5 Surprising Steps to GET PROMOTED in a High Growth Business

The moment that you stop thinking about your own career and your own department and start thinking about the business is the moment you will win. What is up? Welcome to my channel. If you don't know who I am, my name is Leila Hormozi. I'm co-CEO of Acquisition.com, which is a portfolio of companies that does about $85 million per year in revenue. And I, my goal with this channel is really to get you from wherever you're at between $3 to $10 million in revenue per year for free. So that being said, what I want to talk about in this video is actually something that was, it came up at a talk I gave this past weekend. And after the talk, you know, we all get into a room and it's me and Alex and, you know, maybe 30 people in the room, and they get to ask us whatever questions for 30 minutes. And so this company that I spoke for at the event, they're one of our portfolio companies. And so the team that was there is a team that, you know, we're invested in their company, and, you know, I know who everyone is, but I haven't necessarily met everyone until this event. And so they had the chance to ask us questions as well. And the question I got that really prompted me to make this video was, you know, how do I continue to grow, add value, keep my job in a high-growth company? And context for this is that when we started working with the company, it was doing like $300,000, $350,000 a month, and now they're doing $1.3 million a month about a year later. And so that's a lot of growth for a company. And, you know, I've been very vocal about the fact, you know, I even said it when I was making my speech of like, you've got to keep up. And the reason I do this is not to scare people, it's to give people the same knowledge that I have in my head, right? Which is like, I know that there's a very large possibility that you won't be here in a few years. And I want you to know that too, so that you can beat the odds, right? And so some people look at it like, oh, you're provoking fear. I look at it like, I want to make sure that all the knowledge in my head is also in my team's head, right? And so they asked this question and it prompted me to make this, which is really, I want to talk about how How do you continue to grow in a high-growth company? How do you maintain the value arbitrage that you're providing to that company when it's growing incredibly fast, right? And I think that it's a lot of the times much easier than people let off. It's just that a lot of people don't have the innate character traits. And so because they don't have the innate character traits to continue to grow and be open-minded and coachable, they are not open to the things that I'm going to provide in this video, right? And so I'll start off with that, which is like, if someone's not open-minded or coachable, there's really no use in even watching this video because, or doing any of these things because they're just not going to do it, right? And so being closed-minded is probably like the worst thing that you could have in a company that's growing quickly. That being said, there's really 4 things, um, and when they asked me this question, these 4 things came to mind because, for those of you who don't know, in 2019 I actually hosted a full team meetup for Gym Launch, and it was literally everybody. It was 120 employees. They all flew into Austin, Texas. It was this huge event, very expensive, very chaotic, and I'd never done a full company meetup like that before. We'd done leadership, which was like, you know, every quarter what we've always done is like all of leadership will always fly in, and you know, it's anywhere between 10 and 20 people depending on what's going on that quarter, initiatives, et cetera. This was 120 people. So it was very much more like educating them, pouring into them, trying to really just cement the culture of the company. And what I told them all, I think it really stuck because a lot of the leaders will still tell me they remember the speech to this day, which I got up on that stage in front of everyone and I said, dude, 95% of you won't be here in 5 years. And they were all like, we thought this was a team meetup, like rah rah, why is she telling us this? And the fact is, those are the stats. So in a high-growth startup, the stats are that 95% of the founding team won't be there in 5 years. And so I don't say that to provoke fear in people. I say it so that they have the same information that I have in my head. I think that the biggest disadvantage that a CEO can put upon their team is not to tell them the same information they know. If I learn something, I wanna see how fast can I translate it to my team, right? And so that was what I was trying to do. And I explained to them, what do you have to do to continue to be here in 5 years? What are the traits of people who are going to be here in 5 years?, and that's what I shared with them. And so that's what I wanna share in this video today because I thought it was a really good question. How do you continue to add value? How do you continue to maintain your job in a high growth company? And listen, if you're not in a high growth company, you're just in a normal continuously, you know, 5%, 3%, whatever year over year growth company, this would be probably a good video on how to get promoted. And so I really thought about what are the 4 things that I typically recommend to people when they're asking me these questions, right? So the first one is that if you want to continue to keep up with the company, this is one thing that you can do as a teammate, employee, leader in the company. Okay, it's switch from top-to-bottom feedback into peer-to-peer feedback. And I'll explain this from two points of view, right? One is, as the company's growing very quickly, it's really always a strain on leadership. It's a strain on everybody, but it's definitely a strain on leadership because that's typically lagging. Typically, we fill the front