Navigating Promotions: How to Stick the Landing Like a Pro! with Steve Mos

Steve Moss served as Chief Marketing Officer at Gilbey Canada, Pillsbury International, Nestle Ice Cream and Imation. Global brands are his sweet spot. Steve reversed Smirnoff declines in Canada and set the brand on a path for six consecutive years of growth. He authored the Pillsbury Company's first global brand manual, for the Green Giant brand. Steve introduced Häagen-Dazs to China, its largest market after the US. And he revitalized Drumstick, reversing years of volume declines and creating advertising adopted by Nestle ice cream businesses worldwide. Steve's success in building brands is matched by his passion for developing leaders. Over 50 of his reports have gone on to become VPs or Presidents. In 2017, he founded Executive Springboard, a mentoring business designed to onboard executives, develop leaders and re-engage valued talent. He has recruited a network of over 100 mentors, covering over twenty functions and twelve countries. Steve's board experience includes overseas JVs, start-ups and non-profit organizations.Most newly promoted leaders assume their boss knows what they're supposed to be doing. That assumption gets a lot of people in trouble.In this episode, Steve Moss and I talk about what it actually takes to stick the landing after a promotion. Steve has spent decades developing leaders at the highest levels of global business, and he brings a practitioner's perspective on what separates the leaders who thrive from the ones who quietly struggle.We get into the concept of decision rights, specifically the "do, tell, ask" framework for understanding what you can act on independently, what your boss needs to know after the fact, and what requires explicit sign-off before you move. It sounds simple. Most promoted leaders have never thought about it clearly, and that gap creates friction with their boss from day one.We also spend real time on executive presence, not as a style exercise, but as an authenticity challenge. The leaders who try to perform presence usually undermine themselves. The ones who figure out how to communicate their actual thinking in a way that lands at the executive level, those are the ones who build credibility fast.Takeaways from this conversation:Clarifying decision rights with your boss in the first 30 days prevents the kind of misalignment that quietly derails transitionsExecutive presence is less about polish and more about knowing what you actually think and being able to say it clearlyThe shift from doing to strategizing is harder than it sounds, and most leaders underestimate how long it takes to rewireNavigating peer relationships after a promotion requires more intentionality than most leaders bring to itCoachability is not a soft skill. It is the mechanism by which promoted leaders course-correct before the window closesListening more and talking less is not a communication tip. It is how you build the trust and credibility your new role requiresLinks for today's show:Steve's LinkedIn PageExecutive SpringBoard's WebsiteKent's LinkedIn Pagehttps://kent.coach/playbook **Music for this podcast comes from the song Needle & Thread and is provided with permission by Pert' Near Sandstone. Check them out on PertNeaerSandstone.com and on all major streaming platforms.**