Bosky Mukherjee's Linkedin Analytics

A senior woman leader told me this recently: “I’m not even chasing the next role anymore. I just want to stop feeling like I’m disappearing.” And I knew exactly what she meant... Because at this level, disappearing doesn’t just look like being excluded from meetings. ↳ It looks like being in the meeting, and still not being heard. ↳ It looks like having a seat at the table, but no weight behind your voice. ↳ It looks like your value being recognized… but not remembered. And it’s not because you’re not performing. It’s because no one teaches you how to manage perception; once performance is no longer the differentiator. She wasn’t struggling with the work.  She was struggling with being seen as a leader. So we focused on what actually shifts perception from operational to executive: 1. She stopped summarizing what had been done and started speaking to what the business would need next. And people start listening when they hear strategy, not status. 2. She identified the enterprise conversations she was missing and found intentional ways to contribute before being invited. Because influence isn’t earned by staying in your lane. It’s built by creating clarity across lanes. 3. She practiced saying the uncomfortable thing not to provoke, but to elevate. Because when your insights are anchored in pattern recognition and business risk, your voice stops blending in. It starts setting the tone. This wasn’t just about being more visible. It was about being visible in the right ways to the right people for the right reasons. Because leadership at this level isn’t just what you do. It’s what people remember you for. So if your value isn’t sticking: Maybe it’s how you’re narrating your leadership in the room. #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

On the first day back to work after maternity leave, I locked myself in the office restroom and cried. (I felt like I was failing everywhere.) I was worried about my kid: - Will the nanny pay attention to him properly? - Will T be okay without me? - What if he misses me too much? And at work, I was freaking out about: - What if I’m not as sharp as before? - How do I create space for myself, when so much has changed? - Can I still show the same ambition and drive? Recently, I polled moms in my network. One-third were thinking about leaving within 15-18 months of returning. Not because they didn’t want to work. But because they returned to a system that wasn’t designed for them. What no one told me about coming back was: - How others will treat me differently ("You're a mom now") - High-stakes projects will move forward, without me - People will assume I would want to take it easy (no one asked me) That’s when I realized: If I don’t take control of my return, I will continue to struggle and my performance will suffer. So I did two things (which I recommend to any woman who is returning to work after a break): ✅ I built my own re-onboarding plan. Drafted a 30-60-90 day plan and co-created it with my manager & skip. It ensured I was ramping up on the right things, not just playing catch up. ✅ I focused on high-value, high-context work first. Instead of drowning in old project docs and emails, I set up 1:1s with key people to get real insights. If you're returning to work, please know you are not the same as when you left. And that’s a strength. You don’t need to fit into the old version of yourself. You need to create a new meaning of success for yourself. ——— 🔔 Follow me, Bosky Mukherjee, for more insights on breaking barriers for women in tech leadership. #careergrowth #womenintech #leadership #womeninleadership #leadershipdevelopment

The internet keeps giving women lazy advice: ↳ Work hard ↳ Advocate for yourself ↳ Get a mentor It sounds empowering but in reality, it keeps high-performing women stuck in roles they’ve long outgrown. Like so many high-achieving women I followed this advice for years. Personally, it cost me over $300,000 in lost compensation and four promotions I didn’t get. I did everything “right”: Worked harder than most. Spoke up in meetings. Advocated for myself. Connected my work to business impact. And I still got passed over. It wasn’t until I became an executive and sat in actual promotion rooms that I saw what was really happening: - Speaking up ≠ visibility - Hard work ≠ credit for impact - Advice ≠ being taken seriously in leadership meetings The women who advanced fastest were doing something different: ✅ Driving innovation that impacted the business ✅ Communicating like operators, not doers ✅ Building the kind of credibility that positioned them as obvious choice ✅ Earning sponsorship; not just mentorship These are the exact strategies I’ve taught to over 500 women across 10+ years; strategies that have helped them: ↳ land promotions faster by thinking 1-2 levels up ↳ speaking like operators ↳ and showing up with the kind of credibility executives can’t ignore Because it’s not about working harder. Or advocating for yourself. It’s about being seen differently by the people who make decisions. 💬 What’s one piece of advice you were given... that didn’t actually move you forward? #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

