Starting a big leadership role: mindsets, mandate, and peer relationships

Executive overview

Stepping into a major leadership role triggers predictable failure modes: distorted vision from ego or insecurity, a misread mandate, and neglected peer relationships. Carol Kauffman's MOVE framework (Mindfully alert, vantage point, engage to effect change) addresses all three.

The core challenge is identity, not skill. New leaders must shift from subject-matter expert to leader of leaders — and from individual to "entity," a conduit for the organisation's mission.

Peer relationships are the strongest predictor of success in a new role, yet receive the least deliberate attention.

Achieving clear vision

• Ego distorts reality in both directions: over-confidence ("I'm better than everyone") and self-shrinking ("everyone's better than me").
• "Right resolution" means choosing where to apply high-density scrutiny and where an impressionistic view is enough — eagle-eye on everything doesn't scale.
• Know your default — laser-focused or too fuzzy — and build in feedback mechanisms before you need them.
• The more powerful you become, the fewer people tell you the truth; trusted advisors who will flag distortions are essential.

Validating your mandate

• Fill-in-the-blank assumptions driven by hopes or fears are the main source of mandate errors.
• Watch for disconnects between what you were told and what you observe in early interactions.
• New DNA is often invited in, then treated like a virus by the organisation's existing antibodies — anticipate resistance even when the mandate is genuine.
• Leaders also give themselves wrong mandates: the instinct to push the boulder alone rather than mobilise the team.
• Triangulate, check, and be ready to shift as reality changes — mandate drift is often not deliberate.

Shifting to the right altitude

• Subject-matter expertise does not scale; stepping up requires releasing the identity of "the person who knows most."
• The move from functional head to enterprise leader means sub-optimising your own vertical for the good of the whole — widely understood, rarely done.
• Ask in every meeting: "Who do I need to be right now?" — not what do I know, but what role does this moment require.
• Letting go of what made you successful is frightening; the leaders who shift fastest are those willing to redefine what winning looks like.

Entity identity

• Separate yourself as a person from yourself as the entity — the role, the organisation, its mission and values.
• As the entity, you are a conduit for something larger; this shift unlocks energy rather than depleting it.
• Useful in practice for introverts or in draining public situations: "I am not showing up as me, I am showing up as the entity."
• The entity frame also governs how you accept recognition — receive it graciously on behalf of the role, not the person.

The gorilla effect

• Anyone who controls another person's livelihood, resources, or career trajectory is the gorilla — always, regardless of how they feel inside.
• A casual remark or gesture lands with amplified force; so does a genuine compliment.
• Discounting recognition ("oh, that was nothing") is experienced as rejection by the person giving it.
• Making peace with gorilla status — rather than denying it — is essential to wielding influence responsibly.

Imposter feelings and feeling lost

• Feeling lost in a new role is not pathology; it is the accurate signal that you have not been here before.
• Reframe: success feels like feeling new. Imposter syndrome mislabels a healthy, appropriate response to real novelty.
• C-suite leaders with ten-figure budgets wake at 3am wondering if they can do this — it is a mark of taking the role seriously, not evidence of inadequacy.
• Where genuine skill gaps exist, close them — but do not confuse "I haven't done this before" with "I can't do this."

Building peer relationships

• Peer relationships are the hardest to cultivate deliberately and the most consequential for success — more so than managing up or down.
• Peers influence your access to resources; they are also the most likely pool from which your future boss is drawn.
• There are no established norms for managing sideways the way there are for managing up or down — it requires conscious effort.
• Empathy with peers means knowing their story — what the CFO, CRO, or CHRO actually needs — as well as you know your own.
• Manage competitive instincts: peers can trigger comparison and status anxiety; those reactions are contagious in both directions.
• Start with one-on-ones, genuine curiosity, and the same service orientation you bring to your team.