Leadership Promotion Accelerator - OnlineThe Icarus Manoeuvre
Promotion Accelerator
One day. Eight hours.
Everything you need to know to get to the next level.
Next Session: 12 August 2026 · 09:00 - 17:30 UK · Online
Led by Carl McCann, BSc MBA MIMechE - former RAF Wing Commander, VP and EMEA Senior Leadership Team Board member, and Chief of Staff EMEA at DXC Technology.
Who is teaching thisBuilt from 38 years of experience at both extremes.
Carl McCann BSc MBA MIMechE spent nineteen years in the Royal Air Force, loading nuclear weapons during the Cold War and commanding over 250 people on an operational Tornado squadron through the Gulf War.
He then spent nineteen years in senior corporate leadership, rising to Chief of Staff EMEA at DXC Technology - responsible for a region generating $10 billion in annual revenue - and serving as UK and EMEA Board Member. He managed strategic accounts from $200M to $3BN, led four major enterprise transformations and turned around multiple failing contracts.
He also burned out. He knows what the corporate machine costs people - personally, professionally and financially - and he built this programme so that you don't have to learn it the hard way.
The DayEight hours. Six sessions. One flight plan.
Live online. Structured exercises in breakout groups. You leave with a written plan, not a folder of notes.
| Time | Session | What you will cover |
|---|---|---|
| 08:50 | Join the session | Tech check, introductions. |
| 09:00 - 09:20 | Opening: The promotion equation | The five terms. Why most people only ever work on one. What the people making the promotion decision are actually watching for. Sets the frame for the entire day. |
| 09:20 - 10:20 | Session 1: Me PLC - owning your career | Career strategy, personal brand and visibility. Exercise: first draft of your five-year plan - in the room, shared in breakout groups of three. |
| 10:20 - 10:35 | Break | |
| 10:35 - 11:35 | Session 2: The unwritten rules | Organisational politics, power structures and how decisions actually get made. Exercise: map your organisation - who holds real influence, where your allies are and where the gaps are. |
| 11:35 - 12:15 | Session 3: Mentors and sponsors | The difference between the two and why most people invest in the wrong one. How to find, approach and maintain both. Exercise: identify two sponsor targets and draft your approach. |
| 12:15 - 13:00 | Lunch break | |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Session 4: Financial accountability | P&L, forecasting and why financial literacy separates people who progress from people who plateau. Exercise: work through a simplified P&L scenario in breakout pairs - read the numbers, identify the issues, present the story. |
| 14:00 - 14:15 | Break | |
| 14:15 - 15:15 | Session 5: Difficult conversations and executive presence | How to deliver bad news upward, disagree without damaging relationships and walk into a senior room with credibility from the first sentence. Exercise: difficult conversation role play in breakout pairs - one upward, one with a peer. |
| 15:15 - 15:30 | Break | |
| 15:30 - 16:15 | Session 6: Knowing your value | Market rate, salary negotiation and the difference between people who get paid what they are worth and people who do not. Exercise: identify your market rate and draft the opening line of the conversation you need to have. |
| 16:15 - 17:15 | Closing session: Your personal flight plan | Every participant builds their personal flight plan live: a one-page five-year career plan, a personal brand statement in three sentences, two sponsor targets with approach strategy, the three specific things standing between them and their next promotion, and one conversation they will have in the next thirty days. Group share: each participant states one thing they will do differently in the next thirty days. The cohort holds each other accountable. |
| 17:15 - 17:30 | Closing remarks | The Icarus reframe. Q&A. What happens next. |
| 17:30 | Close |
Tech check, introductions.
The five terms. Why most people only ever work on one. What the people making the promotion decision are actually watching for. Sets the frame for the entire day.
Career strategy, personal brand and visibility. Exercise: first draft of your five-year plan - in the room, shared in breakout groups of three.
Organisational politics, power structures and how decisions actually get made. Exercise: map your organisation - who holds real influence, where your allies are and where the gaps are.
The difference between the two and why most people invest in the wrong one. How to find, approach and maintain both. Exercise: identify two sponsor targets and draft your approach.
P&L, forecasting and why financial literacy separates people who progress from people who plateau. Exercise: work through a simplified P&L scenario in breakout pairs - read the numbers, identify the issues, present the story.
How to deliver bad news upward, disagree without damaging relationships and walk into a senior room with credibility from the first sentence. Exercise: difficult conversation role play in breakout pairs - one upward, one with a peer.
Market rate, salary negotiation and the difference between people who get paid what they are worth and people who do not. Exercise: identify your market rate and draft the opening line of the conversation you need to have.
Every participant builds their personal flight plan live: a one-page five-year career plan, a personal brand statement in three sentences, two sponsor targets with approach strategy, the three specific things standing between them and their next promotion, and one conversation they will have in the next thirty days. Group share: each participant states one thing they will do differently in the next thirty days. The cohort holds each other accountable.
The Icarus reframe. Q&A. What happens next.
InvestmentOne day. One decision. Your next promotion.
Eight hours live with Carl. Maximum 10 places. Full session recording included.
Next session: 12 August 2026
Team or cohort pricing for 3+ participants - email carl@icarusmanoeuvre.com
Frequently asked questions
The next session runs 12 August 2026.
Ten places. One day. The work that gets you promoted.
Maximum 10 places · Next session 12 August 2026 · 09:00 - 17:30 UK · Online via Zoom
Questions? Email carl@icarusmanoeuvre.com or connect on LinkedIn