Managing up is not flattery: What I got wrong about executives

I thought executives were just more senior - same job, bigger title, more meetings. Wrong. The hierarchy of accountability isn't a ladder; it's a different calculus of risk and money. "First team" stops meaning your people and starts meaning your peers. Managing up isn't flattery; it's feeding them the information they actually need to decide. This is what I got wrong, and what limited my influence and career opportunities. This talk shares what changed once I understood what executives care about.

Who is this talk for?

This talk is for engineers, senior ICs, and middle managers who need to influence executive teams; anyone whose good ideas keep dying upstream, or who wonders whether an executive path could be theirs one day.

What will attendees take away?

• The key factors that change how executives evaluate everything

• How to pitch an idea so an executive can actually say yes to it.

• Managing up without sucking up: practical ways to influence with integrity.