alefdx
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Pursue a work promotion
Star this Commitment
Week 9 of 26
alefdx commits to:
Invest at least 3 hours each week on pursuing a work promotion. This includes working on network, commercial impact, visibility and other required endeavors.
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My Commitment Journal
 JPSERHAL
December 8, 2025, 9:32 AM
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Hi amorino, Ok, it seems like more references are saying it's a 2 year process and it seems like they're under the impression that you've just begun, although you've been thinking and working at it for ± a year. A thing you may have to adjust is not just communicating on wanting a promotion, but asking how you can accelerate it. Tactics could include : - Talking about what was achieved already - Asking sponsors to really put in the effort in crediting you for these achievements and talking to their internal networks about you. Regarding Charles and Kashif : Keep Kashif informed, rather than going behind his back. Although you trust Kashif's judgement, you still want to push as much as you can. This ensures Kashif continues to feel like your dedicated an advisor and removes the risk of him feeling like than a temporary one, which may remove of his dedication to you. "12 years of exp is early for MD" : Don't let these kinds of messages be a reference in your mind. if other have succeeded at it, then so can you. I see that Scott proved it. Hitting higher than Kashif can be a good strategy. Go see Charles and tell him what you've heard. You may have to think about who should be your top sponsor. Keep Kashif since you work with him the most? Or go with Charles since he's the most senior? For you to decide. Scott : Keep him informed of your storyline then, as well as your nomination form if this is something that is built over time. Kashif's weakness : Good opp for you to showcase leadership amore. This is another reference that speaks about the importance of being an example of internal culture-setting. Well done amore, a lot of things done ! It seems like the expectations are getting a bit clearer. No matter what the difference in opinions are, your job is to continue doing the best you can. You don't have a say in whether the promotion will happen in 6 months or 2 years, but you certainly can affect that decision by continuing to give it your all like you're already doing. |
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alefdx
December 8, 2025, 7:57 AM
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Completed this week: - Meetings with o Roberto AF: things going well; effectively vice of Kashif; next step MD promotion; Kashif supportive in principle but I don't see much in action. RS: it's a 2 years process; start the process now so you can get promoted in 2027; manager needs to give credit for all achievements to you; sponsors for KK were Rob Fairbairn, Steve Cohen, Charles. Discussed with Joud how to rescue KK after he lost years for things that didn't work in his previous roles. Joud is a force of nature; speak with Charles and notify Kashif you're scheduling time with him; tell Charles: I have a project to pursue a promotion, can you tell me what is needed of me to get there; "get in the long list this year so that I can get promoted next year" (unclear); 12 years of work experience is still very early for an MD promotion. o Ellie (chief of staff to Anne) EE: Involved on BMIF launch: stressful because LPs/GPs contingent on others and if one doesn't materialize then things don't go ahead. Worked on WTW product which went to Emirates Airlines. APM involvement in ME mainly based on her Consultants role. Speak with Harry Becket (GCR). AF: involved in the retirement work, exciting to work on these, if there are ways for me to work more closely with you and APM let me know. o Seun (close to Anne) Considering collaborating with government of Bangladesh on new retirement scheme, 160m people, but concerns from compliance risks o James (close to Beccy) mixed signals on whether cash strategies in ME have enough client demand (some say $20m, others more) Cash is separate from GPS, product strategy is within GPS itself team broadly split in portfolio management, BD, marketing you have at least 20% of assets invested in overnight instruments which helps you pay yield on an ongoing basis even if rest of assets have scattered maturities o Anne Parthiot Mons AF: presented work I'm doing in FMA ME overall and on retirement specifically. Personally very interested and excited to collaborate. APM: Retirement work: need to approach it in detail/bottom-up. Ecosystem mapping: - Who's speaking with HR & Benefits teams / do we need that - How do we approach corporates that don't have consultants - Who are pension admins? - Where consultants are: actuaries, people doing etc. - Who's speaking with the actual beneficiaries - Who's going to be RM for Emirates Brainstorming session - Involve Massi, Seun