VP Product Marketing at Kajabi | Building PMM Office Hours

Hi, I’m Tamara 👋🏻

I’ve spent my career building product marketing teams, shaping company strategy, and leading big, high-stakes launches. 

I’ve held five PMM leadership roles — 2× Director, 2× VP, and Chief Strategy Officer — and over time, one truth became impossible to ignore:

Great PMM leadership isn’t a solo sport.
And most PMM leaders are forced to figure it out alone.

That’s why I started PMM Camp — a private community for product marketing leaders who want to grow with intention, be surrounded by peers who push their thinking, and develop the habits that make them truly indispensable.

My work today sits at the intersection of connection and leadership development. I help PMM leaders strengthen the skills that actually move their careers forward — thinking more strategically, driving clearer business impact, communicating with influence, developing their teams, and building professional relationships that open doors.

If that’s the journey you’re on, here’s where to start:

✨ Subscribe to the newsletter
✨ Apply to join the community
✨ Shoot me a DM to say hello

Tamara Grominsky

Product marketing is one of the most misunderstood roles in tech.

And I think I know why.

We're actually doing two very different jobs at once.

I first heard the term "inbound product marketing" from a PMM at TikTok. It's how larger companies like Meta and Amazon often divide up PMM responsibilities.

But even if your company doesn't split the role this way, understanding the distinction changes everything.

Here's the breakdown 👇🏻

Inbound PMM is the upstream work:

→ Market research and customer insights
→ Understanding the competitive landscape
→ Influencing product strategy and roadmap
→ Building buyer personas and journey maps

Outbound PMM is the downstream work:

→ Go-to-market planning and execution
→ Campaign and channel messaging
→ Sales enablement and training
→ Launch strategy and product adoption

Many PMMs I know are responsible for both (especially at startups). And that's fine.

But knowing where you naturally lean matters more than you think. Because it shapes everything:

The skills you'll need to develop. 

The stakeholders you'll work with most. 

(Inbound PMMs spend more time with Product, UX, and business strategy teams. Outbound PMMs are embedded with Sales, Marketing, and GTM.)

The way your day-to-day actually feels. 

Understanding this helps you:

→ Make sense of why the role can feel so nebulous
→ Identify where you're already strong (and where to grow)
→ Have better conversations about where to focus your time
→ Design your career around your natural strengths

Which side do you lean toward: inbound or outbound?

_____

👋🏻 I'm Tamara, and I help product marketing leaders master the habits that make them indispensable.

💌 Want my Sunday strategy sessions? Join 9,000+ PMMs who get the PMM Camp newsletter every week. Subscribe for free: https://lnkd.in/g3KdUBg9

✨ Product Marketing Leadership Coach | 2X VP PMM | I help PMMs build leadership range so they can become indispensable

Not all relationships serve the same purpose. And treating them like they do is costing you.

I learned this the hard way at Unbounce. 

We were developing new positioning for our agency segment, and I spent weeks trying to get buy-in from Sales.

I kept presenting to the Head of Sales. Round after round of revisions, I addressed every piece of feedback and still couldn't get approval.

Then I figured out the real problem.

I thought the Head of Sales was my cross-functional partner and the person I needed to convince. But someone else on the team was viewed as the internal expert on agencies. They had deep relationships with that segment and strong opinions about what would resonate.

That person was the real influencer. And I hadn't even identified them.

Once I understood that, everything shifted. 

That experience changed how I thought about internal relationships. I stopped treating them as one-size-fits-all and started understanding the nuance.

Here are four key types of relationships you need to understand as a PMM 👇🏻

1️⃣ Core Champions

The 1-2 exec sponsors who fight for your budget, open doors, and advocate for your priorities when you're not in the room.

2️⃣ Strategic Partners

The cross-functional leads you work with most (probably in Product, Sales, CS, Marketing). They pull you into strategy early and co-create with you.

3️⃣ Key Influencers

The people who sway decisions across the company. They're not always the most senior person, but sometimes they're the one that person relies on. 

This was my stumbling block in the story above.

4️⃣ PMM Adopters

The people who use your work and extend your reach. They share your frameworks, reference your work, and tag you in the right conversations.

Each of these relationships plays a different role in your success.

When you're intentional about nurturing all four, decisions feel easier, your work gets seen, and your influence compounds faster.

Here's how to put this into practice:

→ Map your current relationships. Who fits in each category today?
→ Spot the gaps. Where are you underinvested?
→ Pick one relationship to strengthen this month.

