Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive: Cohort 5

Learn actionable specific standards by which executives are selected and how to manage your promotion process to show you meet them. 

Ethan Evans

Retired Amazon Vice President; now Coaching Leaders to become True Executives

Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive

Amazon

11+ total hours of content: 6 hours of live lecture from Ethan followed by 5.5 hours of live Q&amp;A and peer networking (includes 4 weeks of dedicated implementation follow-up workshops). Will have new content for the 2025 environment including a bonus module on 'Leading AI Adoption' — If more-results-through-headcount was the old path to promotion, more-results-through-applied-AI is the new one. Learn the Standards of Executive Performance- How to know where you stand- How to break out of being stuck- How to develop and demonstrate executive presence- How to gain executive visibility- How to engage executive sponsors- How the leaders above you are evaluated and thus how you can help them- How to get scope, including during a flat or negative growth environment- How to overcome obstacles and poor managers- How to become a scaled deep leader, change agent, and trusted decision maker- How to manage your team to execute with little oversight, take calculated risks, and deliver results- How to think strategically and be seen as a influential leader who enhances the whole company- How to lead AI adoption Learn How to Manage the Executive Promotion Process- How to position yourself for promotion- How executives assess promotion readiness- Overcoming blocks to promotion- How to deal with a manager who gives little feedback- How to manage peers and sponsors- How to win skip level support- How to run the document creation process Scope, team size, and consistent high-impact results are important...But are not enough. I will teach you specific actionable steps on how to prioritize the things that matter to executives. Bonus material:- Video recording of all live sessions available via Maven platform- 90 minute prework video recording from Ethan detailing prework goals and actions- Executive Presence handout by Mariposa Leadership (one of our recommended coaching options)- Recommended coach list- Class slides as a PDF- 20% off all career development on-demand courses Advice is based on Ethan's personal promotion experience from Amazon Senior Manager to Director to Vice President and diverse insights from his network of executives, coaches, venture capitalists, army officers, and startup founders. Proven ROI for promotions and internal/external hires: Ethan promoted 8 reports from Senior Manager (Amazon L7) to Director (Amazon L8), contributed to 25+ Director promotions, hired 10+ Directors internally and externally, drove the promotion of 3 engineers to Principal, and of his former reports 2 are current Amazon VPs (L10) and 5 are C-Suite outside of Amazon. More than 1,000 senior managers and leaders worldwide have taken this course (including engineering managers, senior product managers, general managers, head of partnerships and business development, design leaders, and directors/VPs who have also found the course applicable to their careers). Many leaders buy this course for their team: Citing it is a big net positive for an organization by up-leveling team skills with practical and actionable insights. Multiple executives and leaders have bought 10+ seats for their direct reports / team. Alumni from: Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, Stripe, Shopify, Flexport, Oracle, Salesforce, Red Hat, Affirm, eBay, Expedia, Zillow, Groundspeed, Snapchat, TikTok, Unity, LinkedIn, Disney, McKinsey &amp; Company, Vimeo, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Kohl's, Capital One, Warner Bros, Discord, IBM, Vimeo, Waymo, and more startups &amp; large companies all over the world. Titles of course members range from Manager/Senior/Group/Principal to Director/VP/SVP/CPO. Alumni success stories:- "Hope all is well with you and your family Jason! Happy to share that due to executing some of the tactics shared in the program (taking action for one), I have been successful in getting myself promoted." — Promoted to Director - “What was key was that I actively participated in the live course AND followed through with some participants afterwards to talk shop and build relationships. One of those relationships just happened to be able to help when I needed it.&nbsp;Simply adding connections wouldn’t have been successful as they would have had no context about me, and not enough trust to put me in touch with important people in THEIR network.” — Landed FAANG Role - “When I took the ‘stuck at sr. manager’ course, Ethan mentioned that he knows that everyone wants to get promoted and wants it now but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal (paraphrasing, of course) since he knows us high performers are going to get there. Oddly, that comment didn’t make me lazier (“I guess i’ll get there anyway, so why try so hard”) but it grounded me a bit to take a breather and realize that it is not as urgent as I think it is and take the challenge (wanting a next level title) in stride!” — Promoted to Director - “I give so much credit to the Level Up: Breaking through to the Executive course and getting a front seat to Ethan's coaching and wisdom. Thank you for working to build this community that has given me to confidence to reach even in the current market environment! It is my dream role and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.” — Promoted to Director - “I am excited to share that I got promoted to Director and I sincerely thank and appreciate your help on this. I was not able to break through the barrier to Director level, partly due to constant changes happening in the company at leadership and strategies. I continued to apply my learnings from the community to influence the cross functional teams. Leadership was seeing the adaptability that I exhibited in continuing to add business value in new role and I was starting to get positive feedback from the VP on my flexibility. If I have to just pick one thing across all of Ethan’s teachings that helped me the most, it is being PROACTIVE. I am very grateful for your help and I really appreciate the learnings I have got as part of your community and your course on Stuck at Senior Manager. It really helped me to achieve this big milestone in my career. I thank you and Jason deeply as this promotion was very close to my heart." — Promoted to Director - "I’m excited to share some exciting news—I’ve landed a new job! I’m deeply grateful for your support and the scholarship. I can’t wait to apply everything I’ve learned in this new chapter of my career. Thank you again for your wisdom and generosity." — New Job TOP MAVEN COURSE- Top Course in Leadership &amp; Career- Top Instructor in Leadership- Featured in Maven's Executive Track- Featured in Maven's Fast Track- Featured in Maven 100- Featured in Lenny's List WHO THIS IS NOT FOR:- This is not for you if you want 1:1 coaching from Ethan.- This is not for you if you believe you already know what it takes to demonstrate executive performance and how to manage the promotion process.- This is not for you if you want a slow-paced experience. This course provides in-depth lectures in a 2-day weekend intensive followed by 4 weeks of implementation follow-up. It is designed for busy leaders who want to get the information and then quickly take action. BONUS:1) (From Ethan): By enrolling, you will get a 1-year subscription to Ethan's Level Up paid newsletter comped at the end of the course ($170 value). You will be auto enrolled after the last session of the course (no action needed from you). 2) (From Maven): When you enroll in this course, you’ll receive $1,395 in free credits to level up your workflow with Superhuman, Linear, Sprig, Dovetail &amp; Gamma (see FAQ for details). SURPRISE GIFT:During the course, you will get a surprise bonus gift, here's what students are saying:- "I love it! Amazing tool."- "Agree, it's amazing. I use it A LOT."- "Just want to say I LOVE it, I will be revamping my resume and more from it."- "I want to acknowledge how good [the surprise gift] is. Thank you for creating it and making it accessible to us."- "Helped me a lot putting together a concise deck that I presented to exec leadership. The presentation was an absolute success. Closer now to build my own design org in our company."

