Promoting the right people

Trying to make it to D or MD? Here are my promotion tips from a managing director…

The only (eventual) way is up…

by Mark McKee, 4 April 2022

Progressing your career path is no simple matter if you work in a large organisation like a global bank. This is the environment I went up the ranks of from graduate plus a few steps, followed by director and then managing director. There were no shortage of pitfalls along the way.

I tell people at the outset that you need to be careful what you wish for. Once you get that desired promotion, the pressure on you to solve problems and deliver results quickly will greatly increase. For some they can have promotion remorse!

Making it to managing director is hard for a reason. You need to be asking yourself the same questions as those who will promote you will be asking each other in their decision-making criteria:

  • Do you bring value to the firm?
  • Are you an asset we should to invest in?

Nobody wants to promote someone who is more interested in their own image and acquiring a corporate title. I’ve seen people over and over again who reek of narcissistic self-interest. They think they should be promoted due to performing great in meetings with war and peace-sized slide decks. Those are the types who wonder why they are stuck at their level.

Those who get on are the ones who deliver results, get things done, move the culture ahead and innovate as part of their day-job. Sure, some creepy crawlies will slip through the net, but the people I look up to that are the most successful are lateral thinkers who are always trying to get to the bottom of problems to solve them comprehensively, and care about their staff as well.

It’s a given that you need to do the needful on being a good corporate citizen who has a clean record and does all the compliance training on time. Additionally, you usually know what makes sense for your community side of things to show you are able to help others inside and outside your firm. This is the part that many don’t realise how much emphasis goes here in today’s environment.

Authentic leadership is an over-used term these days (a cliché is often that for a good reason), but good people who do the right thing exemplify the behaviours that help their organisation and its people, so it’s no surprise they get rewarded. I can see through a person who is trying to schmooze their way to the top in an instant, but contrary to them, I can also tell very easily who is being themselves and cares about doing a good job.


I offer coaching if you are seeking to navigate the high ropes to progress your career.


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