Show Notes
If you’ve ever been told to “be more strategic” and walked away wondering what that actually means, this episode is for you.
Most IT leaders who get passed over are not short on effort. They deliver, they lead, they put in the work.
The harder truth: the skills that made you the best operator are the same ones keeping you out of the executive seat. The business sees a technologist, not a leader. And no one ever explains how to change that.
That is the work I do. I help IT Directors and VPs make the jump to the executive level.
It starts with a short private diagnostic. It shows you which of the things holding you back is costing you the most, and where you stand against the leaders who already made the jump.
For the right fit, it opens into the Executive Leap Session:
A private 45-minute session, one on one with me I read your full diagnostic before we talk A straight read on where you actually stand The one or two things holding you back, specific to you The move that matters next
45 minutes with a former CIO, normally something leaders pay for. Take the diagnostic and find out where you stand.
Take the diagnostic → https://www.tingleleadership.com/
In this episode, I’ll show you:
Why “be more strategic” is usually unclear feedback What executives actually mean when they say it Why technical updates often fail in executive rooms How to translate technical work into business outcomes Why senior leaders care about revenue, risk, cost, speed, and advantage How to stop leading with “what we did” and start leading with “so what” How strategic language changes how people see your leadership potential If you’re a technology leader, senior director, VP, or technical executive who wants to be seen as more strategic, this episode gives you a concrete way to start. Stop telling executives what you did. Start telling them what it was worth.
Timestamps 00:00 — The vague feedback: “Be more strategic” 00:18 — Why this feedback is so useless 00:34 — Welcome to Leadership Language 00:49 — What happens when you present to executives 01:27 — Why leaders say you need to be more strategic 01:46 — Speaking the wrong language for the room 02:03 — Performance review season and vague feedback 02:38 — Why nothing changes after the feedback 02:55 — What “strategic” actually means 03:28 — Stop telling executives what you did 03:48 — Operator language vs executive language 04:04 — Strategic is how you frame what you know 04:21 — Executive Leap diagnostic mention 04:37 — Michael’s story: strong results, same feedback 05:14 — Michael’s communication gap 05:46 — Executives need to understand the business stakes 06:03 — The three-question filter for executive updates 06:21 — Before: technical update 06:47 — After: business-outcome update 07:03 — How Michael changed executive perception 07:24 — Same person, different language 07:42 — Lead with the “so what” 08:04 — Examples of strategic language 08:37 — Strategic thinking is a language shift 09:03 — How strategic framing changes your career 09:19 — Share this episode with someone who needs it 09:35 — Diagnostic and Executive Leap session 10:08 — Stop waiting for your work to speak for itself 10:20 — Closing and next episode
More from Leadership Language
In this episode of the Leadership Language Podcast, I’m joined by Chalmers Brothers, bestselling author, executive coach, speaker, and co-author of Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence, for a conversation about what actually changes when strong technical professionals move into leadership.
In this episode of the Leadership Language Podcast, I’m joined by CIO and technology leader Patrick Adesso for a conversation about what AI is changing — not just in software development, but in technology leadership itself.
In this episode of the Leadership Language Podcast, I’m joined by Tony Qualls, Regional CIO for AdventHealth’s Great Lakes region, for a conversation about what it really takes to grow from a strong technical contributor into a trusted technology executive.
Every time you hear the words “you need more executive presence,” it can feel like someone is saying there’s something wrong with you. In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the most vague and frustrating pieces of leadership feedback: executive presence.
Every time you feel stuck, you work harder. And that instinct may be the exact thing holding you back. In this episode, I’m talking about one of the most common traps I see with technology leaders: responding to being overlooked by doubling down on execution.