It’s Lonely at the Top
One of the books I direct leaders to concerning career transitions is The Leadership Pipeline. This book is widely recognized for describing the transitions leaders make at different stages of their career and how expectations and focus progressively change along the way.
It has caused me to reflect on my own career and the transitions I’ve had to make. My first big move was when I assumed functional, site-wide responsibility that put me on a different band to lead my former peers, yet came without the authority to direct their activity. A few years later, I was responsible for leading projects across multiple sites through our entire business unit. While the scope was much greater, I again found myself having to lead through influence rather than authority.
Skip ahead, my major transition was back at a single site, this time responsible for all of the operations support functions and the people reporting to me. Without question, this role placed me within the management structure where it was no longer cool for people in the other strata to include me in the informal huddles about Saturday’s big game, the latest rumor mill, or the impromptu lunch. I was no longer part of “us”, but rather now one of “them”. Yet, it wouldn’t be the last time I would experience such a transition. By their very nature, transitions change the scope, often change the rules, and always require a new application of leadership skills.
Experience has taught me that it’s just part of the territory. As much as any senior leader may truly lead in an “inverted pyramid” manner, there are certain aspects where the pyramid remains squarely upright. When I became a CEO, I had to get comfortable with the dynamics that come with no longer being one of many, but one of one. Here are some examples:
The higher you go in an organization, the less readily available truth is to you. Part of this is simply the practical aspect of not being at the point of execution with your front-line employees, customers or product. You’re just that much further removed. But another contributor is the degree to which information flows up the ladder, especially if it’s bad news.
Information can be a burden. Senior executives are often equipped with information that is highly sensitive. Sometimes it’s related to people, which must remain in confidence. Other times it relates to decisions made that need to be held until a specific time or decisions that will need to be made with multiple alternatives that can be far reaching in their trade-offs.
Silence can be deafening. Being “one of one” rather than among the many produces silence at a certain frequency. The presentations have been made, the analysis is complete, and the conference room is empty. They’re all waiting on you – to lead.
But there’s good news. There are ways to manage these dynamics. One key is to not try to walk the road alone. There is great value in surrounding yourself with a mentor, a personal board of directors, or an executive coach that can help you think critically through decision-points, serve as an external sounding board, or simply give voice to the thing you already know should be done.
A transition that comes with increased leadership scope is not a choice. How you make that transition is.