Communicating your impact and positioning yourself clearly are critical to ensuring your career advances rather than plateaus. ...
We want to believe that every decision in an organization is based on merit. But they are not. Every decision is subjective.- Jennifer Jordan
If performance were enough, far more high achievers would be in senior roles. Yet many trusted, reliable, and highly capable professionals who consistently deliver find their careers plateauing. Not because they lack results, but because results alone rarely translate into influence. In the first webinar IMD Women in Business webinar, Samra Chekroun, CEO of BBold, and Jennifer Jordan, Professor of Leadership and Organization at IMD, explored why careers stall and what it really takes to advance.
A core challenge, Chekroun noted, is the mistaken belief that hard work will automatically be recognized and rewarded. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Advancing to senior roles requires intentionally taking charge of your career by building your network, seeking visibility opportunities, communicating your goals, and crucially asking for support.
“We want to believe that every decision in an organization is based on merit. But they are not. Every decision is subjective,” added Jordan. In reality, hiring and promotion decisions are often influenced by cognitive biases such as affinity bias, where people favor those who resemble them.
These dynamics explain why visibility, not just performance, becomes decisive, making it essential to take deliberate steps to consider your profile and influence how you are perceived by decision-makers. This often comes when your next role isn’t obvious, explained Jordan, and you need to “let the system know where you want to go.”
“Stepping outside your comfort zone is risky and can lead to failure. But those who advance recognize that discomfort is part of the process.”
Chekroun noted that in global organizations, leaders and teams are frequently dispersed across locations, making it even harder for decision-makers to see or appreciate your contributions. As Jordan succinctly put it: “Our work can’t speak for itself. It doesn’t have a mouth.”
So why does the belief persist that hard work alone is enough? Both Jordan and Chekroun noted that women are often socialized to be humble and avoid self-promotion, yet once you reach a certain level, everyone is a top performer. “The question then becomes: what will differentiate you?” said Jordan. “It’s probably not going to be results. It’s going to be relationships and networks.”
Chekroun added that many people invest most of their time in performance while neglecting exposure and image. This is understandable. Stepping outside your comfort zone is risky and can lead to failure. But those who advance recognize that discomfort is part of the process and embrace it as a necessary step toward growth.
If you find advocating for your own success awkward, Jordan suggested reframing achievements from “Look at what I’ve done” to “Here’s how I’ve contributed.” This becomes especially important as you climb higher in an organization and reach the point where you are evaluated not on your own results but your ability to drive results through others.
Even better, she added, is having someone more senior speak positively about your results. This gives you an extra boost and added credibility because it comes from someone whose voice already carries weight.
In a world saturated with social media posts celebrating success, it can be difficult to lean into failure. Yet developing negative capability – the ability to sit with discomfort and uncertainty, face rejection, and persevere – is critical, especially as you move into more senior roles, said Jordan.
“The big ‘aha’ moments in our lives are never the successes. We want them to be, but they are not. It’s the moments when you fall flat on your face,” she added.
Failure, particularly early in your career, can be incredibly valuable. It teaches you not only how to survive low points, but how to grow from them. “Resilience for me is about bouncing forward,” Jordan explained. Failure often creates the space to pause, reflect, and decide where you truly want to go next, added Chekroun.
Once you see the bias, you can see the dynamics. And then you can decide whether to act on them instead of internalizing them.- Samra Chekroun, CEO of BBold
Another aspect to consider in career advancement is identifying and learning to navigate organizational biases. “As human beings, we all have biases. The first step is recognizing them and understanding their impact,” explained Chekroun.
Understanding these biases allows you to adapt your behavior to increase your influence, added Jordan. Take the example of an engineering company. There may be a belief that only those with engineering backgrounds make capable leaders. In such situations, you should consider how you can adapt to an organization’s dominant mindset, for example, by adopting some of the valued characteristics, like analytical thinking, so you can build stronger connections.
“Once you see the bias, you can see the dynamics. And then you can decide whether to act on them instead of internalizing them,” said Chekroun.
The discussion also explored the difference between power and status. The former, explained Jordan, is the capacity to bring about change – through your knowledge, network, and resources, such as the size of your team or allies. Status, on the other hand, is others recognizing that power and being open to your influence.
While men and women are equally capable of gaining power, she noted that women are often not recognized for it. Status is built through visibility, the perceived value of your contributions, and particularly how unique those contributions are within the system.
Sponsorship programs are sometimes formally assigned by organizations, but Chekroun noted that you can also identify potential sponsors inside or outside your company, depending on your goals.
Advancing your career also requires creating opportunities by raising your hand for stretch roles and strategic initiatives, even when it feels risky. “Every time we volunteer, we risk rejection. But you have to accept the discomfort,” said Jordan.
Chekroun encouraged cultivating curiosity, not just focusing on performance.
“Take time to initiate conversations without a fixed agenda. Open the discussion and listen. You don’t always need to speak,” she said, adding that many senior-level opportunities arise informally, through relationships and conversations.
Making yourself vulnerable and asking for help is another way to create opportunity. “I’ve never seen one senior leader who doesn’t feel flattered when you ask for help,” said Jordan. She shared her experience when asking colleagues for advice resulted in opportunities she wouldn’t have accessed otherwise.
The panel also clarified the difference between mentorship and sponsorship.
A mentor advises you; a sponsor – someone senior – takes a positive risk on you. Their reputation is on the line. To position yourself for sponsorship, formal or informal, Jordan recommended reflecting on what people say about you when you’re not in the room and framing how your achievements help the organization and those around you succeed.
Sponsorship programs are sometimes formally assigned by organizations, but Chekroun noted that you can also identify potential sponsors inside or outside your company, depending on your goals.
For more senior roles, leaders are looking for evidence that you can manage complexity, take on strategic, cross-functional work, deliver results through others, and think at the enterprise level. ‘Ask: What would my CEO want me to do?’ advised Jordan.
The reality is that most senior roles are filled before they are advertised. Relationships matter more than applications, making your ability to cultivate your network crucial.
Chekroun shared her simple A–B–C networking model. ‘A’ people are those who can say yes or no to your advancement. ‘B’ people are those who know you and recognize your work and can advocate for you to the ‘A’ people. ‘C’ people can feed you information by providing early intelligence on the roles, such as context a website can’t provide, and helping you to understand the landscape. To progress, you need to link your career vision with the people who can help bring it to life, and ensure they know who you are.
Progress requires intentional action, clarity about where you want to go, visibility around the value you create, and deliberate investment in the relationships that shape opportunity.
The most important takeaway from the discussion, according to Jordan, is to stop assuming that results will speak for themselves. Progress requires intentional action, clarity about where you want to go, visibility around the value you create, and deliberate investment in the relationships that shape opportunity. As Chekroun emphasized, once you are clear on what truly moves you forward, it becomes easier to let go of what keeps you stuck, and to take the steps that build influence, momentum, and impact.
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