line and the, you know, higher-touch, you know, customer-facing roles first, and then we lag in terms of management in companies like this, right? And so what happens is that leaders feel this immense pressure to always have to hold everyone accountable, and they like can't— it's impossible to always remember everything everyone's doing, checking up on people, holding it all together, Etc. I'm like, yes, there's systems you can use, etc., but like your brain can only take up so much attention. So I know when I had like 11 direct reports and they all have completely different departments under them, I was like losing my mind sometimes, you know? I'm like, I feel shitty because it's really hard to hold everyone accountable. And so what you can know, you are a leader, that's going to help your entire team kind of congeal more is if you cannot just hold your direct reports accountable or let your boss hold you accountable, but if you can hold your peers accountable. And that's one of the hardest things for a boss to cement into the culture is, hey, it's not just me that should be giving you feedback and it's not just you that should be giving me feedback., but I need everyone to give each other feedback. And that's when you create like a flywheel effect with your team is when not just top to bottom can give each other feedback, but peer to peer can. And so what that means is like when you have an issue with somebody on the team, when you see someone on the team or on the meeting that didn't do what they said they're going to do, you don't just wait for your boss to say something. You say something. And this is very counterintuitive for most people. They think, oh, that's my boss's job. Oh, that's this leader's job. Oh, this, you know, the most powerful feedback in the world, it's peer to peer, right? So like think of it, if you're in the classroom, uh, say in high school and your a teacher tells you that, you know, you did a bad job on something, blah blah, rah rah, you know, you suck. You're like, okay, well, I hate the teacher anyways, right? Or like, the teacher always brings me the bad news. Like, you're almost numb to it because the teacher's the only person delivering you the bad news. But say you have a group that you're accountable to and you have to complete a project and you fail to meet the requirements of that project, and your group says, you let us down, like, we're waiting on you, what are you doing, like, buck up, this isn't what we expect. You're like, oh, right? Because those are people that you relate to, and those are people that it gives you more of a feeling of isolation when you are not able to live up to the expectations of the entire team and not just the because you're almost numb to what the leader's saying. And so if you're in a high-growth company, or even just a company in general, stop talking to your boss about your peers and start talking to your peers about your peers. That is one of the best things that you can do in a high-growth company, because what happens is as you continue to add more and more people in the company, the communication becomes vastly more complex. I can tell you that when we had over 100 employees, my main job was figuring out how to communicate something in like 8 different ways every time. Any change in the company, anything that was happening, anyone getting hired, anyone getting fired, it's like I have 17 different channels I need to put this in. It's like text, video, meeting, this, like all these different ways to make sure it's disseminated down. And so the number one thing that you can do is help your boss by providing feedback to your peers rather than giving it to your boss and expecting them to do so, because peer-to-peer feedback is always more effective. And so the number one way you could implement this is on meetings. Really, it's just, you know, when people are kind of, you know, showing what did they do for the week, what are they planning to do this week, et cetera. And if you have a thought of like, hey, I thought they were supposed to do this, or hey, why is this not done? I've been waiting on this person for a week. Say something. And I have a video in here of basically how to give feedback. If you just, you know, search it, it'll come up and you can use that and make sure like, as long as you are using that framework on how to give feedback and you don't sound like a complete asshole, it's extremely effective. And so that's the first thing I would be doing. Now, the second thing that I would be doing, and this kind of goes hand in hand, is that instead of just doing top-down feedback, you need to start as an employee, as a leader, as someone in this company, giving bottom-up feedback. And so I'll tell you this is, you know, I was at this event, I was talking to different people and I was saying, you know, do you give 'This person, the leader, I'll call him, uh, David. David, feedback.' And they're like, 'Well, no, I expect that like other people do that.' I'm like, 'The biggest reason that companies fail is because the founder is unaware of the problems that are occurring.' It's almost like everyone has this rock, and underneath the rock there's all these little bugs and shit, and nobody wants to flip it over and show the boss and be like, 'Look at all these bugs over here.' Instead, they're like, they flip it open, they look, and then they're like, 'Oh shit, cover it up,' right? And they're like, 'I don't want to tell the boss. Like, he's so excited, he's so happy, there's all this growth. I don't want to be the rain— like, I don't want to rain on the parade. I don't want to be negative.' It's like, there's a difference between providing feedback and productive criticism and being negative, right? It's different. And so that being said, being able to give your boss feedback, being able to manage up, is a huge skill and it's very valuable. And the number one thing I see is in people that are green, right? You've never been in management before, maybe