👀 Did you know that saying “thank you” often at work could be holding you back especially as a woman? Gratitude is beautiful, but when it comes to your career, it can accidentally hide your contributions. So how much is too much? Research shows women are more likely to attribute success to luck or others’ help, while men often position themselves as drivers of impact. When women use phrases like “I’m so grateful for this opportunity” it can make you seem like a recipient of success, not the leader. So how do you fix this? Pair gratitude with ownership. Instead of saying, “I’m so grateful for this opportunity,” try:
“So great to be a part of this project and super proud of the results we delivered.” This small shift keeps your kindness intact while ensuring your contributions are seen and valued. Because as a woman, you don’t have to choose between being kind and being powerful. You can be both. P.S. Have you notices where being too grateful or nice negatively impacts women? #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

You’re trusted. You’re delivering. But you’re still being passed over. I’ve heard this from too many women lately. Every time, the story sounds similar: ↳ You’re thanked for your effort. But excluded from strategy. ↳ You’re brought in to execute. But overlooked when elevation’s on the table. You start wondering: “Am I not strategic enough?” (You are.) But your message may be landing at the wrong altitude. Inside today’s newsletter, I’m breaking this down clearly: 1. The subtle shift from “updates” to “executive storytelling” 2. Messaging swaps that changes how you are perceived 3. One tiny shift you can try this week that changes everything This one’s for the high performers who are done being seen as "reliable doers" but not ready for bigger roles. Because when perception shapes opportunity, you can’t afford to stay in update mode. P.S. How do you make sure your message matches the level you’re ready to lead at? 🔔 Follow Bosky Mukherjee, for more insights on how women can get on the fastest path to their next promotion. #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

*Drumroll, please!* 🥁🥁🥁 So excited to announce a game-changing workshop for ambitious women aiming for a promotion within the next 12 months. Think strategy, confidence, and results — and zero fluff. 👊✨ 🎟️ Reserve your free spot now: https://lnkd.in/gNQK3JbZ Quick story behind this workshop: Over the past few months, I’ve heard from so many women who were passed over for a promotion, despite stellar performance. I’ve been there. It’s frustrating, confusing, and demotivating. What I’ve learned is - a “no” is often a “not yet.” The real challenge? Knowing why you got passed over. - Is it a manager problem? Some managers don’t invest in their people. No amount of “working harder” will change that. - Is it a company constraint? Career level bands and promotion budgets are real, but not a real no. - Is it a perception gap? Leadership might not see you at the next level yet. - Is it a skill gap? You may need to strengthen specific high-leverage skills. - Is it a power gap? Your manager may not have enough influence to push it through. Each roadblock needs a different strategy. This workshop helps you diagnose which one you're facing, and what to do next. ✅ Join this FREE workshop if: ↳ You want to identify the obstacles preventing you from getting to the next level ↳ You're tired of being seen as a "doer" and want to change the narrative around you at work ↳ You want an executive storytelling framework that makes leadership want to promote you ↳ You want a 12-month roadmap to cement your promotion No obvious advice. Only outcome-focused strategies. 🎟️ Reserve your free spot now: https://lnkd.in/gNQK3JbZ The role you’ve been eyeing? We’re coming for it. #womenleaders #womenintech #promotion #getpromoted #womencxos

Relying too much on data can hurt your leadership career. I learned this the hard way. ↓ (You must know when data is insight versus just numbers). A few years ago, I was interviewing for a Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) role. It seemed like a perfect fit until I uncovered a shocking leadership reality, Each leader had their version of what success looked like: - The CEO pointed to revenue growth of X%. - The CMO highlighted an increase in marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). - The VP of Sales celebrated record-breaking demo calls. - The VP of Engineering focused on hiring velocity. Each function pulled its numbers, interpreted them in isolation, and reported to leadership with conflicting narratives. It's like they had no shared understanding of where the business was headed. [Spoiler alert: This is how 90% of businesses function.] So I asked the questions that no one seemed prepared to answer: How do you measure the health of the business? They showed me a dashboard with 60+ metrics. I realised, they weren’t tracking their business. They were drowning in data without clarity. Here's why this is important: If everything is a KPI, nothing is a KPI. Data can easily become a prison. Teams execute things for the sake of measurement, not because it leads to an outcome. When every team optimizes for its version of success, the company as a whole loses. So ask yourself: Am I tracking what matters, or just what’s easy to measure? #leadership #womenleaders #womenintech #leaders