_____

👋🏻 I'm Tamara, and I help product marketing leaders master the habits that make them indispensable.

💌 Want my Sunday strategy sessions? Join 9,000+ PMMs who get the PMM Camp newsletter every week: https://lnkd.in/g3KdUBg9

If you're saying yes to everything but still feel like you're letting people down, this might be why.

You're stuck in a leadership danger zone.

Many PMMs think good leadership means protecting the plan at all costs. Others think it means staying flexible and saying yes to everything.

Both are wrong.

High-impact leadership lives in the middle.

On one end, you have the Rigid Leader:

Won't adjust the locked roadmap
Says no to anything unplanned
Misses opportunities when the business shifts

They confuse focus with inflexibility, and as a result, they're seen as out of touch and difficult to work with.

On the other end, you have the Pinball Leader:

Changes priorities weekly
Shifts the roadmap with every new request
Can't protect their team's capacity

They confuse responsiveness with helpfulness, and as a result, they appear chaotic and reactive.

The PMMs who actually earn trust, protect their teams, and drive real impact do something different:

They know when to hold the line and when to adapt.

High-impact Activators don't pick a side. They shift how they prioritize based on what the moment requires.

That looks like three things in practice:

1️⃣ They evaluate before they react

When a new request comes in, they don't default to yes or no. They ask:

→ Does this change our priorities?
→ What's the real cost of saying yes?
→ What would we need to stop doing to make room?

2️⃣ They make tradeoffs visible

They don't just absorb more work. They communicate:

→ If something new comes in, something else comes out
→ The "why" behind every prioritization decision
→ What the team can and can't take on right now

3️⃣ They protect capacity without blocking progress

They stay flexible enough to adapt when it matters, but firm enough to:

→ Shield the team from constant context-switching
→ Ensure commitments actually get delivered
→ Build a reputation for follow-through

Prioritization becomes a leadership skill, not just a planning exercise.

This ability to create clarity and focus for your team is one of the most important habits PMM leaders need.

Which side do you default to more often?

_____

👋🏻 I'm Tamara, and I help product marketing leaders master the habits that make them indispensable.

💌 Want my Sunday strategy sessions? Join 9,000+ PMMs who get the PMM Camp newsletter every week. Click “view my newsletter” to subscribe.

I've been feeling overwhelmed lately.

And I know many of you have too.

Block announced they're laying off 40% of staff (citing AI). More companies are doing the same. 

New tools are coming out faster than any of us can track, let alone master.

There's a lot of fear right now. And even more unknowns. 

So, this weekend, I took a deep breath and went back to something that always grounds me: Stoicism.

Hear me out on this one.

Ryan Holiday writes about this idea that we can't control what's happening around us. But we can control how we respond.

So I've been asking myself: what can I actually control right now?

Two things keep coming back to me.

1️⃣ Getting 1% better at the tools every day, and letting that progress compound.

For me right now, that's building Claude skills and tinkering with connector tools to see how I can create more of an ecosystem.

2️⃣ Leaning into connection...primarily how I spend my time and who I spend it with.

Because I deeply believe that our relationships won't be replaced. They might be the very thing that helps us get through this uncomfortable chapter and leads us into what's next.

There's no call to action here. Just a gentle reminder that we're all figuring this out together.

And an invitation to focus on what you can control and try to release what you can't.

❤️

There's one tool that touches more parts of my business than any other.

And no, it's not a chatbot.

Last week I mapped out the messaging test for my PMM Camp community page. On Monday, I designed a carousel to promote our first-ever AI Challenge. Back in January, I ran my entire annual planning session on a whiteboard.

And somewhere in between all of that, I removed the background from approximately 147 images. (If you know, you know.)

Every single one of these happened inside Canva.

It's the platform I open for almost everything. Which is why, when I got intentional about brand partnerships this year, Canva was at the top of my list.

I'm not interested in promoting tools I've never opened. I want to partner with brands I actually use and tools that are genuinely woven into how I work.

So when I was approached about a longer-term partnership where I actually get to share my perspective on the product, I said yes immediately.

Here's my first tip 👇

Connect Canva to Claude immediately.

Monday's carousel post was built right inside Claude:

→ I gave it the event details 
→ Asked it to use my brand guide and template (already stored in Canva) 
→ It generated a full carousel draft in minutes

From there, I hopped into Canva to polish it up. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes.

