Fake it till you make it

Requests for a more seniority or responsibility from people I'm mentoring are always so hard to respond to. There's such a range of emotions behind the requests, desire for more responsibility, status, earning-power, recognition, and respect that you've got to be very careful.

What I generally respond is that you don't get a (sustainable) senior role in a consulting organisation by managing upwards, you get it by the reputation you have among your peers for insight and ability to execute.

So get people to think of you as "Senior" and the position will generally follow.

Be the "go-to guy" for certain areas, cultivate a reputation for giving insight and new ideas, make sure you are liked and respected.

Puckering up to VPs, working long-hours, and sacrificing the work-life balance of yourself and your staff to satisfy unreasonable demands wont work in an organisation you'd want to work for.

So what's the practical outcome of this:
* Bone up on your theory, being able to give the why as well as the how separate the wheat from the chaff.
* Help other deliver great work, and be a cheer-leader for them when they do.
* Schmooze outside your circle.
* Pick small achievable visible tasks that are tangential to your main responsibilities and deliver on them.
* Don't publicise things working on if they may not be delivered. Promising the world and not delivering kills your credibility no matter what the reason.
* Help and protect any reports (or colleagues) you do have from unreasonable requests of organisational nastiness. Even if it doesn't help you in the short term it's the right thing to do and will be remembered.

This all sounds fluffy so far, but there's two things that aren't exactly "nice".
* When someone isn't performing and you've realised they never will in their current role don't try and keep them around to be "nice". It's just a waste for everyone.
* Ass-covering and effective escalation are two sides of the same coin. Make sure that you are not responsible for any risks that you can't control for. Cover your ass my escalating risks to the person who can actually mitigate them (This is a post by itself)

Disclaimer: This could be good advice or it could be total bull dust. It's worked well for me so far, and while I'm not exactly a partner earning mega-bucks but I've been pretty happy with my career progression since I switched to the BA-space.