598: 5 Things Every Director and VP Should Do Before September to be in a Stronger Position When Leadership Opportunities Open This Fall

Knowledge is Power Access the Executive Presence Scorecard:

Click here to pinpoint the specific area in your executive presence that’s keeping you invisible to senior leadership and guarantees you stay working hard as a pack mule who never gets promoted. Access the Executive Presence Scorecard assessment.

Are you treating summer like a slow season—while the leaders getting promoted are quietly using it to get ahead?

As calendars empty and meetings slow down, most professionals ease off the gas. But experienced executives recognize that summer offers a rare opportunity to strengthen their reputation, expand their influence, and position themselves for opportunities long before promotion discussions officially begin.

By the end of this episode, you'll know how to:

🚀 Increase your visibility while everyone else is mentally checked out for summer.

🧲 Build executive credibility before promotion conversations even begin.

🏆 Position yourself as the obvious choice when new leadership opportunities arise.

Play now to access The Executive Summer Checklist—five practical strategies directors and VPs can use before Labor Day to build executive presence and finish the year stronger.

If this episode made you realize you've been treating summer like downtime instead of positioning time, here's the next step. Take the Speak Up Executive Presence Scorecard. In just a few minutes, you'll uncover the communication habits that may be keeping you from being seen as a strategic, influential leader—even if you're already delivering great results.

You'll receive a personalized executive presence score to help you become the obvious choice when leadership opportunities open up this fall. Just click here or the first link in the show notes to take the Speak Up Executive Presence Scorecard. Your next promotion won't be decided during your performance review—it starts with how you're showing up today.

To learn more visit www.speakupwithlaura.com. New Speak Up podcast episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday early in the morning.

The Speak Up Podcast helps high-performing professionals develop executive presence through strategic communication, executive confidence, and leadership influence. Each episode provides practical strategies to help you speak up in meetings, communicate with senior leaders, present ideas with clarity, build executive visibility, strengthen your leadership presence, influence without authority, stop overexplaining, answer difficult questions with confidence, and become a trusted executive leader.

Whether you're preparing for your next Vice President promotion or looking to communicate with greater credibility and gravitas, you'll learn actionable executive communication skills that accelerate career growth.