Over the next few months I'll be sharing the real ways I use Canva as a product marketer.

For now, I'd love to know: what are you building with the new Canva / Claude connector?

#CanvaPartner

Brand partnership • ✨ Product Marketing Leadership Coach | 2X VP PMM | I help PMMs build leadership range so they can become indispensable

This is who you're asking for product marketing leadership advice.

Curious. 
Had a mind of her own. 
Always accessorized in pink.

Really, not much has changed.

Little Tamara would be proud of how far she's come.

Everyone's rushing to build AI agents. Most are skipping the step that actually makes them work.

Context.

Your customers, your messaging, your positioning, your brand voice all loaded into AI so what it produces is actually useful to you.

It sounds basic, and it is. But that's exactly why most people skip over it (or do it halfway). 

You jump straight to automation, workflows, and agents without giving AI the information it needs to actually help.

And then you wonder why the outputs feel generic.

Context is the foundation. Once you have it in place, the more advanced use cases actually work.

That's why, alongside my AI mentor Denny Hollick, I'm running PMM Camp's first-ever AI Challenge.

Over four weeks, we're each going to build our own AI context system, together.

→ Week 1: Customer research and foundations
→ Week 2: Messaging and positioning
→ Week 3: ICP profiles, case studies, and social proof
→ Week 4: Brand voice, then generating a real end-to-end deliverable

We kick off March 19 with a live session where we'll walk through the approach, tour the tools, and get your first project set up. 

From there, it's async. Everyone building at their own pace while sharing progress and learning from each other inside the community. 

Denny will make sure we stay on track and provide advice, support, and feedback along the way (bless him).

And, of course we'll wrap with a community Show and Tell at the end.

You could do this on your own. But doing it inside a community of PMM leaders makes it genuinely better (and, dare I say, more fun?).

You'll see how others structure their systems, borrow approaches you wouldn't have thought of, and actually finish because there's accountability built in.

The challenge is only available inside PMM Camp.

We open our doors once a month, and right now we're accepting new Campers from March 1–5. 

If you want to join us for the AI challenge, now is the time to join (new spots won't open again until April).

👉 Apply at www.pmmcamp.com/community to build alongside 280+ PMMs

P.S. PMM Camp is the only private community built exclusively for product marketing leaders. You must be a Senior, Director, or Head of Product Marketing to join.

PMM AI Challenge

Being a solopreneur means wearing every hat.

I'm one part product marketer, one part product manager, and one part CEO.

This means the feedback loop between insight → decision → action is quite short (wayyyyy shorter than working in tech).

And lately, I've been inspired by my friend Collin Mayjack, who's been sharing the decisions he's making and the things he's building at work. It's been fun to follow along and it pushed me to start doing the same.

So, here's what I built yesterday 👇🏻

One of the main differentiators for PMM Camp is that it's a community full of leaders. But that term can feel vague. "Who's actually inside Camp?" is probably the number one question I get asked.

So I decided to answer it directly by adding a new section to the sales page.

I downloaded all my member data and broke it into a few key areas:

Seniority Level

→ 34% are Director
→ 20% are Lead/Head
→ 8% are VP

This backs up my value prop that this is a "leader-level" community.

Geographic Breakdown

→ 66% USA
→ 18% Canada (shoutout to my fellow Canadians 🇨🇦)
→ Growing presence in the UK, Europe, and beyond

This makes it clear you're joining a global community with diverse perspectives and experiences.

Company Size

→ 42% mid-market
→ 38% enterprise
→ 20% startups

PMM responsibilities and problems vary greatly based on company size. This helps prospects see if there are members at a company similar to theirs.

PMM Team Size

→ 42% of members have a PMM team with 4+ PMMs

These are leaders building real teams.

Nothing groundbreaking about adding this section. But I think it'll help people answer a simple question: Am I the right fit for this community?

And it paints a more complete picture of who's actually here.

In less than 24 hours I took my most frequently asked question, built a solution, and shipped it.

To measure the impact of this work, I'll be looking at:

1️⃣ Increase in application rate
2️⃣ Increase in quality of applicants

(Currently only about 52% of applicants are accepted...but I suspect it's because it's unclear what the criteria actually is)

Stay tuned and I'll share how it performs!