A woman from my Leadership Edge cohort shared this with me: “Every time I presented to senior leadership, I left feeling small. I was being grilled or ignored and everyone kept telling me I needed an MBA.” But this time was different. She used the tools and strategies we’d worked on inside Leadership Edge: ↳ Altitude Thinking to think and speak like a VP, not an IC ↳ Revenue Mapping to connect the dots to business growth ↳ Executive Storytelling to communicate with brevity and clarity ↳ CxO Decision Framework to lead the room; not react to it She crushed the presentation. Her manager and skip-level called it a huge win. The CTO and CMO are now putting her forward for promotion. 🥰 Before she even asked. Before she burned out. Before she said a word. Before she felt the pressure to speak up. She became a promotion magnet; not by working 2X harder, but by thinking two levels up. Most women stay stuck in the loop: Say yes to more work → Feel pressure to speak up → Get more advice → Repeat. More execution. More exhaustion. Still no elevation. That’s exactly why I built Leadership Edge. Not for burnout. Not for hustle. For the right strategy at the right altitude to get women on the fastest proven path to their next promotion. P.S. Feeling stuck? Reach out and we’ll talk about where you’re at and the roadmap to move forward. #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

🙌 SheTrailblazes is here! 🙌 For years, I kept hearing the same thing from women: "Why does it feel like everything is stacked against us?" The promotions that don’t come. The leadership paths that aren’t clear. The feeling of working twice as hard just to prove yourself; again and again. I’ve lived it. For more than 20 years, I made so many mistakes; from an entry level junior role-> IC-> people manager-> Company President. I knew something had to change to solve both the broken rung and the C-suite challenge for women. That’s why I created SheTrailblazes. 💖 A space designed to help women get on the fastest path to: ↳ Your next promotion. ↳The one after that. ↳ And all the way to the C-Suite. This is just the beginning. I can't wait to welcome so many incredible women join us.👇 P.S. What’s the biggest challenge you see for women in tech today? #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

You know what is the most misunderstood term in leadership? It's "be strategic". What everyone thinks being strategic means: • Dropping big ideas in brainstorming sessions • Using words like “levers” and “moats” • Writing down OKRs • Volunteering for every cross-functional project • Always signaling you’re ready to take on more What being strategic actually means: • Thinking and speaking like the C-Suite, so your ideas are viewed as investments, not just effort • Choosing work that builds momentum and credibility, not just output • Spotting tradeoffs leaders haven’t named yet and guiding the room toward clarity • Slowing down decisions when the business context shifts (even when everyone else is rushing) • Saying less with more confidence (signal over noise) Being strategic is like steering a ship, not just rowing harder. What did I miss?

You do everything for everyone. Except… you haven’t been on your own to-do list in years. ↳ Deadlines. Drop-offs. ↳ Board prep. Budget pivots. ↳ Big presentations. Small emotional labor. ↳ You show up. You hold it down. You deliver. A few years ago, a former manager said something to me that I’ll never forget: “Bosky, you’re treating your career like it’ll wait for you. But it won’t.” That landed hard. Because I thought I was being practical. I’d been telling myself: “Now’s not the right time. Things are busy. I’ll focus on me later.” And he was right. Because leadership doesn’t come tapping you on the shoulder. Not when you’ve been quietly holding it together for everyone else. Let me show you what that looked like for me. I started asking myself: ↳ Where am I now in role, compensation, confidence? ↳ Where could I realistically be a year from now if I actually invested in myself? - Salary: Upgraded - Role: Elevated - Confidence: Sharpened - Visibility: Undeniable And then I asked myself the harder question: Where would I be in a year if nothing changed? That gap? That’s the opportunity cost. It’s not just about money. It’s time you won’t get back. It’s clarity that gets fuzzier. It’s momentum that gets harder to rebuild. Because what I realized over the years is this: Next year, the deadlines will still exist. The calendar won’t magically open up. And if you’re in the same place, now you’ve lost both time and direction. So I’m passing this on to you not as advice, but as a nudge: What would shift if you moved yourself to the top of your to-do list this year? Not out of guilt. Not out of pressure. But because you matter just as much as the people you’re showing up for. #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

