Stop Calling Leadership a Promotion — It’s a Career Change

🚩 Most leaders don't land in their new roles. They're jettisoned into them.

🚩 Many current leaders NEVER had an adequate preparation for their leadership role. Never prepped for what’s on the “other side.” The term that describes their transition: “catapulted!”

Here’s a poignant quote from an Executive that echoes the perspective of so many others — 

“We realized the skills that got people noticed and promoted are not what’s needed for successful leadership, resulting in struggles with engagement and effectiveness.”

Catapulting creates those struggles, positioning leaders to fly out of control and land hard! As subject matter brilliant, they got noticed, promoted, then jettisoned into a role that required dramatically different skills to be effective — the "accidental leader" syndrome!

I’ve witnessed the cost for decades — burnout, turnover, career stalls, and the one that may resonate most, “Being right, but NOT being effective!” — regrettably, it’s still going on!

Leadership competencies and skills are not a birthright, they are learned. 

Without immersive training and coaching, BOTH new and seasoned leaders, may find themselves lacking the tools to consistently and confidently influence across functions, orchestrate teams to high performance, or give feedback without drawing blood — and other common and difficult people challenges that you can recite by heart.

If you’re hitting that wall, ask yourself:

✅ Am I doing the work of others because I do it best?

✅ Am I avoiding a difficult conversation that I’ve been wishing and hoping would go away?

✅ Is my team’s creativity stifled by my role as the “EXPERT” in the room?

✅ Am I being as effective as I should be?

✅ Do I end my day feeling energized by my impact, or drained by “people fires”?    

✅ Do I know how I’m perceived by the stakeholders who hold the keys to my next promotion?

✅ Do I question my self-confidence?

✅  Do I feel recognized and valued? 

✅ Do I suspect I have blind spots that are holding me back?

✅ When was the last time I received feedback that actually challenged me?

✅ Do I receive enough coaching?

What else are you are you thinking about or questioning?

Let’s talk about what you’re looking for and explore how we might collaborate to create your tailored, developmental Leadership Lab.