How to Become a VP in Tech: 3 Systems That Took Me From Director to VP

There was a period in my career when every day felt like a sprint with no finish line.

Back-to-back meetings.

Requests flying in from every direction.

Firefighting disguised as "leadership."

And the constant pressure to deliver, deliver, deliver.

It looked productive on the outside.

It felt draining on the inside.

I was doing great work - but I was doing it in a way that gave me zero leverage. Everything relied on me showing up, grinding harder, pushing through another week of chaos. That way of operating is exactly what keeps many Directors from being seen as VP-ready.

And here's the truth I couldn't see at the time:

High performers don't get stuck because they're not capable.

They get stuck because they're operating without systems.

This is something I break down further in Why high-performing Directors get stuck before VP, especially how effort-based leadership quietly caps promotion momentum.

It's the same lesson I later saw reflected in entrepreneurship. The businesses that scale aren't run by people who hustle the hardest. They're run by people who build systems that make growth easier, repeatable, and inevitable.

Inside corporate, we rarely talk about systems when it comes to career growth - but we should. Because without them, people stay reactive. They put out fires. They wait to be noticed. They rely on luck instead of leverage.

With the right systems, career advancement becomes something you control - not something you hope for.

If you want to grow into VP without sacrificing your sanity, you need three simple systems running in the background:

• A system for relationships

• A system for communication

• A system for visibility

Let me show you what that looks like in real life.

These systems are not productivity hacks. They are executive operating systems that change how senior leaders experience you.

System #1: The Relationship Capital System

For most of my career, I secretly thought networking was for losers.

In my mind, it was something people did when they didn't have real results. I had results. I worked hard. I figured if I just kept delivering, the right people would notice.

Then I joined Microsoft.

On my very first week, my manager looked at my calendar, then looked at me and said:

"You need to spend at least 20 percent of your time building relationships. That is part of your job."

I hated hearing that. I did not want to "schmooze."

And, to be honest, I was terrible at it at first.

But once I stopped resisting and actually learned how to network the right way, everything changed.

Those relationships opened doors. They made it easier to get approvals. They made tough conversations smoother. They created a chorus of people who could vouch for me when I was not in the room. Eventually, those same people were the ones advocating for my promotions. Now, is anyone in the room vouching for you?

That is when I understood something uncomfortable but true:

My work alone was never going to decide whether I got promoted. At the VP level, promotion decisions are made collectively, based on trust, confidence, and shared context, not just results.

Every leadership team wants social proof. They want to know other leaders trust you, like working with you, and believe you are ready. If you ignore networking, you are basically leaving your promotion up to chance.

That is why you need a Relationship Capital System.

A relationship capital system is how you build real, sustainable relationships with stakeholders. The kind that does not require sucking up or doing more work. The kind that builds trust and rapport over time and turns leaders into advocates and sponsors.

Here is what my system looked like in practice:

I mapped out the three to five most important stakeholders for my role and my next step. Then I did a listening tour. My first meetings were not about me. They were about them.

What do they care about?

What are their goals and KPIs?

Where are they stuck?

What does success look like for them this year?

Once I understood that, my job was simple: find ways to be useful that lined up with what they already cared about.

Sometimes that meant sharing customer insights they did not have yet.

Sometimes it was looping them in early on a project that affected their team.

Sometimes it was pressure-testing a strategy with them before a big meeting.

To make this repeatable, I built a tracker. Five columns:

• Name of stakeholder

• What they need most / what they care about

• How I can add value

• Last touchpoint

• Next touchpoint

My rule was simple: three to five stakeholders, one meaningful touchpoint periodically. Not spam. Not "just checking in." Something that actually helped them.

That is a Relationship Capital System.

It is focused. Strategic. Process-based.

You are no longer trying to be nice to everyone and chase every leader. You are intentionally investing in the few people who can truly move your career forward.

This is what I teach inside of Success Builders so you never have to sit there wondering, "Who should I talk to?" or "What do I even say?" You have a simple process to follow to build trust and rapport over time.

System #2: The Executive Communication System

Being a strong communicator is how I got my job at Microsoft in the first place.

When I was interviewing, they did not ask me to prepare anything extra. But I knew that if they could see how I thought about the industry and the role, it would change how they saw me.

So I created a presentation about the exact space my role would focus on:

What I had done in that industry, what I learned, and where I saw opportunities.

I walked them through my thinking. Not just what I knew, but how I would apply it.

That deck got me the job.

This is a classic VP signal: showing not just what you know, but how you think about the business.

Later, communicating like an executive is what helped me become a VP, and then land my second VP role in a completely different country. I became the person who could take complex information and make it simple, relevant, and actionable for senior leaders.