What do Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Facebook’s New Feed have in common? 1)They are used by billions of people and 2) our next guest for Product Power Play built and scaled these brilliant products. Amit Fulay, currently VP of Product Microsoft has one of the most inspiring career trajectories in tech. From Microsoft to Google to Meta to Microsoft again, Amit has been there, done that. And he’s joining us on 20th March to drop his wisdom bombs from the arena. We’ll chat about: → How company problems are not the same as product problems and how can PMs find the balance? → How he’s lead teams through uncertainty? → How to transition from tactical execution to strategic vision as you leap from Senior PM to Product Leader → His 0 to 1 approach to building products that are really loved by users (how to think scale) → His take on AI, the interconnected of products, trends shaping the future of product management The first time I spoke to Amit, it felt like he was dropping truth bombs too fast and I wasn’t able to collect them. It’s a unique opportunity to learn from his journey, in the most candid way. I’m waiting for 20th March. Are you? #productmanagement #productgrowth #womeninproduct #careeradvice #productleadership

“Get a mentor” is the advice I kept hearing… but it didn’t get me promoted. I leaned in. I networked. I prepped for every mentorship conversation. But no matter how much advice I collected, I kept getting passed over. Sound familiar? Here’s what I wish I’d known sooner: ↳ Mentorship feels supportive, but it’s not enough. Advice won’t get your name in the room when promotions are decided. ↳ You can have all the mentors in the world and still be invisible. Mentors cheer you on; sponsors fight for you. ↳ Collecting career advice can feel productive, but it keeps you stuck. Advice or frameworks don’t address the specific contextual challenges and politics you are dealing with. A fundamental truth I learned painfully over the years:  Mentorship alone won’t move the needle for your career. What you really need is sponsorship, but sponsors don’t magically appear. You have to get noticed. In today's newsletter, I share: 1. Why mentorship rarely leads to promotions (and what to do instead) 2. How to shift from being mentored to being sponsored 3. My favourite three strategies to get noticed by the right people If you’re tired of working hard but not moving up, this is for you. 🙌 💖 🔔 Follow me, Bosky Mukherjee for more insights on how women in tech can get on the fastest path to your next promotion. #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

I followed every piece of advice they gave ambitious women and still stayed stuck. Work harder, they said. Be visible. Be vocal. Be coachable. Turns out, that’s how you stay stuck. I did it all. And so did every brilliant woman around me. I took on more projects. Said yes more than I should have. Spoke up, even when it felt unnatural. Found mentors, asked for advice, stayed humble. And yet I stayed stuck. So did they. Sure, I got kudos. Sometimes even awards. Small raises that barely covered inflation. But when it came to actual promotions? I heard things like: “You’re not quite ready.” “Budgets are tight.” “Next cycle.” Then I’d watch others move up. And on top of that, I’d get caught in the politics. The favoritism. The silence. I started questioning whether I was even cut out for more. I left opportunities too early. Stayed too long in others. I didn’t know how to read the signals, let alone navigate them. Over time, I began to see a pattern that wasn’t just about effort or talent. This well-meaning advice: work hard, speak up, or find mentors actually traps women in a cycle of doing more… and still not being seen as leaders. Here’s how it plays out: 1. You say yes to more work → You get labeled the trusted doer, not the strategic thinker 2. You speak up → But your message is low-altitude, buried in execution 3. You get a mentor → But mentorship was inspiring. It didn’t get you promoted. And the cycle repeats. What finally broke it for me? ↳ Thinking two levels up ↳ Fluency in commercial thinking ↳ Executive storytelling so your work earns trust, not just applause ↳ Becoming a future builder trusted to drive innovation, not just support it That’s what made me a promotion magnet before I even asked. What changed everything was thinking beyond the next promotion, and learning to lead for the one after that, too. Because that’s what creates a multi-promotion runway. Not an MBA. Not more work. Not more advice. 🤔 What’s one shift you made that helped you get seen as a leader not just a doer? ---- 🚨👋 P.S. Join us for a two-day workshop to fast-track your promotion. Women from Visa, Google, Airbnb, Atlassian, Microsoft, and Uber have registered. Use the link in the first comment to reserve your FREE spot! #womenintech #womenleaders #leadershipdevelopment #womeninleadership #careergrowth

