The Three Stages of Professional Growth
There are three distinct stages of professional development. And, many seem to believe that the skills for each are similar and inter-related. However, I think the keys for success in each stage are materially distinct.
Carter Cathey
12/15/20251 min read
Over time, I’ve come to believe that most careers follow three major stages of development.
They aren’t about titles. They’re about how you create value.
1) Individual Contributor
At this stage, success is about learning the role and delivering impact yourself.
You’re rewarded for execution, expertise, and reliability.
Your value comes from what you personally produce.
2) Manager
This is the first real transition.
You still contribute individually, but now your success depends on recruiting, hiring, training, and coaching others.
You win by helping ICs perform at a high level, and do it consistently.
Your value shifts from doing the work to enabling the work.
3) Manager of Managers
This is where leadership becomes almost entirely indirect.
Your impact is no longer tied to personal output at all.
Instead, it comes from influence, shaping priorities, developing leaders, and creating alignment across teams.
You succeed by helping leaders get results through their teams.
Each transition requires letting go of what made you successful before, and that’s why they’re hard.
The skills don’t just stack; they change.
I’ve found that most leadership struggles happen when someone is operating with the mindset of the previous stage.
This isn’t about one stage being ‘better’ than another. Many people thrive and choose to stay as ICs or managers. The point is that the skills required change as scope and influence expand.
Curious how others think about this:
Where have you seen people get stuck? And, what helped them make the transition?