Some years ago a former boss showed me a model related to Career Management that I found very interesting. The model is called PIE and the acronym stands for:
P: Performance
I: Image
E: Exposure
Most people believe that to be able to progress in a professional career, performance is the only important thing you have to master. Unfortunally this is wrong. Performance is very important, and of course it is usually very difficult to progress if the results you achieve are not good, unless you work for a company where meritocracy is not valued.
Your image is not only build on performance. It also builds on how you communicate, on how you help developing others or even the way you achieve the good performance. It is how the others (and not only your boss) sees you. It is your personal brand. It's like when you have a product that performs very good, but has a poor brand.
Exposure is the third important element and the one you should be looking for when your Performance and Image are good. Getting exposure is creationg the opportunities for others to know you, your performance and your image. Don't take for granted that your Directors and Vice-Presidents know who you are. Sometimes they may know, but not enough to fully take advantage of your already well established performance and image. You may have a good product and image among your current "customers". Now you need the opportunity to show yourself to those prospect "customers" that will make the difference for you.
I recommend you to think about yourself and where you stand in PIE. Where are your gaps? Is it your performance? your image? your exposure? Think about it, assess your strenghts and weaknessess and develop your personal action plans that will help you with your career.