| Topic Name: |
Principal |
| Message Name: |
Not quite the case |
| Date Posted: |
01/15/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
unofficially, I and others believe it to be the end of the line. principals are not junior vps in training but rather senior managers who are deemed unworthy for one reason or another for the big vp move. maybe you are a senior manager who has 100%+ utilization and rather than see you go they give you principal. or maybe you are just old and so need a new title. who knows. the pay is better than senior manager. congratulations to all those that made it. |
| Message: |
Back in the E&Y days, your description of what a principal was is sort of true. The role was for those guys that were subject matter experts and folks that we needed to keep around, but weren't quite partner material. Meaning, they weren't quite capable of making the annual sales targets that were required.
With the acquisition by Cap Gemini, the role has evolved. Today it is considered an executive role within the company and is on the track towards VP. It is very similar to the Associate Vice President or Associate Partner titles at some of our competitors. There is actually talk of changing this title from being someting other than Principal to reflect this.
One of the reasons the company has been pushing people to become principals first is to make sure they are ready to make the transition to VP. At that level, there is no safety net and you are expected to bring in at least 10 MM in sales per year. This is a big jump for most senior managers, and many have failed in the past years. This resulted in good people getting terminated or quitting since they weren't quite ready. Encouraging people to be principals first should help with this, and it is also a good way to recognize these individuals for their excellent performance. It should also allow them a year or two to get ready for VP.
The Bottom line is, the Principal position is not a dead-end role that it once was.
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