Promotability

The observation that the skills that get someone promoted are often different from the skills needed to succeed at the next level. Sales stars get promoted to sales management, where the job is coaching and systems design, not selling. Great engineers become engineering managers, where the job is people and priorities, not code. Promotability creates a systematic mismatch between capability and role throughout organizations, closely related to the Peter Principle.

When to use it

When making promotion decisions; when high performers suddenly struggle after promotion; when designing career progression paths; when deciding between promoting an internal candidate versus hiring externally for a role requiring fundamentally different skills.

How it can help

When promoting people, separate the question 'have they earned this?' from 'will they succeed at this?' Rewarding past performance with a role requiring different skills is one of the most expensive mistakes organizations make. The solution: create dual career tracks (individual contributor and management), promote based on demonstrated aptitude for the NEW role's requirements, and provide intensive support during transitions. Never assume that excellence at level N predicts success at level N+1.