The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level

Chapter 10. Navigating Career Dilemmas

If you're a talented, ambitious, and hard-working manager, you have every reason to assume that your career will be an up arrow. However, the higher you go in a company, the more competition there is for fewer slots and the more organizational realities come into play. In attempting to accomplish their career goals, aspiring executives like you often run into some difficult yet predictable career challenges. Having observed C-suite-level promotion decisions over the years, I would alert you to four especially knotty issues successful executives must navigate:

1. Keeping your ambition in balance with your commitment to the company

2. Dealing with a bad boss

3. Addressing a blockage situation

4. Deciding whether to stay ...