Receive example of UK document used for similar brainstorming exercise "We don't need many people" Need to double down on outreach intermediated by consultants o Simona Paravani o Asteris (chief of staff to Rachel) o Beccy o Scott (recently promoted to MD and good friend) MD promotion is not necessarily a 2-year process. I started the process in Jan 2025 and was promoted in October. I asked sponsorship to Sarah Melvin (boss of the boss of my boss) and she was supportive. So I bypassed all the people below. Sarah used to be my line manager in previous roles. She spent many hours helping me with promotion nomination form. You need to identify the biggest weaknesses in your storyline and turn them around. My biggest weakness was "sustained impact" because I had changed roles many times. Promotion form needs to be punchy and show tangible outcomes: generated x bn in NNB, x mm in new revenues, conducted xx meetings, acquired xx clients. Scott is an expert at writing forms and can help me with mine. Sarah even used to ask Scott to improve promotion forms of other people. You need to get around 100 ppl onboard. Need to be careful not to piss off anyone. o Peter (Europe MD who needs to approve of my promotion) o PDK: there’s an impression of serious team issues in the Middle East due to Kashif not behaving as a people leader. You need to set the tone: make people feel like you care about them. Communicate excitement about things. Be present in team meetings. Priorities next week - Meet Charles (align with KK and Kashif before) - Send win note for Finstreet - Work on retirement project based on feedback from Anne - Share docs with Asteris on PIF and Digital Assets - Send update note to Yazeed and Tarek re. SAMA Aladdin |
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JPSERHAL
December 3, 2025, 3:24 AM
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Ok amore, big week ahead! Keep going 😘 |
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alefdx
December 2, 2025, 9:46 PM
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- scheduled and prepared for London meetings (10 meetings including potential sponsors and their chiefs of staff, mentors, stakeholders who need to approve of my candidacy) - met with Tarek Chouman (Senior MD) in Dubai - reviewed market strategy and other docs on cross functional topics + continued work on cross functional projects that can give visibility |
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Displaying 1-4 of 7 results.
December 8 to December 15
Successful (referee feedback expired)
Success
No report submitted
December 1 to December 8
Successful
Success
Success
JPSERHAL
- Referee approval report
alefdx
- Committed user success report
Completed this week:
- Meetings with
o Roberto
AF: things going well; effectively vice of Kashif; next step MD promotion; Kashif supportive in principle but I don't see much in action. RS: it's a 2 years process; start the process now so you can get promoted in 2027; manager needs to give credit for all achievements to you; sponsors for KK were Rob Fairbairn, Steve Cohen, Charles. Discussed with Joud how to rescue KK after he lost years for things that didn't work in his previous roles. Joud is a force of nature; speak with Charles and notify Kashif you're scheduling time with him; tell Charles: I have a project to pursue a promotion, can you tell me what is needed of me to get there; "get in the long list this year so that I can get promoted next year" (unclear); 12 years of work experience is still very early for an MD promotion.
o Ellie (chief of staff to Anne)
EE: Involved on BMIF launch: stressful because LPs/GPs contingent on others and if one doesn't materialize then things don't go ahead. Worked on WTW product which went to Emirates Airlines. APM involvement in ME mainly based on her Consultants role. Speak with Harry Becket (GCR). AF: involved in the retirement work, exciting to work on these, if there are ways for me to work more closely with you and APM let me know.
o Seun (close to Anne)
Considering collaborating with government of Bangladesh on new retirement scheme, 160m people, but concerns from compliance risks
o James (close to Beccy)
mixed signals on whether cash strategies in ME have enough client demand (some say $20m, others more)
Cash is separate from GPS, product strategy is within GPS itself
team broadly split in portfolio management, BD, marketing
you have at least [20]% of assets invested in overnight instruments which helps you pay yield on an ongoing basis even if rest of assets have scattered maturities
o Anne Parthiot Mons
AF: presented work I'm doing in FMA ME overall and on retirement specifically. Personally very interested and excited to collaborate.
APM:
Retirement work: need to approach it in detail/bottom-up. Ecosystem mapping:
- Who's speaking with HR & Benefits teams / do we need that
- How do we approach corporates that don't have consultants
- Who are pension admins?
- Where consultants are: actuaries, people doing etc.