this is the highest role you've ever had, you've never been promoted past where you're at right now, is that almost all the time you are not as good at giving your boss feedback as the person who has 20 years on you. So like the people that I've hired that have 20, 30 years more experience than me, you know what they're very good at? Giving me feedback. They tell me like, hey, you did a great job there. Hey, that wasn't your best, you You know, like they're not afraid to because they know that I value their opinion. And the only way to even find out if your opinion is valued is to express it. And so that's the second thing is that it is absolutely on you. It's absolutely your responsibility as an employee, as a person of this company, as a representative of this company, to give your boss feedback, to tell them where the problems lie, to say, these are all— this is all the shit under the rug. Here's the stuff that Sally's not telling you. Here's the stuff that Rich isn't telling you. Do you know how valuable that is? Because it is much easier to solve small problems than big ones.. And if you tell your boss the problems when they're small, then they're going to be so grateful that they didn't have to find out later when it was so big that nobody could hide it anymore. And it's just learning and really gathering and mustering up the courage to do so. And that's what stops most people. They're just like afraid to tell their boss. I promise you, your boss will be grateful. And if your boss isn't grateful, then maybe you need to quit. I don't know, probably an asshole. So anyways, that's the second piece. Now the third piece, right? If you're looking at how do I continue to add value in a high growth company, how do I continue to, how do I get promoted, right? In a normal growth company. Would be rather than only focusing on depth of skill, say you're a customer success leader, you're always reading on customer success, customer success, customer success, right? Focus on holistic view of the company. And this is where a lot of leaders miss is they silo themselves. They only study their department. They only think of their department. They only better their department. The moment that you stop thinking about your own career and your own department and start thinking about the business is the moment you will win. And this is where so many people have it twisted. They think, I've gotta make sure my department's the best. And they almost boast about it. A lot of people do, especially in like newer companies. Like, well, my department's on lock. Well, my department, my department, my team, my this, your any— what? Like, would you say when you think of like— the amount of irony to this is ridiculous to me because the only way that a team functions is when they're all functioning as one team, not 10 teams, right? Yes, there are teams within a team, but you can never forget the picture of the whole team. And so a lot of leaders miss this and they become so wrapped up in their own career and their own resume and their own department and their ego that they forget that the company comes first, which means many times You must sacrifice your own department. You sacrifice your own career growth. You sacrifice for the greater good of the company. And if you do that, you will be more valuable than anybody else on the team. But people don't do that, right? They're too afraid. They want the immediate gratification, the short-term gratification of doing what feels good to them, of doing what they know can get them, you know, rah-rah on a meeting or like a snaps, you did a great job, right? But they're afraid of doing the things that delay gratification. They're afraid of taking time to learn about all the other departments and the rest of the company because they're so focused on themselves. And so I'll tell you some of the best things that you could do as a leader, as somebody that wants to understand the rest of the business when it's growing very quickly, is like, first off, learn how to read the P&L. How do you affect the P&L? And a lot of people don't know this. And if your leader hasn't shared it with you, ask that they do. Explain that you want to understand how you affect the P&L. A little pressure on them is good because sometimes they're nervous to share it. I was the first time. It's been like the best thing I could ever do. I always share it now with everybody. I don't care. Everyone should see the P&L. They should all know how the company's doing and how they affect how the company's doing. And so that's the easiest thing you can do. The second easiest thing you can do is ask to sit on a departmental meetings. If you're in sales, why are you not on once a month the marketing and the customer success meeting? I have no idea. If you're running a sales department, you're not on those meetings, I literally don't know what you're doing. Because if you don't understand marketing and you don't understand customer success, how the fuck do you know what to do with the sales department? You have no context. And so in order to grow as a leader, you need to gain context. You need no more depth. Much of the time everyone already focuses on the depth. They're very proud of their departments. They're very focused on that skill. But you need to expand and see the business holistically because you know the most most valuable person in the company? It's the CEO. Do you know why they're most valuable? Because they understand all of it. So the more you can understand, the more you take off their plate, the more valuable you are. And I just wish people would understand this a little bit more, because if you do, then you can rise up to the occasion and eventually you can take on a much bigger position. But most certainly, if you're in a high-growth company, you will add much more value than you will detract from. So that's the third piece. And then the last piece, is if you're in a high-growth company or if you're trying to get promoted within a normal rate