Maya Grossman 💪 Career Success Coach

I will make you VP | Executive Coach and Corporate Rebel | 2x VP Marketing | Ex Google, Microsoft | Best-Selling Author

Hey, I'm Maya 👋
At the age of 27 I hit rock bottom - I completely burnt out trying to overwork my way into a promotion. 
Fast forward 15 years and I gained 10 promotions, worked for companies like Microsoft and Google, landed two VP roles at hyper growth startups, earned high six figures and actually enjoyed my 9-5.

What changed?
I stopped letting my career happen to me, and instead started managing it like a business.
I learned what it really takes to break through to executive roles, stopped making the mistakes that were holding me back, and developed the executive skills that got me noticed.

Today I am an executive career coach and my goal is to help you demystify what it takes to break through to executive roles, and build the bridge between where you are today, and where you want to be in your wildest dreams.

I want to save you the time, effort, and headache of figuring it out on your own and give you the playbook for achieving anything you want in your career.

My mission? To empower 1,000,000 high achievers to build the career of their dreams.


My brag list:

→ International best-selling author. Ranked  #1 new release for career books on Amazon.

→ 150,000+ followers across platforms, 70M views for my daily career advice
 
→ LinkedIn instructor (34,000 + learners, 4.7/5)

→ Named top 50 rising experts (US) and top 12 in Austin in 2023

→ Coached hundreds of high achievers to success on their terms​


If you are ready to level up in your career:

JOIN MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: Become VP Ready in 10 Minutes Per Week

Win the corporate game in 2025. Join 50,000+ high achievers receiving weekly actionable guides and proven strategies to level up into executive roles in months not years. 

www.mayagrossman.com/email


SUCCESS BUILDERS: BECOME THE OBVIOUS VP - 3-MONTHS GROUP COACHING PROGRAM

The exact steps to level up from Director to VP in months not years, without an MBA or working 80/h weeks

www.mayagrossman.com/SB


PRIVATE 1:1 COACHING

For senior executives who want to become first time VPs, or crush their first VP role.
I only offer 5 spots quarterly, and they require a 6-months commitment.

DM me for details.

Founder, Maya Grossman Consulting

Maya Grossman

You’re not too quiet.
You’re just being careful and it’s costing you visibility.

If you’ve ever held back in a meeting because you didn’t want to come off as “too much,” this is for you.

You don’t need to be louder. You need to be clearer.

Try this line next time you have a strong POV:
“I see it a little differently, can I walk you through my thinking?”

It signals confidence, respect, and strategic thinking, all without raising your voice.

You don’t get promoted for being agreeable.
You get promoted for leading conversations, not tiptoeing around them.

What’s one phrase you use to speak up with authority? Drop it below.

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Here is the link to the episode:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ebCBzi8Hi0uem5UHtzfcZ

This conversation is what happens when two former executives spill the best kept secrets about what it really takes to level up. 

I stopped getting more stuff done at work.
And that’s when my career finally started to move.

For a long time, I thought growth came from being helpful.

Saying yes.
Fixing problems.
Taking on work outside my role.

I was a marketer.
But I was also helping IT, managing company events, and responding to every “can you help with this?” request that came my way.

I was busy all the time.
Exhausted.
And still not getting pulled into bigger conversations.

What I didn’t understand at the time was why all that effort wasn’t translating into bigger opportunities.

The moment everything changed wasn’t burnout.

It was watching other people get promoted.

They weren’t working longer hours.
They weren’t saying yes to everything.

So I started paying attention.

They didn’t jump in to fix everything.
They talked about their thinking, not just what they delivered.
They were selective and intentional with their time.

So I tried it.

I stopped rescuing.
I stopped saying yes by default.
I stopped proving my value through output alone.

And it felt uncomfortable.
It went against everything that had worked for me before.

But here’s what surprised me.

No one thought I was less committed.
No one questioned my value.

Instead, people asked for my opinion.
They pulled me into conversations earlier.
They treated me differently.

That’s when it clicked.

At senior levels, doing more doesn’t help you stand out.
It just keeps you busy.

If you’re delivering results and still not moving up, the answer probably isn’t more effort.
It’s a different way of showing up.

What’s one thing you’ll stop doing to break the cycle?

I stopped getting more stuff done at work

If you keep hearing “be more strategic,” try this next time you speak in a meeting:
Stop giving updates. Start making calls.

Use the 3-line template:
My recommendation is...
Because...
The tradeoff is…

This is one of the simplest ways to sound more senior fast.

Want the full breakdown of the 3 invisible mistakes keeping high performers below VP?
DM me VP and I’ll send you my free masterclass

Let me normalize something about senior leadership.

