Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How to Get a Promotion by Doing a Career Gap Analysis
Transcript
- Lucas: Sarah was a product marketing manager at a mid-sized B2B software company. She had solid results, good relationships with her team—and she’d been passed over for promotion twice. Luna: That’s brutal. What was she missing? Lucas: That is exactly the question she asked herself. And instead of just working harder or updating her resume, she did a career gap analysis. She mapped every competency her target director role required—things like data-driven strategy, executive stakeholder management, and cross-functional leadership. Luna: So she started by defining the destination. That’s smart—most people skip that step and just hope visibility comes. Lucas: Right. She pulled the actual job description for the director role from her company’s internal postings, plus she looked at three similar roles at competitor companies. She ended up with a list of eight key competencies. Then she rated herself on a scale of one to five for each one. Luna: Was she honest? It’s hard to self-assess without bias. Lucas: She tried. But she also went to her manager and two peers and asked them to rate her on the same list. That’s where the real insight came. Her manager rated her a two out of five on executive presentation skills. Sarah thought she was a three. Luna: That one-point gap probably made the difference between being seen as ready or not. Lucas: Exactly. So she focused there. She volunteered to lead a cross-functional product launch that required a monthly update to the VP of marketing and sometimes the CTO. That forced her to practice distilling complex data into clear, concise slides. She also rehearsed with a mentor before each meeting. Luna: So the gap analysis wasn’t just a list—it became an action plan with specific projects and timelines. Lucas: That’s the whole point. She created a simple spreadsheet with three columns: competency, current rating, target rating. Then a fourth column with the specific project or activity she’d do to close the gap. She tracked it monthly. Luna: How long did she give herself? Lucas: Six months. At the end of that, she did another round of feedback. Her manager bumped her executive presentation rating to a four. And three months later, the director role opened up. She applied, and she got it. Luna: It sounds so systematic. But I think a lot of people avoid this because they’re afraid of what they’ll find—what if the gaps feel too big? Lucas: Which is why you prioritize. Sarah had five gaps, but she picked the two that had the most leverage for visibility. Executive presence and data storytelling. She knew if she nailed those, the rest would follow. Luna: That’s a good filter. What’s the one thing someone should take away from this episode if they want to try it themselves? Lucas: Start with the target role description. Not your current one. List six to eight competencies. Then get one piece of outside feedback—from a boss, a mentor, or even a peer you trust. The gap between your self-rating and their rating is your starting point. And if today’s framework clicked for you, the way we keep this show ad-free is simple listener support. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, that’s a small way to make sure episodes like this stay available for everyone. And honestly, it’s cheaper than a career coach. Lucas: Alright, back to Sarah. Once she had her action plan, she also set up quarterly check-ins with her manager to discuss progress. That kept the gaps front and center instead of getting buried under day-to-day tasks. Luna: So the gap analysis becomes a living document—not something you do once and forget. Lucas: Exactly. And that’s the framework. Define the target, assess honestly, prioritize the biggest gaps, build a concrete plan, and revisit it regularly. Luna: I’m going to try this for my own next step. I think I’ve been avoiding my gaps too. Lucas: That’s exactly the kind of reaction we hoped for. Next episode we’ll look at another framework—this one for building a career sponsor network. Stay sharp.