David Turner calls this The Credibility Tank: where you stand with your peers, your manager and your CEO, read like a fuel gauge. Every significant career move is a fuel decision, from the promotion ask to the direct challenge in the leadership team meeting, and how hard you press should depend on what’s in the tank.
Picture a sports car in the mountains with a full tank. You’re accelerating through the curves and pushing top speed in the straights, and the last thing on your mind is gas. Now picture the red light on, with no idea where the nearest station is. You’re lifting and coasting, nursing it, in a car built to run.
Most executives can’t say with any precision what level their tank is at, and in the vast majority of cases they’re underestimating it. I’ve talked to my clients’ peers. I’ve talked to their CEOs. I know what their 360s actually say. They’re sitting on three-quarters to a full tank and coasting like the red light is on.
Julia was the HR leader at a $400 million PE-backed company: experienced, high-performing, a long list of tangible wins. She also had a quiet habit of waiting for the right moment, softening her asks, and holding back initiatives she knew were right. When I talked to her CMO, she told me, unprompted, that Julia had a backlog of things the whole team was waiting on. “Wish she would just do it. We’re all waiting.”
When I walked Julia through her actual tank, not the one she imagined, you could see the shift happen. Her instinct to conserve was the thing draining it. The hesitation she believed was protecting her credibility was eroding it. Inaction has a cost. It’s just harder to see on the dashboard.
How do I know how much credibility I really have with my CEO and peers?
Fix the gauge by asking. Go to your peers and your manager and ask two questions: “Is there anything I’m doing that’s not working for you?” and “How can I help you better?” Asked with real intent, those two questions will tell you more about your tank than a year of guessing. Most executives have never asked them.
What if I make a bold ask and it fails? Will I lose credibility?
Less than you think. If your tank is full, or even three-quarters, the worst case on a bold ask (a no, a miss, a ding) costs you about an eighth of a tank. You still have plenty in reserve, and the upside is everything you’ve been leaving on the table. The asymmetry is wildly in your favor. If your tank is full, floor it: make the ask, push the initiative, have the hard conversation.
My credibility is low. How do I rebuild it before I ask for something big?
Fill it before you floor it. Find out what’s working and what isn’t, build the relationships that matter, and get to a level where the ask is low-risk before you make it. Protecting and Nurturing Relationships covers the cadence for that, and Self Promoting with Velocity covers what burns the tank faster than anything else.
What’s the bold ask or initiative you’ve been sitting on? If your tank were objectively full, would you move on it tomorrow?
David has spent 13,400+ hours coaching CEOs and C-suite leaders at companies from $50M to $27B in revenue, and sits in on his clients’ talent reviews, where promotions are decided. Before coaching he spent 24 years in executive seats, including CEO of a PE-backed technology company and SVP of Sales & Marketing and Managing Director at DigitalGlobe. More about David