How to Go From Director to VP: Showing Up in Meetings (Part 2 of 3)

If you're a director doing everything right and still not getting to VP, it's likely not your results.

You're sitting in meetings with VPs. You know your business. You come prepared. Your team delivers. But somehow, the promotion isn't happening, and no one can quite tell you why.

This is by far the hardest jump to make on the corporate ladder. At the director level, you're rewarded for knowing the details and executing well. At the VP level, people are looking for something different: how you think, how you make calls, and how you help the room move forward.

I've spent years inside some of the world's biggest brands, including Nike and Bugaboo, and today I'm the Chief Commercial Officer of a global brand. This is Part 2 of a three-part series on how to make the shift from Director to VP. We're starting where VPs are most visible: inside meetings.

1. Lead with your recommendation

At the VP level, people need to understand your judgment first, followed by the right level of context.

Many directors do the opposite. They build up to their point by walking through the background, the data, and everything the team has tried. It feels thorough. But to a senior audience, it can make it hard to see what you actually think.

Let's say you're in a meeting about a campaign that's behind target. You might be tempted to walk through every metric and every tactic your team has tested. Instead, before the meeting, prepare three sentences:

1. What you recommend

2. Why

3. What decision you need

It might sound like this:

"We're behind our acquisition target. I recommend moving 20% of the remaining budget into our strongest channel because it's converting at twice the rate. Can we align on that shift today?"

Then pause. Give people space to respond. Have the details ready for their questions.

The details still matter. You're just changing the order. Lead with your judgment, and let the context come in as people need it.

2. Be solutions-oriented, even in disagreement

There will be moments when a senior leader asks for something that you know will be hard to deliver. How you respond in those moments says a lot about whether you're ready for the next level.

You build credibility by helping the room understand what a decision will require.

Imagine a senior leader asks your team to bring a launch forward by two weeks. You know that means cutting testing or moving people off another priority. The instinct might be to say, "That's not possible."

Instead, try:

"We can bring the launch forward by two weeks. To do that, we'd need to pause the website update or reduce testing. I recommend pausing the website update so we protect the customer experience. Are we aligned on that trade-off?"

Look at what that response does:

• It makes the constraints visible. The room now understands what the request actually costs.

• It offers a path forward. You haven't shut the idea down.

• It helps the group make a decision. You've framed the choice and given a recommendation.

That's what being solutions-oriented looks like. You're not agreeing to everything, and you're not blocking. You're helping leaders make a better call.

Try it in your next meeting

In your next meeting, try these two things: bring a recommendation, and name the trade-off. Give people a chance to see how you think at the next level.