The Gap
You have the track record.
You have the depth.
You are still waiting.
Not because you are not ready. Because the people who decide who is ready do not have the information they need to make that call about you.
They value your work. They consult you. They do not move your name.
Goodwill is not sponsorship. EP 101 showed you the gap. The Advanced Cohort closes it.
Assessment Data · 2025
2.93 / 5.0
Baseline score on diplomatic challenge, real-time influence, and senior stakeholder navigation — across leaders with 12–24 years of experience at a leading tech GCC.
The Structural Problem
"How can I go and oppose that person because he's so senior? People at junior levels just step back and say, okay, I'll accept whatever you're saying."
— Senior Program Manager · Leading Tech GCC
Six Sessions
Positioning and Political Savvy — in depth.
Presence is assumed. Members complete SCRAP Mastery before joining. The Advanced Cohort covers the organisational game — not the communication game.
The Sponsorship Gap
Why goodwill is not sponsorship — and what it takes to convert one into the other.
The Decision Architecture
How decisions actually get made in your organisation — and where you currently sit in that architecture.
The Visibility Strategy
How to engineer strategic visibility without it feeling like self-promotion.
The Political Navigation Playbook
How to handle opposition from senior stakeholders without making enemies.
The Stakeholder Investment Plan
How to build the three relationships that will most determine your next career move.
The VP Transition Plan
What the next 90 days look like — specific, committed, peer-reviewed.
Assignment throughline: Each session's assignment feeds into the next session's peer debrief. Your real work is the curriculum — generic examples are not accepted.
How It Works
90 minutes per week.
One assignment per week.
Six weeks of real work.
Sessions are live and not recorded. The cohort dynamic is the product — it does not exist on a recording. Members who complete all six sessions leave with a 90-Day Strategic Sprint: specific, named, committed to in front of the cohort.
Case-based
Every session opens with a real case from Rajiv's coaching practice. Frameworks follow recognition — not the other way around.
Peer-reviewed
Assignments are stress-tested by peers, not just submitted. Members learn as much from each other as from Rajiv.
Live work only
Every assignment applies to a real decision, a real relationship, or a real political situation in your current organisation.
IIM/ISB format
Not a webinar series. A cohort. Selective admission. Named cohorts. The peer accountability of an executive education programme.
The 6-Week Arc
Wk 1
Sponsorship Gap
Wk 2
Decision Architecture
Wk 3
Visibility Strategy
Wk 4
Political Navigation
Wk 5
Stakeholder Portfolio
Wk 6
90-Day Sprint
+90d
Implementation Reviews
What You Leave With
Not frameworks on a slide.
Plans in hand.
Sponsorship Audit
Three senior relationships rated on the Sponsorship Ladder — with specific investment moves for each.
Decision Architecture Map
The informal influence structure of one decision that matters for your next career move, with a navigation strategy.
Forum Expansion Plan
Three forum entry moves — at least one executed during the cohort. Visible before the six weeks end.
Political Navigation Brief
One real opposition situation, peer-reviewed and stress-tested in Session 4.
Stakeholder Investment Plan
Three relationships, one page each, with 30-day investment moves committed to in writing.
90-Day Strategic Sprint
Visibility moves, sponsorship moves, political navigation. Specific. Named. Committed to in front of your cohort.
2 × Implementation Reviews
45-minute sessions with Rajiv at 30 days and 90 days. Not coaching — accountability against the sprint.
Programme Outcomes
The data is from programmes Rajiv has already run.
4.82/5
Satisfaction — Leading BFSI GCC
87.5%
Recommendation rate — BFSI cohort
4.75/5
Satisfaction — Leading Tech GCC
94%
Likelihood to recommend — Tech cohort
–40%
Reduction in executive update length
100%
Adoption of structured conciseness frameworks
"I now open exec reviews with a 10-word summary — decisions happen 30 percent faster."
Senior Program Manager · Leading Tech GCC
"Admitting 'I don't know' feels like strength, not weakness."
Director · Leading BFSI GCC
"I recovered from a product failure pitch by focusing on solutions, not excuses."
Program Manager · Leading Tech GCC
Who This Is For
You are a fit if:
You are at Director or AVP level in a large MNC, GCC, or BFSI institution
You have completed EP 101: The Gravitas Shift and SCRAP Framework Mastery
You have a real decision, a real political stakeholder, or a real sponsorship gap you are navigating right now
You can commit to 90 minutes per week for six sessions, plus one written assignment per week
You want the accountability of a peer cohort, not a course to watch alone
This is not for you if:
You have not completed EP 101 and SCRAP Mastery — admission requires both
You are below Director level — this is built for senior leaders navigating the VP transition
You want a self-paced course — the cohort format is non-negotiable
You cannot commit to live attendance for all six sessions
Admission note: Completion of EP 101 and SCRAP Mastery is verified before a cohort place is confirmed. Completion of one does not waive the other.
Your Facilitator
Rajiv Upadhyay
Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive Coach · 30 years Fortune 500 · Founder, Gravitas Academy
I have run executive presence programmes for senior leaders at leading BFSI and tech GCCs across India. The data on this page — the 2.93/5.0 baseline, the satisfaction numbers, the participant quotes — is from those programmes.
The Advanced Cohort is designed to deliver the outcome that the best of those programmes produced — at the depth that requires a live cohort to do properly.