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I have been driving an international strategic initiative for more than 2 years. There was a lot of resistance initially, but I managed to align a few teams, create an MVP and a customer base.

A team in the Headquarters first showed interest in my project. They first suggested aligning my project A to their brand new project B. We prepared a joint proposal for projects A and B. As soon as we completed the discussion on customers and revenue, the proposal became "B, which happens to do everything A wanted to do". I am not being pushed out of the proposal, as it's not about my project anymore - but my customers, of course, are still there.

I worked on this project for over 2 years, and it was my main hope for a promotion. Now somebody else is going to present it to the CEO. The manager who organised this is putting pressure on my own manager to just let go. My last 2 years of work will lead to nothing. I would like to know what to do in a situation like this, and how to prevent this in the future.

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    Have you brought your concerns to your manager?
    – JMERICKS
    Commented Jul 23, 2021 at 23:56
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    yes, and my manager is also getting screwed.
    – user38290
    Commented Jul 24, 2021 at 0:45
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    Do you have visibility to the people who will decide your promotion or not? In other words, at your position, does CEO exposure matter?
    – Michael McFarlane
    Commented Jul 24, 2021 at 4:26
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    @Job_September_2020 enough situations like this would probably drive a lot of people to the same conclusion.
    – jcm
    Commented Jul 24, 2021 at 6:20
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    Could you explain in more detail how exactly they would take over your project? If you are the one working on it for 2 years wouldn't that put them in a very weak position? They would need to come to you in order to deliver the results. Aren't there plenty of opportunities to demonstrate that in fact you are the one who did all the work?
    – plagiarisedwords
    Commented Jul 24, 2021 at 12:44

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The promotion policies of your company are up to the company. If the way you get a promotion is presenting an idea to the CEO, and you get to present ideas to the CEO based on what projects you lead, of course managers with greater influence will snipe your projects and present them with most of the work done, because that other manager also wants a promotion.

From your previous answer, you're feeling undermined at work. You presumably as such don't have influence to get what you want done, and not have the influence to force a promotion. I would presume from what you said that your manager also isn't influential enough to get you a promotion or keep the project?

As such, like most people, the only way to get a promotion is to change jobs. Don't hope that loyalty and hard work and making the company lots of money will win you a promotion or win you any appreciation from headquarters. Companies have no loyalty to their employees generally. Use your current job and this successful project to find other jobs that are better paid and have more prestige, don't hope that a successful project will be safe in your hands.

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