Information Systems (IS) academics who have recently achieved professorial status often confess that their promotion process has been long, sometimes painful, occasionally unfair, and almost invariably political. Also, it is clear that the perceptions about promotion criteria vary across schools, countries and continents. This situation is particularly worrying for 'mid career' academics, i.e., colleagues who are neither junior nor senior, but aspire to a professorial appointment. In response to this concern, this panel brings together professors from both sides of the Atlantic, who will expose this diversity in the practices, opportunities and pitfalls in the promotion process, reflecting on their own experience, but also shaping a debate on what makes a successful academic career in information systems. The panel is an opportunity for the IS community to reflect on current practices, defend or challenge them and discuss lessons that can be learned for the future.