peers in Finance, Legal, Strategy, and Operations. They know the priorities of the C-suite not because they were told in an all-hands meeting, but because they have had the conversations directly.
Start by identifying three senior leaders outside your function and finding authentic reasons to engage with them — project collaboration, feedback requests, sharing a relevant article. Relationships built over time are infinitely more powerful than introductions made the week before a promotion cycle.
Own your narrative — and be able to deliver it in one sentence.
I ask every new coaching client the same question: "Tell me what you do and the value you create — in one sentence." Most cannot do it. They either give me their job title, or they give me a three-minute monologue. Neither is useful.
Your professional narrative is your brand, and at VP level, your brand travels without you. When someone advocates for you in a room you are not in, they need a clear, compelling story to tell. If you cannot give it to them, they will improvise — and improvised advocacy is rarely effective.
Build your sentence using this structure: I help [who] achieve [what result] by [distinctive approach]. Practise it until it is effortless, genuine, and specific. Then ensure everyone in your network — up, across, and down — can tell that story accurately on your behalf.
Make your work visible without being self-promotional.
There is a crucial difference between bragging and strategic visibility, and the distinction lives entirely in intent and execution. Bragging is about making yourself look good. Strategic visibility is about ensuring the right people have the information they need to make good decisions — including decisions about who is ready for more responsibility.
The most effective technique I teach clients is the "stakeholder brief" — a short, structured update that shares progress, flags risks, and surfaces decisions needed. It is not a progress report. It is a leadership communication that positions you as someone who thinks ahead and operates transparently.
When you brief up regularly, proactively, and clearly, your name stays in the minds of decision-makers for the right reasons. That is not self-promotion. That is professional stewardship of your own career.
Operate at the next level before you have the title.
Promotions are confirmations, not grants. By the time a VP title is offered, the organisation should already have seen VP-level thinking, VP-level relationships, and VP-level impact from you. Waiting for the title before operating at the level is the single most common reason talented Directors stall.
This does not mean overstepping or doing your manager's job. It means expanding the aperture of your thinking, volunteering for cross-functional challenges, taking strategic positions in meetings, and demonstrating — consistently — that you are already operating above your current remit.
Identify three specific behaviours of the VP leaders in your organisation that you admire. Adopt one of them this week. Build the pattern deliberately, and the recognition will follow.
The Honest Truth
None of these moves are complicated. All of them require intention, consistency, and the willingness to be seen as more than a highly competent operator. The transition from Director to VP is fundamentally a transition in identity — from the person who executes with excellence to the person who shapes what gets executed and why.
If you are reading this and recognising yourself in the early stages of this journey, that self-awareness is already an asset. The next step is action. Pick one of these five moves and apply it this week — deliberately, not casually. That is how the shift begins.
