I started my technology career the way most people do. Deep technical skills, a strong work ethic, and a track record of delivering everything asked of me. After 10 years of steady promotions, I was a Senior Director — and I was certain my first executive role was next.
And then, for the first time in my career, I didn’t get the promotion.
I asked dozens of people why. All I got was vague advice: “give it more time,” “keep building your executive presence.” Nobody could tell me what was actually different about the executives above me — what they did, how they thought, why they got the room’s attention in a way I hadn’t yet learned to earn.
So I figured it out myself. I watched the executives carefully. I studied what they communicated and how. I noticed what they chose not to own personally. I saw how they created clarity for others rather than just delivering results themselves. Then it clicked: the executive level is not a bigger version of the previous job. It operates on a completely different set of rules.
As soon as I made that transformation — changing how I operated, how I communicated, how I made my judgment visible — I got the promotion. And I kept advancing, ultimately becoming a Technology COO managing a 750-person organization with a global technology portfolio.
Over the next decade, I sat on hiring committees and promotion boards. I watched hundreds of talented leaders get passed over — not because they weren’t skilled, but because they hadn’t yet made the shift in how they operated. I started coaching my own team through the transition. Every time, the same framework applied.
In 2020, I founded Drew Saur Coaching to give every senior tech leader access to that playbook — the one I wish someone had handed me when I was a Senior Director asking questions no one could answer.
Full professional background on LinkedIn →