Careers Slideshow: The C-Suite: 6 Skills To Advance Your Career

Half of Outside Hires Fail

As much as 50 percent of new hires from outside the organization at mid-level management and above fail within the first two years.

What These Failures Cost Organizations

1. Hard dollars - expense, time spent recruiting from outside the organization.2. Soft dollars - slowing the career growth of upward-aspiring managers within the organization.3. Helping your competitors - Loss of talent to other organizations.

Why Annual Reviews Do Not Help

Organizations often focus on whether the person being reviewed is performing his or her current job well. They lack a concrete blueprint as to how to advance within the company.

Break The Code

Useful, concrete direction from senior execs requires going beyond vague "code phrases."

Lost In Translation

What management says: You need to be a "more impactful team player"What management means: You need to improve your influence and persuasion and develop collaborative problem-solving skills.

Strategic Thinker + High Achiever = Winner

1. Establish a steady set of priorities for your team, instead of dispatching them to chase the "initiative of the day."2. Anticipate and respond to market trends - before the C-suite spots them - that contribute to measurable success.3. Get involved in cross-functional projects that integrate you and your abilities within a multi-departmental playing field.

Team Builders Are Top-Exec Material

What stops team development from happening?Managers who cannot detach themselves from the team to allow success to happen.

Micromanagers Dont Make The C-Suite
Senior management will conclude that you will be overwhelmed at higher levels of responsibility.
Stop The Micromanagement Madness

Be clear with your team about objectives big and small. Set hard time tables. Then step away

Break The Micromanagement Cycle

Entrust your high performing team members to carry out oversight roles; resist the temptation to keep all these roles for yourself.

Focus On Priorities

Establish performance metrics that focus on priorities. Acknowledge measured successes and reward the employee behaviors that you have prioritized.