There's the Instagram founder life: "Manifest your dream business, work for 4 hours, take walks, watch money roll in." Then there's reality. It is far different, filled with anxious nights, no time to celebrate wins, hard pivots, and overwhelm. I had to drop the idea of a fairytale and set realistic standards. It has made my life far calmer and happier as a founder. Some non-negotiable founder rules I set for myself: ↳ Mental health is a business asset: Burnout isn't a badge of honor and sustainable rhythms aren't a weakness, they are a smart business strategy. ↳ Intentional relationships always wins: 5 deep connections with people who genuinely care and want to collaborate are worth over 5000 LinkedIn followers. I no longer scramble to be known by everyone, all at once. ↳ Map and protect my decision energy: Make fewer, better decisions by eliminating trivial choices or keeping "no decision days". ↳ Schedule some disappointment time: Set aside specific hours to process setbacks privately, then move forward. I no longer let negative emotions get the best of me. ↳ Own the company's pace: Some businesses are marathons, not sprints. My story is only mine. ↳ Outsource before I'm ready: Delegate your weakest areas first, not when you're drowning. The ROI on reclaiming your focus is higher than any hourly cost. What are some of your founder life rules? I'd love to share notes.

Had a very tough conversation with a Sr. PM last week who was seeking a promotion — "Strong ICs aren't always natural people managers." Sherry is an an exceptional PM. Sharp, results-driven, and deeply respected. She wanted me to review her promotion business case for a people manager role. But it lacked the 3 key things you have to do as a product people manager: → Create clarity for others → Teaching strategic thinking to reporting PMs and → How to create success for the team (not just the product) I could see that her PM instincts were fighting against a people manager's responsibilities. I told her a counter-intuitive truth: "The skills that got you promoted to a PM are often the ones you need to use less." As a people manager, you have to drive a very different kind of impact than you did as a product manager. You have to: ✅ Stop being the answer key, instead help your team uncover answers. Instead of: "Here's how I'd handle this..." Try: "Walk me through your thinking. Where are you stuck?" ✅ Redefine your impact on how you can make the team function without you. ✅ Create winners, not merely collect product wins. ✅ Let your team fail to let their strategic thinking expand beyond boundaries. Sherry and I are now developing a plan for what kind of impact she wants to create at work and we're evaluating her strengths. The real test of a product leader isn't how good you are at product. It's how good your team becomes without your answers. ——— 🚨 Leadership Edge cohort is closing soon. Hundreds of women in tech have fast-tracked their promotions in months, not years. Want to join and make your career ambition a reality? Reach out. #productmanagement #productgrowth #womeninproduct #leadership

Motherhood made me a better leader because it forced me to let go. (I'll tell you why this matters) ↓ My son, T, has been strong-willed since he was a baby. If I tried to control everything, he’d push back. I cleaned up the mess he made, he'd make it again. He wanted to eat from my plate, not his baby food. Whenever I swooped in to fix things, he’d frown and resist. So I had to learn to guide instead of dictate, and support instead of solve. And I realized, this is exactly what true leadership is. I came from a background where we were taught, that leadership meant having all the answers. But it's about creating space for your team to figure things out, and grow into their power. But there’s something else no one talks about. The emotional labor of leadership feels eerily similar to the emotional labor of parenting. It’s not just the work you do, it’s the invisible work. The weight of making sure everything runs smoothly without anyone noticing your effort behind it. The mental load of anticipating problems before they happen, keeping the team (or your child) steady when things fall apart. The constant mental checklists. And just like in parenting, leadership asks you to make peace with something brutal: you will pour into people who will never see, acknowledge, or reciprocate that effort. And yet, you do it anyway because that’s what real leadership is. That’s parenting. That’s leadership.