Level Up from Senior Manager to Executive

Ambitious Senior Managers from all disciplines at startups and large companies who want to become true executives.

Those managing large groups, managers of managers, including Amazon and Google L7, Meta M2, and Microsoft 66/67.

Also applicable to Senior Individual Contributors (ICs - Principal at Amazon) and Managers of 2-5 reports.

Many leaders buy this course for their team to help uplevel their skills with practical and actionable insights.

This is not for you if you want 1:1 coaching from Ethan.

Who is this course for

What you will get out of this course

We will dive deep into specific tactics on how to get promoted, what great looks like, the executive bar, how to build a reputation that signals you are an executive, how senior executives assess promotion readiness, and how to drive team and company-wide impact.

How to get promoted to Executive

Learn how to stand out from your peers with specific tactics on how to better position and advocate for yourself, how to gain senior executive sponsorship, and how to influence the promotion approval meeting.

How to manage your promotion process

Course content is developed by Ethan's personal promotion experience from Senior Manager to Director to Vice President at Amazon along with input from Ethan's wide network of executives, coaches, VCs, army officers, and startup founders. You will get specific actionable advice.

Optimized actionable advice for Senior Managers who want to get promoted

Hear Ethan's break through experience first hand and learn from the specific actions Ethan took with his direct reports to help them break through to executive.

Learn from Ethan's personal stories (not theory)

<ul><li>How to identify the 10x AI opportunity</li><li>Your role as a leader and a change agent</li><li>How to lead from multiple personal positions</li><li>How to support your team</li><li>How to lead by example</li><li>Leadership actions to take now</li><li>The state of AI (April 2025)</li><li>Resources</li></ul>

Leading AI Adoption (new bonus module) 

Alumni from: Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, Stripe, Shopify, Flexport, Oracle, Salesforce, Red Hat, Affirm, eBay, Expedia, Zillow, Groundspeed, Snapchat, TikTok, Unity, LinkedIn, Disney, McKinsey &amp; Company, Vimeo, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and more.

You will be in great company

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

EVP at Capital One (Ameesh Paleja) on what he learned from Ethan

Meet your instructor

You will also get a 90 minute video recording from Ethan that covers:(1) Prework goals:<ul><li>How to get the most out of class.</li></ul>(2) Prework actions:<ul><li>Identify your ultimate goal.</li><li>Pinpoint where you are stuck.</li><li>Take stock of where you stand.</li><li>And more.</li></ul>

Bonus — Prework Video Recording (90 minutes)

New Bonus Module — Leading AI Adoption

<ul><li>2 hour lecture by Ethan</li><li>45min live Q&amp;A with Ethan</li><li>45min peer networking</li></ul> Optional to attend (but recommended)

Saturday, April 26 - (Session 1) Live Lecture with Q&A & Peer Networking

Sunday, April 27 - (Session 2) Live Lecture with Q&A & Peer Networking

<ul><li>Ethan’s implementation advice on "Great Personal Performance"</li><li>Implementation problem Q&amp;A with Ethan</li><li>Peer accountability and networking groups</li></ul> Optional to attend (but recommended)

