What Got You Here Won't Get You There

The skills that earned your current position are different from the skills needed for the next level

Ethan Evans
Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"All the great traits that got you to this one level won't get you to the next level where you're more expected to be thinking in strategic terms, thinking longer term." - Ethan Evans

What It Is

What Got You Here Won't Get You There is a career transition principle that explains why high performers often plateau at senior management levels. The skills that drove success as an individual contributor or early manager (deep functional expertise, getting things done, hands-on execution) become insufficient—or even counterproductive—at director and VP levels.

Named after Marshall Goldsmith's book, this framework addresses one of the most common frustrations in career development: people who are excellent at their current level but can't understand why they aren't being promoted. The answer is usually that the next level requires fundamentally different behaviors, not just more of what they're already doing.

The transition from senior manager to director is particularly challenging because:

  1. There's a natural "choke point"—if a director has 6-8 reports, how many more directors are needed?
  2. The economy makes this worse as companies run leaner
  3. The required skills shift from execution to influence

How It Works

What Gets You to Senior Manager:

  • Strong functional expertise
  • Excellent execution and delivery
  • Being really good at getting things done
  • Deep involvement in details
  • Hands-on problem solving

What Gets You to Director and Beyond:

  • Influence and coordination across teams
  • Strategic thinking and long-term planning
  • Letting go of being in all the details
  • Invention and innovation
  • Building and leading through others

The transition requires a fundamental behavioral shift. You must stop relying on the strengths that made you successful and develop entirely new capabilities.

How to Apply It

  1. Recognize where you are

    • Be honest about whether you're relying on your current-level strengths
    • Ask your manager or mentor: "What do you see as the gap between my current performance and the next level?"

  2. Identify the behavioral shifts required

    • What behaviors should you do MORE of? (strategic thinking, influence, delegation)
    • What behaviors should you do LESS of? (hands-on execution, being in every detail)

  3. Practice next-level skills now

    • Don't wait for the promotion to start behaving like a director
    • Ask for strategic projects
    • Work on being more inventive and forward-thinking
    • Practice influence without authority

  4. Accept that patience is required

    • Some of the constraint is structural (there are only so many director slots)
    • Use the waiting time to develop the skills
    • Position yourself to be "the person who will be chosen out of the eight"

  5. Seek new learning

    • Read Goldsmith's book for deeper insight
    • Find mentors at the level you're targeting
    • Ask: "What do you do differently now than when you were at my level?"

When to Use It

  • When you've been stuck at senior manager level for a long time
  • When feedback suggests you're not ready for the next level but you're performing well
  • When you're preparing for a transition from IC to manager
  • When you're moving from manager to senior manager
  • When performance reviews mention "needs to be more strategic"
  • Anytime you're planning career growth beyond your current position

Source

  • Guest: Ethan Evans
  • Episode: "Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)"
  • Key Discussion: (00:23:36) - Why people get stuck at senior manager
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

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