From IC to CEO: 4 ways to level up your leadership
Ever been fighting for a promotion and then felt totally ill-equipped when you landed the role?
I’ve certainly been there.
The jumps from IC to manager, manager to VP, and VP to CEO all come with unique challenges that you can’t anticipate until you’re in the seat.
When I started my first job at a notable restaurant in New Zealand, I was 15 years old. Ten years younger than anyone else on staff. I knew I lacked the experience and knowledge that other servers had. Guests would ask me questions, I would make up an answer, and they would take me at my word. Talk about learning from experience.
A few years later, I was running the Big Brother program at my church. I was in charge of mentoring these boys coming out of really tough situations. They looked to me for guidance, consistency, and encouragement. I remember thinking I was not equipped to deal with the problems that these young men were encountering.
At one of my next jobs, I was sitting in a boardroom listening to the conversations, realizing that I was yet again the youngest person by at least a decade. Would I ever feel equipped to lead?
Here’s the bottom line, experience is only part of leveling up. What matters is showing up and putting in the work. Leaders earn their stripes by embracing challenges and improving every day.
Here are four ways to earn yours:
#1 Proactive Communication
People want two things from their job: autonomy and clarity. The more that you communicate with your leader, the more autonomy you have. If you have a micromanager who is always asking questions, the best thing that you can do to regain your autonomy is to proactively communicate. The more you communicate, the more questions are answered ahead of time.
#2 The Stockdale Paradox
The Stockdale Paradox is a concept that productive change begins when you confront the brutal facts while maintaining an unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end.
I encountered this working at Leadr. We had to confront the fact that we had missed our deadline, we lost beta partners, and we needed to make changes to our engineering team. But we maintained the faith that we would prevail.
We could have leaned on optimistic platitudes. “It’s going to be okay.” “Everything will work out.” But that would not have acknowledged our reality. Instead, we saw the failure as a learning opportunity to improve.
Leaders earn their stripes when they are willing to look at the hard facts and choose to work through them. They understand that optimistic platitudes alone do not produce quality results.
#3 No Surprises
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, talks about this concept in “Creativity, Inc.” the story of Pixar Animation Studios.
“The good stuff was hiding the bad stuff. When downsides coexist with upsides, as they often do, people are reluctant to explore what’s bugging them, for fear of being labeled complainers. I also realized that this kind of thing, if left unaddressed, could fester and destroy Pixar.”
They were winning financially, so no one thought to look under the hood at their crumbling culture.
No surprises is huge, especially for a growing team. If there is a lot of change or movement in the business and people don’t have the opportunity to share, it will destroy your business and undermine your leadership.
#4 Level Up
“I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.” - Darwin Smith (CEO of Kimberley-Clark).
We can spend so much time trying to get “that job” and then, once we have it, we feel that we can coast. But every day we need to compete for our job because every day there are 100 people lined up to do your job. We always need to be working to be qualified for our job.
This starts with self-awareness and asking yourself questions like:
Where am I falling short/letting the team down?
Am I prepared for what’s next? In six months?
What feedback do others have for me?
Leaders earn their stripes by continually pushing themselves to grow—taking on more responsibility, expanding their capacity, and striving for improvement every single day.
I had the privilege of exploring this topic on The LeadrPulse Podcast with Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio.
Tune in to hear his invaluable insights on career growth and the actionable steps to position yourself for your next promotion.
And ask yourself: What am I doing today to prepare for my next big move?
Thanks for reading,
MT
PS. The LeadrPulse Podcast is your source for actionable insights for leaders revolutionizing the world of work. My cohost, Leadr CMO Holly Tate, and I drop weekly episodes breaking down the hottest topics and toughest challenges facing leaders today with some of the top industry experts you know and aspire to learn from.