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If you’ve naturally “got it,” people above you will see that, and will help give you good preparatory experiences. If you deliver on those, they’ll keep coming.
Find people you can trust to give you feedback about your potential.
If you are a late bloomer, you and other might not see it as early, but the same principles apply.
I’m a newly promoted SM. No talk yet of specifics about track (MD or Principal). SM is somewhat of a gate keeper for those on track to PPMD vs those that aren’t. If your leadership doesn’t think you have PPMD in your future it’s unlikely you get promoted to SM. From what I understand, PPMD track talk really starts 2-3 years into SM.
I'm not saying there's no value - there certainly is. But my point is that promotion to SM doesn't mean you're on the path. At least not at any place that has another level (eg MD) before partner.
I honestly wish our people would directly ask this question of our Partners more regularly.
What service line?
Tax
.
It doesn’t serve the firm to tell a person they just promoted they aren’t cut out for partner. It’s also not good practice to promise people the partnership before they are ready. If you keep improving and keep an open dialogue about your career goals you can better judge where you stand
It’s a gradual process for sure, there’s not a clear cut date where you’ll be told if you are on one track or the other. People are supposed to tell you these things so you can aim higher if you want. But based on several MDs from my office, some of them even found out barely a year ahead that the leadership would only support them for MD instead of PPMD
Shortly after the SM promotion you will have the discussion of what path you are on (option 3 may be "friend of the firm"). Most people know their direction by the end of the 3rd year.
For me, I saw how much work both took to get and maintain in B4 so I left to a local firm (in our firm, director is a step toward equity partner, not the end like EY).