I didn’t get to VP by being perfect.

In fact, I’ve made mistakes that cost companies hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I’ve backed the wrong campaigns.
Missed targets.
Made bets that set teams back months.

I’ve walked into senior leadership meetings confident... and then completely frozen.

Once I literally couldn’t get a single word out.

I’ve missed deadlines I owned.
I’ve mishandled people.

Not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t yet know how to lead at the level the role required.

I’ve lost my temper.
I’ve gotten into real fights with my CEO.

None of that looks great on a highlight reel.

But these screw-ups taught me the most.

But here’s what people don’t tell you early in your career.

Executives are not the people who never mess up.

They’re the people who learn how to recover, take ownership, and make better calls next time.

Those mistakes taught me:

- How to make decisions with incomplete information
- How to stand back up after public failure
- How to repair trust when you’ve damaged it
- How to lead people when you don’t have all the answers yet

Perfection never made anyone VP.

Judgment did. Accountability did. Growth did.

If you’re waiting to feel flawless before you aim higher, you’re playing the wrong game.

I break down how senior leaders actually develop this judgment, without burning themselves out or pretending they’ve never failed, in a short, pre-recorded masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Corporate translation:
Be more strategic = we don’t trust your judgment.

If your updates are mostly recaps, leadership can’t see strategy. They can only see effort.
And effort doesn’t make you an executive.

Don’t create another fancy presentation.
Steal this line for your next update:

“Given our goal is X, I recommend Y. The tradeoff is Z.”

That’s what being strategic looks like.

Want more advice on becoming VP ready? Check my free masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

“Keep doing what you are doing” is one of the most dangerous compliments in corporate.

Because it usually means you’ve become invaluable inside your scope.

And the VP role is literally the opposite of that. It requires you to:

- make calls that impact the whole business
- influence people you don’t manage
- drive outcomes that sit across teams

So the shift isn’t “work harder” or “be more visible.”

It’s this: stop positioning yourself as the person who executes flawlessly in their lane, and start positioning yourself as the person who can influence at the next level.

If you want the full breakdown of what keeps high performers stuck (and how to become VP-ready) watch my free masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Keep doing what youre doing is a ceiling not a compliment

You’re “killing it” but still stuck at Director, here’s the uncomfortable truth:
You might be making yourself look like the most valuable doer in the room.

Quick test. Last two weeks:

- Did you make a recommendation?
- Did you name the risk or tradeoff?
- Did you ask for a decision?

If you’re mostly giving updates, leadership can’t see you at VP yet.
We can change that.

DM VP and I’ll send you my free masterclass: the 3 mistakes that keep high performers below VP and what to do instead.

I didn't promote one of my strongest team members.
And it was one of the hardest decisions I ever made.

She was brilliant. Kind.
Deeply committed.
The kind of person every leader wants on their team.

So when promotion season came around, I wanted to champion her.
But I couldn't.

Not because she wasn't capable.
Not because she didn't work hard.
Not because she lacked potential.

I couldn't promote her because she was still operating like an individual contributor... in a role that required an executive.

And that gap shows up in small, everyday moments that most employees never realize matter.

When I asked her for a strategic plan
She gave me everything she could think of
But not what aligned with our goals the most.

When I asked her to own a critical vendor relationship
She deferred to their opinions instead of leading the partnership.

When she presented to senior leadership
She shared every detail - not a focused narrative that guides decisions.

She didn't lack intelligence.
She lacked executive signals.

Signals like:
Clarity.
Judgment.
Ownership.
A point of view.
The ability to choose what not to do.

This is the part no one teaches you.
But it's the part that determines who gets promoted.

We worked together to fix all of these and get her ready the next time.

But it taught me something important:

There are hidden criteria that get you promoted.
And executive behavior is one of them.

If you've ever felt overlooked, start paying attention to how you think, decide, and lead.
It changes everything.

And if you need more tips on how to become the obvious choice watch this: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

"She can handle anything" is not a compliment.

It feels flattering.
It also keeps people stuck.

Let me tell you about a client - I'll call her Lina.

Every big, messy initiative eventually landed on her plate.

New product launch that slipped three times?
Lina will fix it.

Cross-functional project with fifteen stakeholders and no owner?
Lina will take it.

Leader going on parental leave, team in chaos?
Lina can step in.

Her reputation was simple:
"She can handle anything."

Then promotion season came.