Wednesday, May 7 - (Session 3) Live Implementation Workshop

<ul><li>Ethan’s implementation advice on "Great Team Performance"</li><li>Implementation problem Q&amp;A with Ethan</li><li>Peer accountability and networking groups</li></ul> Optional to attend (but recommended)

Thursday, May 15 - (Session 4) Live Implementation Workshop

<ul><li>Ethan’s implementation advice on "Great Organizational Contributions"</li><li>Implementation problem Q&amp;A with Ethan</li><li>Peer accountability and networking groups</li></ul> Optional to attend (but recommended)

Thursday, May 22 - (Session 5) Live Implementation Workshop

<ul><li>Ethan’s implementation advice on "Promotion Process"</li><li>Implementation problem Q&amp;A with Ethan</li><li>Peer accountability and networking groups</li></ul> Optional to attend (but recommended)

Thursday, May 29 - (Session 6) Live Implementation Workshop

All live sessions will be video recorded and made available to watch/rewatch at your own pace via the Maven Student Portal. Thus, if you cannot attend the full time or need to drop off at any point, you can catch up and watch the video recording.

Video Recordings will be Available

Maven's Satisfaction Guarantee offers a full refund within 14 days after the course ends if you meet the completion criteria:<ul><li>Attend all live sessions</li><li>Review all course material</li><li>Respond to feedback requests</li></ul> Otherwise, no refunds starting April 2, 2025 (when Student Portal opens)

Maven's Satisfaction Guarantee

Course schedule

Ethan Introduces Stuck at Senior Manager - How to Break Through to Executive (Format, Content, Benefits, & What You Get)

We will go deep on HOW to get promoted to executive and HOW to manage your promotion process

You must be a scaled deep leader, a change agent, and a trusted decision maker.

Personal Executive Performance

Your team must execute with little oversight, take calculated risks, and deliver results.

Team Level Executive Performance

You must think strategically, enhance the whole company, and be known as an influential communicator and leader.

Company Level Executive Performance

What does great look like?

Ethan's experience with the Senior Manager to Director to Amazon Vice President promotion

Clearly know the required scope, time, calendar of promotion reviews, document contents and lead time, "Best reasons not to promote"

Your company process

Executive need is determined by ambiguity, complexity, and impact

Executive level challenge

Quantify the impact of role, complexity, autonomy, cross-functional work, and P&amp;L ownership High growth creates scope, but, we are in a low growth environment, learn what to do

Role scope

Learn how to effectively manage and win over peers, committee members, and sponsors

Peers and sponsors

We will DIVE DEEP on each step you need to set your promotion up to win

Nail the section list, example document, and draft for your manager

Document creation

Learn what happens in the meeting, cross-leveling, favoritism, the final review, and the importance of skip level support (and how to get it)

Promotion review

Learn what to do and the common mistakes to avoid "Strategically patient, tactically impatient"

Final approval

We will DIVE DEEP on the promotion process from the executive's POV and common mistakes to avoid

How to lead AI adoption & be a change agent

How to get scope in a flat or downsizing environment (video recording)

Read what Gagan Biyani, CEO and Co-Founder of Maven, said about the value of Ethan's course

Buy this course for YOUR team

Alumni Success Story - Promoted to Director

Alumni Success Story - Landed FAANG Role

Alumni Success Story - New Job

Read what students are saying about the SURPRISE BONUS GIFT

EVP at Capital One (ex-Google VP, ex-OfferUp CTO, Atom Tickets CoFounder & CEO, ex-Amazon Director)

VP at Upstart (ex-Amazon, ex-Microsoft, ex-Expedia)

What Ethan's former reports say

Principal Software Engineering Manager, Microsoft

Principal Technical Program Manager, Amazon/Twitch

Director of Engineering, On & Author “Drawn to Leadership”

Asian leadership coach; Tech lead manager at Waymo

"The value I got is 20x its cost." — Student testimonials

"Easily 50-100x my cost"

Head of Revenue Operations, AWS Professional Services

Head of Software Engineering at Santander & F1RST Digital Services

Senior Manager, Product Management, Amazon

Microsoft, T-Mobile, Currys (Dixons Retail) alum. 

Director of Product Management, DigiCert Inc.

Manager, Recruitment at Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Head of Commercial Med-Tech Product Management, Johnson & Johnson

Lead Business Analyst, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.

Principal Technical Business Development Manager, Amazon

Manager of Sales Strategy & Operations, Amazon

Program Lead - Cloud, Data & AI, TELUS Health

Program Manager - Process Improvement and Product Engineering, Amazon


 Consultant, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

What more students are saying about the course

Frequently Asked Questions

"Amazing sessions, so much knowledge, insight and action items"

"Truly went above and beyond"

Your career is your most important product. Act with urgency.

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