Want to sponsor this newsletter or other content? Reach out to me directly, Jacob[at]thefutureorganization[dot]com.
Join 40,000 other subscribers who get Great Leadership delivered directly to their inbox each week. You’ll get access to my best thinking and latest content. Sign up today.
…
If you’re a Chief Human Resources or Chief People Officer, then you can request to join a brand new community I put together called Future Of Work Leaders which focuses on the future of work and employee experience. Join leaders from Tractor Supply, Johnson & Johnson, Lego, Dow, Northrop Grumman and many others. We come together virtually each month and once a year in-person to tackle big themes that go beyond traditional HR.
Doing great work doesn’t always mean you’ll immediately get promoted. As the world of work becomes more competitive and complex today, technical skills and ambition will only take you so far. If you want to rise to the top, or even make the next leap, you need to understand the hidden rules of leadership.
In this episode of Future Ready Leadership, I talk with Mark Thompson, the world’s #1 CEO coach, about what it really takes to become CEO-ready. From aligning your ambition with your effort to building trust with your boss, this episode reveals the strategies top leaders use to earn influence, gain credibility, and grow into their next big role.
What actually makes someone prepared, not just to take a bigger role, but to thrive in it? First, you must learn how to lead before you’re given the title.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
The Hidden Work of Being CEO-Ready
Too often, we think leadership begins when we land the promotion. But as Mark and I discuss, the real work of leadership starts well before you ever get the title. It begins with your mindset, followed by what Mark calls confident humility. That means believing in your ability and acknowledging how much you still have to learn.
It’s the trait that top executives, Olympic athletes, and Hall of Fame performers all have in common. However, it’s also one of the rarest qualities in the workplace.
Alongside that mindset is productive paranoia, the ability to anticipate problems, scan for risks, and plan ahead not because you’re afraid, but because you care. The real edge is when you don’t operate out of fear, but don’t wing it either. Use your time to prepare. The best leaders, he explains, operate with one foot grounded in ambition and the other in humility.
The Skills That Set Future Leaders Apart
One of the biggest gaps in leadership development that many of us don’t know is in functional fluency. Too many people rise through the ranks based on a single skill, may it be finance, operations, marketing, and then stall out when asked to lead across unfamiliar domains.
Mark says if you want to lead, you need to learn seven “stakeholder languages.” You don’t have to master them, but you do need to speak them, otherwise you can’t lead your stakeholders. That’s why he teaches leaders to build conversational fluency across seven key domains: investors, boards, HR, marketing, operations, technology, and the previous generation of leadership.
It’s not about becoming an expert in everything, but building enough credibility across the table so you can align people, not just manage tasks. Because in leadership, knowing your stuff is one thing. Understanding what others care about, so you can lead across the organization seamlessly is another.
…
This episode is sponsored by Workhuman:
Here’s a good question for you: Who in your marketing department is a flight risk? How about: Where are your talent or skills gaps? Or: Which employees make up your next generation of leaders? If you couldn’t answer any of these, then you need to check out Human Intelligence™, from Workhuman. By combining AI with the rich data of their #1 rated employee recognition platform, Human Intelligence unlocks insights and capabilities that redefine talent management, cultural transformation, and employee engagement.
Want to learn more? Go to workhuman.com and learn how today’s leading companies are turning AI into a force for good with Human Intelligence.
…
Want to Get Promoted? Start By Helping Your Boss Win
This part might be uncomfortable for some people to hear, but it’s the truth. If you want to grow your career, you should start by making your boss successful. That doesn’t mean being a yes-person. It means understanding what your manager is being evaluated on and aligning your work to support it.
It’s counterintuitive, especially in our culture today which prizes individual contribution, but it might be the most career-accelerating move you can make.
Most people have no idea what their manager’s goals actually are. But if you can ask good questions, like “What’s keeping you up at night?” or “What would make your quarter a win?” you’ll start building trust. By helping your boss succeed, it will also give you insight into how decisions are really made, and what you’ll need to learn when it’s your turn in the hot seat.
Leadership Takes Sacrifice
We also tackled a topic that doesn’t get talked about enough: sacrifice. But instead of framing it as a negative, Mark reframes it as alignment. If you say you want a promotion but aren’t willing to adjust your effort, time, or focus, you’re out of alignment, and you’re going to struggle.
Sometimes that means working longer hours. Sometimes it means making personal trade-offs. Sometimes it means saying no to things you’d rather do in the short term so you can get where you want in the long term. But the point is owning those decisions, not resenting them. When you align your ambition with your actions, growth becomes intentional, not accidental.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
Final Thoughts: Don’t Wait to Be Asked
Great leaders don’t sit back and wait. They take initiative. If you’re hoping someone will tap you on the shoulder and tell you you’re ready, you’ll probably be waiting a long time.
Instead, you need to become the kind of person people already view as a leader. Someone who’s adding value beyond their job description, who understands the broader context, and who’s already behaving like someone in the role they want.
Mark and I both agreed: that’s what makes people stand out. Not the job title, but the behavior before it.
This episode is packed with hard-earned wisdom from someone who’s coached more than 80 CEOs. But what I love most about this conversation is that it’s not just for people aiming for the C-suite. It’s for anyone who wants to grow, lead, and show up better in their work, no matter what role you’re in today.
So if you’re serious about that next big leap in your career, whatever that looks like, this episode will help you prepare not just to take it, but to own it.
Listen to the full episode below or on your favorite podcast platform.
And if you enjoy the conversation, don’t forget to subscribe and share it with someone else who’s ready to level up.
🎧 Listen here
🎧 Watch on YouTube
#Leader #Follow #CEO #Mark #Thompson #Jacob #Morgan #BestSelling #Author #Speaker #Futurist #Leadership #Future #Work