How Executives Communicate to Build Trust and Influence

It becomes your core engine of influence, because it is how you take everything in your head and share it in a way that makes leadership not just understand you, but want to support you.

Most people overcomplicate this.

They think they need to sound "more professional."

They obsess over filler words.

They write longer and longer emails and proposals that still fall flat.

So they try harder. Write more. Talk more… But all they create is more noise.

Trying harder will not fix a broken communication approach.

You need a system.

For me, that system starts with three simple questions. Before I send anything or open my mouth in a high stakes situation, I pause and ask:

Who is this for?

What is the main goal?

What do they need to quickly understand?

If you run every email, Slack message, update, and presentation through that filter, everything you say becomes more intentional.

Then you pair those questions with a recurring cadence of touchpoints that build your reputation over time instead of in random bursts:

• A weekly one-on-one with your manager where you talk about impact and priorities, not just status.

• A monthly update to your skip-level, aligned to their goals.

• At least one company-wide or org-wide touchpoint each quarter where your work is visible at scale.

Now your communication is not just "good." It is consistent, targeted, and tied to outcomes decision makers care about.

And we are living in an age where you do not even have to figure this out alone. You can feed a GPT who you are talking to and what your goal is, and get help shaping the clearest, most strategic version of your message.

That is exactly what my clients do with our custom GPTs and their weekly touchpoints. They are not spending hours wrestling with the perfect sentence. They are using a system to make sure every important piece of communication lands the right way and builds their reputation.

This is what makes communication a strategic lever, not a volume game.

System #3: The Strategic Visibility System

I have lived both extremes of visibility.

At first, I wanted nothing to do with the spotlight. I put in zero effort to be seen and told myself my work would speak for itself. So I stayed in the background, worked harder, and waited.

Nothing happened.

Once I realized visibility mattered, I swung hard in the other direction. I tried to be everywhere. Joining every meeting. Offering to help with everything. Saying yes to anything that might theoretically get me "seen."

That did not work either. It was draining and unsustainable.

What finally clicked for me was this:

There is a sweet spot in the middle called strategic visibility.

This is where Directors start to feel ‘obvious’ as VP candidates instead of invisible or exhausting.

This is where you get seen by the right people, at the right time, with the right message. You are not trying to be everywhere. You are intentional about where you show up and how.

A Strategic Visibility System is how you build your reputation on purpose. You do the work. Then you make sure that work is actually seen and valued by the people who make decisions.

This is not about doing more. It is about distributing the impact of what you are already doing.

And yes, it really can work for you 24/7, because once you build the system, it keeps running in the background.

For me, the game-changer was creating an actual visibility action plan. Not hoping. Not, "If someone asks, I'll share." I moved from reactive to intentional.

One action per week.

One stakeholder per week.

One moment where I intentionally reinforced my value and positioning.

That might be a short update tying my work to a key business priority.

Sharing an insight in a meeting where the right people are present.

Volunteering to present outcomes at a forum where I had not traditionally been visible.

It is a simple structure: three core stakeholders, one intentional visibility action each week.

It is not loud. It is not needy. It is not "look at me."

It is a distribution system for your hard work.

Do something once. Share it with multiple people in a leveraged way. Let that momentum compound.

This is what it looks like when you do it right (you get this template when you work with me)

If you are exhausted from chasing every room and joining every meeting, you do not need more hustle. You need a better system.

What to Do If You Want to Become a VP in Tech

So here is the real question: Do you actually have systems for these three things?

Not just ideas.

Not "I know I should network more."

Not "I try to communicate clearly."

Not "I know I need to be more visible."

Real structure. A repeatable way to do this every month without overthinking it.

Because knowing is not the problem.

Everyone knows they should build relationships, communicate well, and make their work visible.

The gap is doing it consistently in a way that does not burn you out.

These three systems are how you protect your time and energy and still grow into VP. They let you spend less effort each time, get better results, and stop relying on hope or luck.

If you want a simple place to start this week, do this:

Pick one of the three systems.

Choose one small action that starts the process.

Put it on your calendar as a recurring reminder. These systems are what allow VPs to scale themselves. Without them, growth always feels fragile.

That is it. No overhaul. Just one intentional move on repeat. And if you want help building all three systems so they run quietly in the background while you get on with doing great work we should talk. If you are tired of working harder and want to operate like a VP before you have the title, this is where to start.

In my free VP Promotion Masterclass, I break down how Directors in tech build executive systems for visibility, influence, and promotion, without burning out Free training: How Directors In Tech Become The Obvious Choice For VP

I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you

Maya ❤️