Her VP said the words that cut the deepest:
"You're incredible. I don't know what we'd do without you. Let's revisit promotion next cycle."

She was everywhere, doing everything...
and still not seen as "ready for more."

When we unpacked it, the pattern was obvious:

She was solving everyone’s problems, not driving her own charter
Her impact stories were about rescue missions, not business outcomes
Leaders were afraid to move her because she was too useful where she was

Sound familiar?

If the story people tell about you is "we would fall apart without them,"
it feels like praise.

But it's actually a trap.

Here's the reframing exercise I gave Lina.
Do it yourself this week:

Write down three major projects you led in the last 12 - 18 months.

For each one, answer:

1. If I vanished tomorrow, what measurable result would disappear with me?
2. How did this project change the business in ways leaders actually care about?

Now rewrite your story of the project using only those answers.
Not the chaos you survived.
Not the hours.
Not the crisis management.

Your goal is to shift from:
"I held everything together"
to
"I moved this metric and this outcome."

That is the language of VP decisions.

If you want to learn how to take the work you're already doing and turn it into a real promotion case, I cover it in my free masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Over-explaining is what high performers do when they’re trying to be “thorough.”
But at senior levels it reads like uncertainty.

And if they’re not sure you know your stuff... they won’t trust you with more responsibility.

Your new standard is a three-line update:

1. Recommendation
2. Why it matters (business impact)
3. What you need (decision/approval)

Follow this template to show your thinking, not just effort.
Plus, it will keep you on point and focused.

Want to stop being seen as the ‘doer’? Start by watching my free masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Over explaining is killing your authority

VP work isn’t about adding more to your plate.
It’s about removing what should stop being there.

Especially work that doesn’t require your judgment, your leverage, or your seat at the table.

Early in my career, I said yes to everything.
Helpful. Reliable. Always available.

It made me indispensable.
It did not make me promotable.

The shift happened when I started thinking about time the same way executives think about budget.

Not something to spend generously.

Something to allocate intentionally.

When your time is structured well:
• Focus sharpens
• Execution improves
• Decisions get cleaner

Not because you’re doing less.
But because your effort is finally going where it actually matters.

Stop donating senior-level time to junior-level work.

That’s executive time-wealth.
And it’s one of the fastest ways to move from “reliable” to “ready.”

Your move:
Ask yourself one honest question:

“If I had VP scope tomorrow, what would I immediately stop doing?”

That answer is your starting point.

“My wife says I’m a different man.”
That’s what one of my clients told me last week.

Not because he got a shoutout from the CEO.
Not because the executive team finally sees him as executive material.
Not even because, after three years of waiting, the promotion is finally on the books.

Those things matter.

But that’s not the real transformation.

The real shift was this:

He stopped showing up like someone hoping for a chance.
He started showing up like someone who creates his own.

More confident.
More positive.
More strategic.
More grounded.

A different man.

And here’s what I want people to understand:

My program doesn’t give you a short-term confidence bump.

It doesn’t hype you up for 13 weeks and then drop you back where you started.

It rewires how you think.

How you lead.
How you see yourself.

Because career growth isn’t about learning tactics.

It’s about becoming the person who naturally gets the opportunities everyone else waits for.

This client walked in believing his next decade would look just like the last.

He walked out with executive recognition, a promotion in motion, and a completely different identity.

And that doesn’t fade.

That stays.

If you want external change, you need internal transformation.

That’s the work we do.

Want to take the first steps? Start here: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Career advice that works for keeping your job doesn’t work for leveling up.
Most corporate advice is designed to make you low-risk.

Be reliable.
Be agreeable.
Don’t rock the boat.
Deliver what’s asked.

That advice is great if your goal is job security.
It’s terrible if your goal is the next level.

Because promotions don’t go to the least risky person.
They go to the person leadership trusts with bigger judgment.

Here’s the shift most high performers miss:

→ Doing what’s assigned keeps you employed
→ Shaping what should be done gets you promoted

At the senior levels, effort isn’t the signal.

Decision-making is.
Point of view is.
The ability to prioritize when everything looks important.

If your strategy is “keep my head down and do great work,”
you’re optimizing for safety, not advancement.

And safety rarely gets promoted.

Real question to ask yourself:

What would I do differently if my goal wasn’t to keep my job...
but to be seen as the obvious choice for more scope?

That’s where careers actually move.

