How To Become The Obvious Choice For VP In 90 Days
- Maya Grossman
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
If you're a Director in tech wondering how to become VP, the next 90 days matter more than you think. Promotion decisions rarely begin during performance review season, they start months earlier as senior leaders form opinions about who is already operating at the next level.
That means you don't need to wait another year to improve your chances. You need a deliberate promotion strategy that changes how executives see your leadership.
Six months ago, I shared a newsletter called The 90-Day Plan to Become the Obvious Choice for VP.
It ended up becoming one of the most-read newsletters I've ever sent, with tons of comments like “This is gold” and “I needed this plan”.
The funny thing about career advice is that reading it feels productive.
But implementing it is what actually changes your career.
We're now at the midpoint of the year, which makes this a perfect time to ask yourself a simple question:
Are you any closer to a promotion than you were in January?
Not what have you learned, not what podcasts have you listened to.
What progress have you made?
If you're on the path to a promotion today, amazing. Keep going.
If you're in exactly the same place you were six months ago, this is not a reason to beat yourself up. But it is a reason to take different action.
Because promotion decisions for next year are already starting to take shape.
The good news?
You don't need a full year to change how senior leaders see you. You need a plan.
So I'm sharing this framework again because it is just as relevant today as it was in January.
And if you haven't implemented it yet, you still have time.
The 90 Day Plan to Become the Obvious Choice for VP
Most people think becoming VP-ready takes years. The truth is, becoming VP isn't about accumulating more years of experience. It's about demonstrating executive judgment, strategic thinking, and business impact before you receive the title.
If I had 90 days to shift how senior leaders saw me, here is the exact action plan I would follow.
Step 1: Audit How Senior Leaders See You (The VP Mirror)
Before you do anything else, you need to stop guessing how you're perceived.
At senior levels, promotions are less about output and more about risk. Executives ask themselves whether promoting you feels safe, predictable, and aligned with the business.
The VP Mirror forces you to see yourself the way decision-makers see you, not the way your performance reviews read.
Much of that perception comes down to your executive presence. It's not about looking more confident, it's about consistently demonstrating the judgment, communication, and leadership senior executives expect. I explain how to build magnetic executive presence in more detail here.
Run The Perception Audit
Answer yes or no:
Do I know who actually influences VP promotion decisions in my organization?
Do I know what those people care about at the VP level?
Can I clearly articulate how they currently describe me in one sentence?
Does that description emphasize strategy, judgment, and outcomes, or execution and effort?
If a VP role opened tomorrow, would they say "ready now" or "strong potential"?
If you answered "no" more than twice, you're not behind.
You're operating without a mirror.
That's the fastest way to work hard and stay stuck.
Your Action:
Write down:
The 3-5 people who shape VP decisions
What you believe each one would say about you today
What you need them to say about you to be seen as ready
This becomes the baseline for everything else.
Step 2: Build Strategic Visibility That Gets You Noticed
Once people realize there's a perception gap, they usually jump straight to "I need more visibility" and try to be everywhere. That's a recipe for burnout.
Visibility is not about being louder or busier.
It's about sending the right signal, consistently, at the right altitude with the right people.
Senior leaders don't notice who is everywhere.
They notice who shows up talking about decisions, tradeoffs, and outcomes.
That's why I teach a one-signal-per-week visibility plan.
You invest your time in one action that gives you the right kind of exposure and doesn't burn you out.
Examples of Executive Visibility Signals
A visibility signal answers one question for senior leaders:
"Can I already imagine this person operating at the VP level?"
Examples:
Presenting a recommendation instead of a status update
Leading a cross-functional discussion tied to a business priority
Reframing a problem leadership is already debating
Sharing an executive update that answers questions before they are asked
Same work. Different altitude.
What doesn't work
Speaking more without changing the substance
Volunteering for extra work that stays invisible
Being busy in the wrong rooms
Your Action:
Plan the next four weeks of visibility. For each week, write:
Where will I be visible? (email, meeting, 1:1, Slack)
Who will see this? (manager, skip level, leadership team, cross-functional leaders)
What do they need to see? (decision-making, strategy, business impact, influence)
This is what strategic visibility is all about.
Specific and targeted action that puts you in front of the right people and creates the right perception.
Inside my program, we provide a quarterly visibility plan with weekly action items so you never have to wonder, "Am I doing enough?"
Step 3: The Sponsor Matrix
Senior promotions are a team sport. They happen when someone senior is willing to bet on you.
Mentors advise.
Supporters encourage.
Sponsors advocate when you're not in the room.
Sponsorship does not come from coffee chats or long relationships alone. You may have a standing one-on-one with your cross-functional SVP, but that doesn't mean they'll go to bat for you.