I'm furious right now. I just got off a call with a friend whose promotion was erased after she returned from maternity leave. 😤 Not delayed. Not reconsidered. Just gone. What's worse is that before she left she was already given the nod. Her manager had assured her. She's excellent at her job. A top performer who even sits in important CXO meetings. So what changed? She became a mom. And they're charging her with a motherhood penalty. I've seen this story replay so many times. - Women hide their pregnancy during interviews or even after joining a new team because they know the second they mention it, they’re done. - Women get quietly moved off high-visibility projects once they announce they’re expecting. - Women get asked in performance reviews how they’re "balancing everything at home." (A question no man on their team has ever been asked.) Why is it that when a man becomes a father, leadership sees him as more stable, and more responsible? But a woman with a baby is seen as a risk. The stats are shocking too: ↳ Each child under five years old is projected to reduce the earnings of a typical mother by 15%. ↳ 65% of women without children worry about what motherhood will mean for their careers. ↳ 41% of Americans see working moms as less devoted to their work. Ask any working mom and she'll tell you how much motherhood has empowered her. But our organizations don't think so. This needs to change NOW. What’s the most absurd thing you’ve been told about balancing work and motherhood? Let’s expose the bias. P.S. This is a chart from The Economist on how motherhood impacts women’s employment. #womenintech #womenleaders

I told a Sr. PM that overdelivering is becoming her career ceiling. She was shocked when it turned out to be true. (She got passed over for a Director role —again 💔) Sarah would often be told, "You're invaluable." What they really meant was: "She's too good at her job to risk promoting." Overdelivering can backfire in ways we don’t always see: ↳ Every crisis solved = A ceiling on your growth ↳ Each impossible deadline met = A missed big-picture discussion ↳ More problems fixed = Less time to shape the future (You're the problem solver, not the strategic leader) ↳ Always being available = Becoming indispensable Over time, your career hits stagnation and you're wondering where you're going wrong. Trust me, I've been there. The path out? Stop being everyone's safety net. Instead: ✅ Turn down work (strategically) Say no to tactical tasks and redirect them to others, signaling you’re focused on bigger priorities ✅ Redirect praise When someone says, “You saved the day!” respond with, “Glad the team pulled it off. This shouldn't be a last-minute scramble next time.” ✅ Refuse to be the "fixer" in meetings When asked how to solve something, shift the focus: "What’s the root cause here?" or "How can we prevent this long-term?" It's time to make yourself valuable in ways that can't be ignored, not just indispensable in ways that keep you stuck. ——— 🔔 Follow me, Bosky Mukherjee, for more insights on breaking barriers for women in tech leadership. #productmanagement #productgrowth #womeninproduct #leadership

This post isn't easy to write, but I know someone needs to hear this. For most of my career, I believed in constant improvement. I'd keep pushing. Always chasing the next level. And it worked. I led teams. Got promoted. It felt good (for a while). But what no one saw was what happened after each win: → an unsettling quiet panic → the pressure to prove I deserved it → that feeling that no matter how much I achieved, it still wasn’t enough I'd convince myself it was nothing. That I'm just a high performer with a growth mindset. That this is how the best in the world lead. In reality, I was exhausted. It took me so long to realise that I didn't have to run all the damn time. My constant self-improvement was becoming a form of self-rejection. I wasn't satisfied with who I was, or where I was. My growth mindset is what was making me miserable. 💔 I don't know who needs to hear this but: You don't need to be constantly self-optimising. Social media makes us feel like everyone is moving to the next level, while you're just *stuck* when the reality is you've worked really hard to be where you are. I stopped over-preparing out of fear. I trusted my expertise. I stopped moving the goalpost. And for the first time, I felt proud of where I was, without needing to chase the next thing. Ambition isn’t a problem for women. The way we define growth makes women feel like they’re failing at something they’ve already mastered. So here's to celebrating how far we've come! 🥂