♻️ Repost to help more high achiever level up faster

Career advice that keeps you employed vs Career advice that gets you promoted

For years, I avoided self-promotion.
Because the only version I’d seen was:
Loud, ego-driven, and inauthentic.

And I didn’t want to be that person.

So I did the opposite.

I kept my head down.
Let my work speak for itself.
Assumed results would be enough.

They weren’t.

Avoiding self-advocacy didn’t make me humble.
It made me invisible.

And I learned very quickly that invisible people don’t get promoted.

The turning point was realizing there was another way.
I didn’t need to brag or sound cringe worthy.
I could frame my impact in a way leaders actually understand it.

Once I figured it out - it was like magic.
I turned everyday moments into mini self promotion opportunities.

- Meetings
- Emails
- Slack
- 1:1

And by dropping small self advocacy hints all the time...
My trajectory changed without me becoming someone else.

If self-promotion makes you uncomfortable,
the problem isn’t that you’re bad at it.

It’s that no one taught you a better way.

Let’s change that: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Avoiding self

VP promotions don’t just change your title.
They change your identity.

There are 3 identities you have to step into if you want to operate like a real senior leader:

1. The executive:
This is where most people think the bar is.

You make decisions.
You think long-term.
You manage risk.
You speak in business impact, not task updates.

But here’s the problem:
Being a strong executive is necessary.

It’s not sufficient.

2. The entrepreneur: 
This is the one high performers miss.
At VP level, no one hands you a clean roadmap.

You create opportunity.
You build business cases.
You spot gaps and turn them into initiatives.
You don’t wait for headcount. You justify it.

Executives run the machine.
Entrepreneurs redesign it.

3. The Leader:
This is not about nice or well liked. 
It’a bout leading others to succeed. 

That means setting the emotional tone.
Creating safety under pressure.
Making hard calls and absorbing heat.

Your team borrows your confidence.
If you shake, they shake.

Most Directors are still operating in one identity.
VPs move fluidly between all three.

If you are an excellent operator but you keep hearing “not yet” when you bring up a promotion...

Ask yourself:
“Which identity am I still avoiding?”

That’s usually the one standing between you and the title.

Comment below which one is your missing piece: Executive, Entrepreneur or Leader?

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No one tells you how your life actually changes when you become a VP.

Everyone talks about the title.
The salary.
The scope.

The biggest shifts are the ones no one sees on LinkedIn.

One client, Shawna, told me she had never been more confident in herself.
Not in a loud way. In a grounded way.

She said it felt like she rediscovered who she really was.

That confidence didn’t just change how she showed up at work.
It opened doors everywhere in her life.
(Including with her daughter)

Another client, Vincent, said something that warmed my heart.
He told me his wife said he is “a completely different person”.

Not because his job changed overnight, but because he stopped doubting what he was capable of.

He learned how to trust himself under pressure.
How to stand behind his decisions.
How to stop shrinking in moments that mattered.

And then there’s the client who negotiated a six-figure increase to her total compensation and told me,
“I will never sell myself short again.”

That sentence matters more than the number.

These are the changes people don’t talk about.
They don’t show up in announcements or job updates.

But this is how real change happens.

Becoming an executive isn’t just about getting the role.
It’s about who you become in the process.

It’s about stepping into the most capable, grounded, confident version of yourself.

That version changes your career.
And it changes your life.

That’s the business I’m in.

I recorded a short masterclass on what actually changes when you step into senior leadership, beyond the role itself: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

Meet Ryan. Not his real name, but his story is very real.
He joined my program with one clear plan: get promoted.

Six weeks later there were layoffs.

Suddenly the question wasn’t “How do I get promoted?”

It was “What the hell do I want next?”

And “How do I get it before my family spirals into panic?”

Here’s the part most people won’t admit out loud:

Ryan had spent years as a Director... quietly hoping the VP job would just find him.

He had a great reputation.
A strong network.
A track record that could go toe-to-toe with any VP.

But he never actually declared what he wanted.

Not to himself.
Not to other people.
Not even in his networking conversations.

So guess what his network sent him?

Director roles.
Mid-level roles.
“Safe” roles.

Nothing he actually wanted.

Months passed. His family got anxious. He got anxious.

He started interviewing for Director positions just to make the stress stop.

And then something interesting happened.

Multiple interviewers told him

“You’re overqualified. You should be going for VP.”

That was the moment.

He had to admit to himself what everyone else already saw.

He was ready.

He was just scared.

So he made a decision.