- Who's speaking with the actual beneficiaries
- Who's going to be RM for Emirates
Brainstorming session
- Involve Massi, Seun
Receive example of UK document used for similar brainstorming exercise
"We don't need many people"
Need to double down on outreach intermediated by consultants
o Simona Paravani
o Asteris (chief of staff to Rachel)
o Beccy
o Scott (recently promoted to MD and good friend)
MD promotion is not necessarily a 2-year process. I started the process in Jan 2025 and was promoted in October. I asked sponsorship to Sarah Melvin (boss of the boss of my boss) and she was supportive. So I bypassed all the people below. Sarah used to be my line manager in previous roles. She spent many hours helping me with promotion nomination form. You need to identify the biggest weaknesses in your storyline and turn them around. My biggest weakness was "sustained impact" because I had changed roles many times. Promotion form needs to be punchy and show tangible outcomes: generated x bn in NNB, x mm in new revenues, conducted xx meetings, acquired xx clients. Scott is an expert at writing forms and can help me with mine. Sarah even used to ask Scott to improve promotion forms of other people. You need to get around 100 ppl onboard. Need to be careful not to piss off anyone.
o Peter (Europe MD who needs to approve of my promotion)
o PDK: there’s an impression of serious team issues in the Middle East due to Kashif not behaving as a people leader. You need to set the tone: make people feel like you care about them. Communicate excitement about things. Be present in team meetings.
Priorities next week
- Meet Charles (align with KK and Kashif before)
- Send win note for Finstreet
- Work on retirement project based on feedback from Anne
- Share docs with Asteris on PIF and Digital Assets
- Send update note to Yazeed and Tarek re. SAMA Aladdin
November 24 to December 1
Successful
Success
Success
JPSERHAL
- Referee approval report
alefdx
- Committed user success report
- scheduled and prepared for London meetings (10 meetings including potential sponsors and their chiefs of staff, mentors, stakeholders who need to approve of my candidacy)
- met with Tarek Chouman (Senior MD) in Dubai
- reviewed market strategy and other docs on cross functional topics + continued work on cross functional projects that can give visibility
November 17 to November 24
Successful
Success
Success
JPSERHAL
- Referee approval report
alefdx
- Committed user success report
Completed this week
- Catch-up with Kashif
o "fair" that I should pursue my promotion when certain to be in a good position, but if Ed is up for promotion next then I should definitely be too
o SAMA, KIA, PIF, Finstreet make for a good narrative for my recent impact
o list of names of sponsor candidates is good. Tarek Chouman: not very close. Ahmed: a bit less influential.
o Use L'Imad to gain visibility with Charles
o Have lunch with Ali to learn about exact steps
- Catch-up with Stefan
o Stefan expressed confidence in near-term business performance, citing strong utilization and revenue, but warned about fragile global markets, geopolitical risks, and overvaluation in private assets. Both Stefan and Alessio noted that a downturn could boost demand for advisory services. Pension fund vulnerabilities and valuation issues in credit and private markets were highlighted as systemic risks. Resource planning focused on the Middle East team’s growth to 20 members, onboarding needs, and leadership bandwidth concerns, with the Abu Dhabi hub expected to improve cohesion. Project prioritization emphasized selectivity due to high utilization, targeting strategic sectors like pensions and insurance. Cross-regional collaboration challenges emerged, including reliance on US talent, time zone issues, and execution risks in projects like Beacon. Stefan advocated building capacity in India to leverage talent and reduce costs. Leadership gaps and key-man risk, particularly in the US team, were flagged, alongside dysfunction and poor communication among senior leaders. Protecting high performers from burnout and clarifying roles were deemed critical.
o The meeting ended with personal anecdotes about weekend plans, music, and hobbies, reflecting a collegial atmosphere and shared interests outside of work.
- Catch-up with Matthias
- Catch-up with Philippe
o You need consensus in MD group in FMA before nominations are made. You find out if you'll be allowed to be put up for promotion in early April (MDs will decide before that)
o Form is submitted in May. You need to have trusted people to review it for you
o In the Form you need to convey value of what you do beyond numerical terms (FMA is always small revenue), find other ways to capture value
o Don't be too pushy for next year. "I aspire - would love that to be next year but what advice can you give me". Be prepared for promotion to potentially be 2027. If you look too pushy for 2026, you will come across as immature.
o All conversations with potential sponsors should always be positioned as requesting advice on promotion process. Make people invested in helping you.
o Stakeholders: you need at least 2 ppl to really fight for you, spend their own political capital. Put at least 2 big names, + one name of someone who knows you closely
o Kashif should help engineer exposure. He needs to bring me to committees
o Most managers who bring candidates for promotion will spend 6-12 months telling MDs across regions about their candidate, so their names will be known to decision makers well in advance of the promotion process. Managers introduce the candidate to relevant people.
- Booked London and Milan trips
- Prepared email note to broadcast PIF commercial win (pending review from Kashif)
- Rescheduled meeting with Ali based on suggestion from Kashif (meet in person in Kuwait for deeper conversation)
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