What made you successful at the last level
is not what will make you successful at this one.
A leader steps into a bigger role. The instinct is to apply the same skills at higher intensity.
To execute harder. To do more of what worked before.
That instinct feels like it makes sense. And it is almost always the wrong move.
What made you effective at one level was selected for by that level - Speed of execution, hands-on problem solving, direct control - these are assets at one stage and liabilities at the next.
The step up asks for something genuinely new.
A different relationship with the work, the team, and the organization.
A different way of leading.
The patterns set in the first 90 days are the hardest to change later.
Leaders who step up without structured support take six to twelve months longer to reach full effectiveness.
At VP or senior director level, that delay costs $35,000 to $70,000 in salary alone - before counting the decisions that did not get made well, the team that did not get led well, and the strategic work that did not move.
This is a specialty
Leadership transitions are one of the most consistent patterns across 20 years of work with hundreds of leaders.
The gap between what leaders expected the new role to require and what it actually required is almost always larger than anticipated - and almost always navigable with the right support at the right time.
This transition is close enough to the core of this practice that Eitan Nussbaum wrote a book about it.
Currently available in Hebrew and forthcoming in English as "Step Up" - specifically about what surprises leaders as they move into bigger roles, from team lead to organizational leader, from junior management to senior and executive levels.
Who this is for
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Leaders navigating a transition into a bigger role.
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CEOs and founders investing in the development of the leaders around them - a new VP, a promoted director, a manager stepping up for the first time.
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Leadership teams absorbing a new leader at the top and needing to function differently as a result.
What it has looked like
Example #1:
A new CEO appointed to an academic institution with no prior systemic management experience.
One on one work that expanded into leadership team reconstruction, then strategic work, then dialogic interventions with the wider organization.
Three years. Still ongoing. 8/10 strategic goals achieved.
Example #2:
A leader promoted into a VP role after years of high individual performance.
Six months of one on one work that compressed an 18-month ramp-up into six.
The team noticed before they were told anything had changed.
Example #3:
A senior manager at a large medical network approached during a leadership program - one hour, unplanned, over coffee.
She came with a team member who had become disruptive and stuck.
She left with a new frame for what was actually happening, a concrete next step, and the confidence to act on it.
Two days later she emailed to say it had gotten her thinking and given her directions that were very much needed.
She asked if she could refer colleagues. Some reached out. Some did not.
That one hour was the only time they ever worked together. It was enough.