Not “I hope something happens.”
Not “Maybe someone will pick me.”

But: I’m done compromising. I’m going after the job I actually want.

And then he backed it up with action.

- He put himself into real rooms
Community events. Industry meetups. Conferences.

- He built social proof
One thoughtful LinkedIn post a week. Nothing fancy. Just credibility in public.

- He doubled down on strategic networking
Not “catching up with old contacts.”

Actual conversations with leaders doing interesting work.

Peers. Founders. CEOs.

People who open doors that don’t exist yet.

But the biggest shift?

He stopped panicking about not having a job.
He stopped trying to force the next step.
He finally relaxed into the identity he’d been avoiding.

And then something happened that still makes me smile.

On his way to a short vacation, he got a call.
From someone he’d met six months earlier.

“Are you free to meet our CEO? We think you’re the person we need.”

There was no job posting.

No hiring plan.
No formal search.

One meeting later: VP offer.

At a company on the verge of doing groundbreaking work in his field.

When I asked him if the wait was worth it, he laughed.

“Hell yes. I’d do it again. I’d just take action faster next time.”

Here’s the truth his story teaches:
Even in a brutal job market, opportunity shows up fast when you show up first.

He didn’t manifest it.

He created it.
He positioned himself for VP.
He built visibility.
He expanded his network beyond comfort.
He took action when it felt terrifying.

And he landed his dream role.

If you’re a Director sitting on VP-level experience but waiting for permission

2026 is not the year to play small.

Stop hoping. Start positioning. Opportunities follow visibility.

Here’s a simple test I use with Directors who feel stuck.

Open last week’s calendar.
Tag every meeting or work block as:

D – driving a decision
O – owning an outcome
E – executing or supporting

Now look at the ratio.

Most high performers expect to see a mix.
They don’t.

Their week is overwhelmingly E.

That one data point explains more about promotion readiness than most performance reviews ever will.

Not because execution is bad.
But because what fills your calendar trains leaders how to use you.

If you’ve ever felt valued, trusted, and still overlooked...

Nothing is “wrong” with you.
You’re just optimizing for the wrong outcome.

(And that is easy to change!)

The $55K decision most high achievers avoid
Not a risky startup.
Not quitting your job.

It’s asking for help before you get stuck.

I see this all the time with Directors.
They’re smart. Capable. Proven.

But they keep telling themselves:

“I just need a bit more time.”
“I should be able to figure this out on my own.”
“Let me wait until it’s obvious.”

So they wait.

And stay stuck at the same level for another year. Sometimes three.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
You will never feel ready to invest in yourself.

Because readiness isn’t a feeling.
It’s a decision.

The real question isn’t:
“Can I afford a coach?”

It’s:
“How much am I already losing by staying where I am?”

The average raise my clients get when they’re promoted is $55K.

That’s not magic.

It’s not confidence fluff.
It’s the result of getting out of your own blind spots.

Most Directors don’t need more skills.
They need help with the things you cannot see from inside your own career:

• How you’re actually perceived by senior leadership
• What’s missing in your promotion narrative
• Where you’re over-indexing on execution instead of scope
• Why your work isn’t translating into leverage

When investing in support actually makes sense:

→ You’re performing well but promotions keep passing you by
→ Feedback is vague: “be more strategic,” “bigger picture,” “more visible”
→ You’re carrying more responsibility without more authority
→ You’re doing everything “right” and still not moving up

Yes, asking for help might be hard.
But staying stuck is also a hard.

And that one compounds quietly every year.

If you’ve been saying:
“I’ll just figure it out eventually”

That moment already passed.

The most expensive move is waiting until frustration forces your hand.
Make the decision early.

(True story: I had 2 coaches as a VP. Not because I wasn’t good enough, but because I wanted to keep getting better)

Most Directors don’t realize this until it starts costing them:
If you’re not in the room, you’re not part of the decision.

I hear this all the time from high performers in tech:
“By the time I find out what was decided, it’s already locked in.”

The clients who change this dynamic don’t get louder or busier.

They get pulled into the right decision-making conversations.
They stop being updated after the fact
and start being asked to join leadership meetings before choices are made.

That shift can happen fast.

I’ve seen Directors move into those rooms within weeks once their positioning and visibility changed.

Get the full strategy to become VP-ready and get pulled into those rooms in a free 25-minute on-demand masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gG8GnY4Y

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The Battle

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Maya Grossman

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tamara Grominsky's LinkedIn Performance

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