Most middle managers will never make it to the C-suite – and I profiled 1000 managers to find out why
Most middle managers will never make it to the C-suite - and middle management expert Rebecca Houghton profiled 1,000 Australian middle managers last year to find out why. Here she shares the key barriers they face and what they can do to overcome them.
When I first took up my executive role at the Australia Post Group, I was often asked why I bothered posting on social media. After all, I had secured one of the top jobs in Australia, and everyone in my industry already knew me. But they didn’t know my secret.
Headhunters approached me for that fabulous job because I was visible – thanks to posting and commenting regularly on LinkedIn, contributing to and speaking at events, and writing for publications and online forums. The truth is, there were plenty of more senior and, in my view, more capable people in the industry than me. But no one had even heard of them.
And therein lies the crux of my secret: these capable professionals were invisible, and headhunters couldn’t find them in the external market. The same thing is true inside your organisation – if your executives can’t see you, or find you, you’re not valuable to them.
You might doubt me, but having sat in on hundreds of talent reviews, I often saw hardworking people get downgraded with a comment as casual as, “They’re just not on my radar.”
Credit: iStock.com/gorodenkoff
The radar is ruthless; it doesn’t favour the quiet hard worker. It bypasses objective measures of worth and forgoes thorough evaluations, relying instead on quick judgments shaped by perception. The executive brain is a busy place; you can’t expect them to know how good you are and why. They take the natural shortcut that most human brains take: if I can see it and understand it, then it must be true.
Consequently, the person promoted over others is often not objectively better at their job, nor do they have more leadership potential in any quantifiable sense; it’s simply that the perception exists that they do—and well, the rest is simply a matter of optics.
Being visible externally impacts your career, sure. But being visible internally is even more vital. I’ve seen it time and time again: a visible leader is a valuable leader, while an invisible leader is often perceived as simply not that valuable. This is just one of the factors preventing middle managers from the C-suite, but it’s not the only one.
Last year, BoldHR profiled more than 1,000 Australian middle managers and found out exactly why so many aren’t making the transition to the C-suite. Here’s what we found.
Most middle managers don’t want to become C-suite leaders
They simply don’t.
Long hours and burnout used to be seen as necessary evils for success, but these days managers have decided: No thanks. The way we think about work is changing, and fast.
Take a look at their priorities. The 2024 B-Suite Benchmarks show that only 14% of middle managers consider career advancement a priority.
Mamamia recently interviewed 60 women about work in 2025, and the responses were telling. These women are no longer “going above and beyond, working more than 45 hours a week, putting up with toxic management, living to work, doing unpaid overtime, facing unrealistic expectations, skipping lunch breaks, caring too much about what doesn’t matter, or trying to be productive every hour of the day.”
Becoming a C-suite leader is just not that appealing anymore. Instead, they’re prioritising their well-being and redefining what success means to them. And who could blame them?
Credit: iStock.com/fizkes
The ‘influence’ factor
Another barrier to middle managers entering the C-suite is their own perception of influence and the work required to cultivate it.
Unfortunately, most managers fall drastically short in this area.
It’s not just that they aren’t good at it; many resist wielding influence at all. They feel uncomfortable with the idea of ‘manipulating people’ and believe that others should simply do the right thing without needing to be influenced—despite the ongoing evidence to the contrary.
This mindset keeps the majority of middle managers from making the transition from managers who focus on how the work gets done, and are typically seen as ‘process-oriented’ to leaders who determine what work gets done, who are seen as strategic and influential.
Up to a third of leaders cite influence as their top barrier to progression, and it becomes an increasingly acute challenge with age and experience.
Our work in this area has consistently shown that influence is one of four key competencies every middle manager should develop – and it’s a critical predictor of impact and career progression – or the lack thereof.
If they don’t address this issue, they won’t be considered for the C-suite.
It’s as simple as that.
The ‘reputation’ barrier
Most middle managers don’t want to self-promote. They are actually very good at managing up but terrible at managing their reputation—and that perception of their reputation is the express lane to the C-suite.
Almost every middle manager I work with believes that their work will speak for itself. Call it naive, avoidance, or self-deception, but the bottom line is this approach doesn’t work.
Being good at what you do is one thing; being well-known for it is another. C-suite leaders are almost always adept at strategically positioning themselves, building relationships with the right people, networking, sharing insights, and engaging on social media.
The P.I.E. – Performance, Image, and Exposure – theory introduced by Harvey J. Coleman is even more relevant today than it was when first published in the 1990s. He argues that career success is 10% performance, 30% image, and a whopping 60% on exposure.
Performance is critical, yes, but it’s merely the entry ticket.
These days, recruiters rely heavily on LinkedIn and often come with ‘wish lists’ of dream candidates they’ve already seen, heard about, and know, long before a job ad goes live. You can either be on that wish list or you can be on the resume pile with hundreds of other applicants, wondering why the recruitment process let you down. It didn’t, your lack of reputation did.
These three factors – changing career aspirations, influence, and reputation—account for over 50% of the gap between those managers primed for promotion – B-Suite Leaders with C-Suite Impact – and their mediocre counterparts going nowhere.
Rebecca Houghton is Australia’s middle management expert, the author of ‘The B-Suite Benchmarks’, and founder of BoldHR.
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This article highlights some valid individual factors affecting middle managers’ progression, but it leans too heavily on personal shortcomings while ignoring systemic barriers. The emphasis on self-promotion and “wielding influence” risks encouraging a leadership culture that prioritizes style over substance—rewarding those who play the game rather than those who lead effectively. If middle managers are stagnating, perhaps it’s less about their lack of ambition and more about a leadership pipeline that favors narcissistic self-branding over genuine capability. Organizations should be asking why so few talented individuals see the C-suite as worth aspiring to.
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Interesting take, however referring to middle managers who have ‘changing career aspirations’ as ‘mediocre counterparts’ is more than a little contradictory – and condescending.
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It’s a changing world with professional and social norms being upended. People are questioning their “why” and “purpose” in business and prioritizing their wellbeing over career. My question is when good competent people lose out on their next and those who expose themselves get promoted; is the workplace and government then subject to being led by only a certain personality type?
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Nice article. I predict there will be few people in management seeking such roles in future due to another factor. Middle management is made redundant. Flat organisation due to information technology filling the gaps reduces the demand for smaller reporting roles in offices. The bottom and top speak to each other directly.
A major reason is maths. The further you go up the pyramid of management, the fewer the roles. Even if everyone wanted to and had what it took, you just can’t squeeze a bigger number into fewer roles.