Sponsorship comes from shared wins at the right altitude, with the right stakeholders.
Sponsors don't promote potential, they advocate for leaders they've already seen creating business value.
Identify Your Sponsor Matrix
You don't need to be everyone's best friend. In fact, you probably shouldn't.
What you need is to identify the three stakeholders beyond your manager who matter most for your promotion.
That list usually includes:
Your skip level
Senior leadership team members
C-suite leaders
Occasionally board members in smaller companies
Then ask:
What do they care about right now?
How does my work make their priorities easier to achieve?
Where could a shared win naturally exist?
Your Action:
Choose one person from your Sponsor Matrix and get on their calendar in the next 30 days with a value-led agenda.
Less "Let's catch up."
More "Here's how this initiative can help move one of your priorities forward."
Step 4: Build a VP-Level Executive Reputation
As you grow, your reputation must move up the ladder.
Most high performers are described like this:
She gets things done.
He's reliable.
They execute really well.
That's not wrong.
It's just not senior enough.
At the VP level, reputation sounds different:
She's highly strategic.
He can handle ambiguity.
They make strong decisions under pressure.
The Reputation Ladder is about intentionally moving your narrative to the next rung.
It's how you shape how people see you instead of letting them make their own assumptions.
A great example of executive narrative done well is the 60-second executive introduction formula.
It's how you go from:
"Hey, I'm Maya, Director of Marketing at ACME."
To:
"Hey, I'm Maya, Director of Marketing at ACME. My team and I are focused on aligning marketing and sales to accelerate revenue growth. Over the last eight months we've completely overhauled our positioning, a $1M initiative that's already helped us land two new logos with three more in the pipeline."
Same role.
Very different signal.
The difference isn't just what you accomplished, it's how you communicate it. Strategic storytelling helps leaders connect their experience to business outcomes instead of simply listing responsibilities. I explain that framework in more detail here.
Your Action:
Write two short paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: How you're typically described today
Paragraph 2: How a VP-ready leader should be described
That gap shows you exactly what needs to change.
Step 5: Build Your VP Promotion Business Case
You won't see this listed as a requirement anywhere, but a promotion business case is non-negotiable.
If you don't make the case for your promotion, no one else will do it for you.
A Promotion Case is not:
A resume
A performance review
A list of past accomplishments
It is a future-focused argument for why the business benefits from you operating at the next level. Think of this as a business proposal—not a personal request. The question isn't "Why do I deserve a promotion?" It's "Why is promoting me good for the business?"
A strong Promotion Case answers:
What scope am I already operating at?
What problems do I own beyond my role?
What decisions do I influence?
What outcomes have changed because of my leadership?
What additional value could I unlock at the next level?
This is not something you send cold.
It's something you use to anchor conversations with your manager and sponsors.
Your Action:
Start a win bank to track your scope, impact, and influence.
Ask yourself: If I was promoted today, what would I do differently?
The answer is the beginning of your future-focused plan.
The 90-Day Execution Plan
Here's how this actually turns into action.
Days 1-30
Complete the VP Mirror perception audit
Draft your current vs. desired Reputation Ladder
Identify your Sponsor Matrix
Days 31-60
Build and execute your One-and-Done Visibility Plan weekly
Start creating shared wins with at least one sponsor
Refine your executive narrative
Days 61-90
Synthesize everything into a Promotion Case
Align with your manager on readiness and timing
Strengthen advocacy behind the scenes
Remember, this 90-day plan works best when it's supported by consistent daily leadership habits. Promotion decisions are rarely made because of one standout moment, they're shaped by the patterns senior leaders observe over time. I share the habits that accelerate promotions in this article.
Copy-Paste Checklist: Are You VP-Ready?
⬜ I've completed a VP Mirror perception audit
⬜ I know who influences VP decisions and how I'm perceived
⬜ I have a 4-week visibility plan
⬜ I've defined my Sponsor Matrix
⬜ I've drafted my Reputation Ladder narrative
⬜ I've started a future-focused Promotion Case
Need Help Turning This Into a Real Promotion Strategy?
Reading this newsletter is a good start.
Implementing it inside a real organization, with real stakeholders and real promotion politics, is where things get harder.
If you're still building your overall VP promotion strategy, I've also put together a guide on how to get promoted to VP, covering the bigger picture beyond this 90-day framework.
That's exactly what we do inside Success Builders.
Together we'll identify your perception gaps, build a visibility strategy, strengthen your executive narrative, map your sponsors, and create a promotion plan tailored to your role and goals.
In this free VP Promotion Masterclass, you'll learn how high-performing Directors build executive visibility, strengthen their leadership reputation, and become the obvious choice for VP before promotion discussions begin.
I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you
Maya❤️