of growth company, do 20% of your boss's job. Caveat: do it better than your boss. I tell people this and I've gotten controversy of it. They're like, "Ugh, what am I supposed to do? I don't have enough downtime lately. You think I can do my job and theirs?" I was like, "Good luck." But like, if you want to continue to grow in that company, if you want to continue to be adding value, what I have had happen to me many times, and when it is effective, is when someone starts doing the job of their boss, they start taking things from them, but they do it. And so it's like, if somebody takes something from me, but they do it shitty or half-assed or worse, do I look at them and think they should be promoted? They're doing a great job, they should get a raise? No. I'm like, asshole, I've got to redo that, right? And so if you're going to take on the responsibilities of your boss, if you're going to try and take things off their plate, make sure that you do it better. And oftentimes, here's the thing, it's not hard to do it better because your boss is doing 5 times more things than you, especially if they're the founder. Gosh, anytime someone takes something from my plate, they almost always do it better than me because I'm doing like 30 things at once. I'm operating the company, it's growing quickly.. And so it's like, yes, please take it because you'll definitely do a better job than me. And so that's the fourth way that you can grow is take something off your boss's plate and do it better than they have been doing it. And then the last thing I will say, which you could call it a fifth point or not, I don't know, is you need to, if you want to continue to add value, if you want to continue to move up, if you want to continue to be somebody that is a linchpin to the company, you need to understand how the company makes money. And a lot of people, and especially people that, you know, watch my channel and follow me, you know, you're in operations or you're in leadership or either whatever, there's lots of, there's like 50% of my viewers who you're not in a revenue-driving role, right? You need to still understand how to drive revenue, how the company drives revenue, and then how do you protect revenue. If you're not driving revenue, you're protecting revenue. It's one or the other. And so you need to understand, where do I fall in what bucket, and how do I do that? What is the number one way that I can either drive or protect? And a lot of the times what happens is, as the company continues to grow, there's nobody looking out for the revenue, the bottom line, the numbers like the CEO.. And I can tell you that a practice that I've done, you can ask your boss to do this, or if you are a boss, I suggest doing this, is teach the team how to read the P&L, teach the team the financials, show them where they're driving revenue, and start holding them accountable for the revenue. Start holding them accountable for the recurring revenue. Start holding them accountable for the profit margin. And the thing is, is that many times if you're a leader, you feel like you can't do this, but the only way for your people to grow is for you to actually make this what they are responsible for. It's almost like you have to go what is against what is intuitive. What is intuitive for you to take responsibility of everything? But if you take responsibility for everything, they never have a chance to take it for themselves. Therefore, they never grow. Therefore, they're never capable of doing it. And so if you say, you are now chief revenue officer, you now look out for the bottom line. Or if you ask your boss, like, how do I protect or drive revenue? I want you to tell me, and I want this to be my focus now, right? Because any role is either driving or protecting. That's one of the most valuable things you can do because the number one piece that people forget to continue to look at as a company is continuing to grow and grow and grow is a lot of times the bottom line and then new ways to drive revenue. They think, oh, if it's good now, it's always going to be good. We're growing so fast. You know what happens after you grow fast? You hit a wall. Grow fast, hit a wall. Grow fast, hit a wall. And a lot of times people grow fast, hit a wall, and never come out of that wall. And the reason is, is because there's like one person with a brain and then everyone else is just relying on that person to think. They're relying on that person to focus. They're relying on that person to do all the hard work and all the thinking. And so if you can be the valuable person who can come up with other ways to drive revenue, other ways to protect revenue, and educate the rest of the team on how they do that too, you will become a linchpin to your organization. And so again, just to kind of recap that, really the 5 ways that you can continue to grow in the company or to get promoted in a normal growth company, right? One is peer-to-peer feedback. Two is bottom-up feedback. Three is not just going deep into your knowledge or expertise, but expanding it, being more holistic in terms of your view of the business. Fourth is doing 20% of your boss's job, but better. And then lastly is knowing how do I protect or drive revenue? And so I hope this is valuable. If you're a leader, share this with your team. You know, like let me communicate it to them because I have done this many times with my team and I try really hard to educate them on how they can do these things and how they can continue to add more value. And if you don't tell them, don't expect them to do it. With that, I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you on the next one. What's up guys, thank you so much for watching my video and this channel. Um, I wanted to go ahead and encourage you to subscribe so you can find out when I have new videos that are releasing. And if you really, really like the videos, uh, go ahead and share with somebody else, you know. All right, thanks. I will see you on the next one.