Beyond €160,000, Being Good at Your Job Stops Being Enough

Technical brilliance may open doors in the early and middle ranks of a large corporation. Past a certain pay grade, career advisers say, it is no longer what keeps them open.

According to a report by the magazine Wirtschaftswoche dated 7 November 2026, career consultant Daniel Detambel argues that the belief good performance automatically guarantees a top-flight career is a fallacy at the highest levels. Once a manager in a major corporate group earns roughly €160,000 a year, promotion no longer hinges primarily on professional superiority. Mastery of corporate politics — and a willingness to play the game — becomes mandatory.

Why the corporate ladder narrows to a pinpoint

Large companies dangle comparatively generous salaries at junior and middle management levels. The catch: the number of available top posts shrinks dramatically from a certain career stage onward. Statistically, landing a seat on a group's executive board is close to winning the lottery, whereas comparable climbs in mid-sized businesses (the German Mittelstand) are often far easier to achieve.

The advice to executives, therefore, is to treat any post as a fixed-term engagement. A deliberate career move should ideally be launched at the peak of one's success — not during a plateau or after a setback.

HR expertise backs up the idea that measurable results stop being the deciding factor in senior management. Tais Targa's assessments make the same point: strong outcomes open doors, but they do not ultimately determine promotion to director level. That step demands a fundamentally different role profile from an expanded department head position.

When two candidates of equal professional calibre reach the final round, what tips the balance is above all the personal narrative — how previous moves and learning curves are explained — along with coherent leadership behaviour. Additional academic credentials such as an MBA offer strategic overview and networks, yet on their own guarantee no automatic career step.

Leadership as performance — and a market that is getting harder to read

Moving into top positions also requires shedding naive ideas about the working day. Business psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic of University College London points out that an unreflected urge toward authenticity at work carries risks. In practice, leadership often resembles demanding acting: employees do not necessarily need to know their superiors' entire inner life — they want reliability and professionalism.

Meanwhile, conditions at the very top are tightening noticeably. Nicolas von Rosty, Germany head of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, reports a rise in confidential search mandates from supervisory boards and business owners who, amid multiple crises and technological upheaval, have doubts about their leaders.

Many managing directors hesitate over far-reaching decisions such as relocating sites or structural reforms, according to this account. Poor appointments in key positions reduce an organisation's ability to act and lead to falling productivity.

For aspiring leaders, the implication is that purely operational skill no longer suffices. What is in demand: strategic communication, relationship management, and the ability to stay effective within complex power structures.