first-time exec Archive - This Moment Counts

People trust you. But with what?

The moment you step into leadership, people start trusting you.
Not because you’ve earned it yet. But because they have to.

They trust you to set the tone.
They trust you to shape the culture.
They trust you to decide what matters.

Even before you say a word, they trust you with all of that.

The question is never if they trust you.
The question is: with what?

With their energy … or their compliance?
With their curiosity … or their caution?
With their voice … or their silence?

They trust you with the question: is it safe to care?
They trust you with the thought: will it matter if I speak up?
They trust you to show them if effort leads to progress or if it vanishes into a void.

Ignore this trust, and they’ll still follow.

But they’ll follow the unwritten rules, not your ambitions.
They’ll follow the fear, not the opportunity.
They’ll follow the safe path, not the bold one.

Leadership always sets the tone.
Whether you choose to, or not.

The question is:
what will you signal them to trust you with?

Through your actions …
And the words you use …

Keep lighting the path!

Your words travel. What message do they carry?

When you lead at the exec level, people listen more closely than you realize.

You say something small, almost in passing. And days later, you hear it repeated in rooms you’ve never entered.

Worse, the meaning has shifted.

→ What felt like a casual remark to you, sounded like a decision to someone else.

→ What felt like a passing thought to you, sounded like a priority to someone else.

And sooner than you realize, confusion and doubts are circling.

Like it or not: Your words are traveling. To places where you’re no longer there to explain them.

The crucial question is: what message are they carrying?

Now, the mistake happens:
Leaders fear their own words. They hesitate to speak unpolished thoughts. They put a safety net around their words.

When that’s exactly the problem.
The safety net masks the meaning.

And so people start to second-guess.
Read between the lines.
Figure out what you really wanted to say.

That’s the cycle you need to break.

I’ve found two simple moves that work well.

Number 1:
Speak in a way that travels well:
→ Simple enough to remember.
→ Honest enough to trust.
→ Focused enough to act on.

Number 2:
Give them permission to ask for clarification at any time:
“Wait, what do you mean?”

Don’t aim for perfect words.
Aim for true words.
Make them easy to pass along.

When you speak with that kind of clarity, you can safely let your words travel. In fact, you’ll want them to.

Keep lighting the path!

Space for Truth

The higher you rise, the quieter the truth becomes.
Which is a problem if you want to lead with clarity.

It only works if you’re hearing what you need to hear.

It’s not that people stop knowing the truth.
Or that they would even be dishonest.

But they only give you a filtered version.

Because your role has changed.

Your title alone makes people second-guess themselves.
Your presence shapes the conversation before you say a word.

Even if you invite honesty, people hesitate.

“Is this really safe to say?”
“Do they really want to hear this?”

If you don’t notice this early, the conversation empties out.
You stop hearing what matters most.
And start hearing only what feels safe to share.

The usual advice won’t change that.
“My door’s alway open.” ← Yeah, but what happens when I’m out again?

“Don’t hesitate to speak up.” ← Yeah, but what happens when I actually do?

You want to prove it’s welcome.

→ When someone raises a difficult point, and you lean in with curiosity — not defensiveness.
→ When you thank people for uncomfortable feedback, instead of brushing it aside.
→ When you share uncomfortable truths yourself, showing it’s safe to speak openly here.

In other words, you go first. When you signal that you welcome uncomfortable truths, people start to trust you with theirs.

They learn:

This is safe.
This is valued.
This matters.

That’s when meaningful conversations happen. After you create the space for them.

Keep lighting the path!

The map runs out

There’s a moment every new executive faces, though few talk about it.

You realize the map runs out.

No clear path.
No playbook.
Just uncertainty.

You thought it would get clearer at this level.

That with more experience, more information, and more perspective, you’d see the whole picture.

But the bitter truth is:
It doesn’t get clearer.
It only gets bigger.

There’s more to consider.
More possibilities.
More questions than answers.

And the worst part? The picture will never feel finished. No matter how much you prepare, there will always be unknowns.

But.

You don’t lead by having the complete map.
You lead by helping your team see how to make choices along the way.

Not through perfect answers.
But through clear communication.

When you say, “Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t, and here’s what matters on our way forward” you do more than give direction.

You give people permission to act.
You give them a way to think, not just a task to follow.

Because clarity isn’t found at the end of a long search.
It’s created in the way you communicate the search itself.

That’s what creates momentum.

When you name the uncertainty, and still make it clear where to start.

When you show how decisions are made, not just what they are.

So that everyone could make them on behalf of the team.

Keep lighting the path!

They will be smarter than you

In the past 15 years, I’ve coached quite a number of first-time execs. Over the next 5 days, I’ll share some lessons that caught my clients by surprise and how we worked through it.

These lessons apply to any leadership role.
But they matter most when you’re stepping up to the top.

Let’s start with an important flip that catches many new execs off guard:

The moment you step into the C-Suite, one thing quietly changes:
Your value is no longer in having the answers.

If you still try to be the smartest person in the room, you’re not leading. You’re holding the team back.

Because here’s what happens:
The more answers you give, the fewer they find for themselves.

Every time you step in with the answer, you close the loop before they’ve had to think it through.

It feels helpful in the moment.
You’re removing uncertainty, speeding things up.
But over time, it builds a subtle habit.

They stop wrestling with the question themselves.
Because they’ve learned they don’t need to.
You’ve got it covered.

So they stop looking.
They stop thinking bigger.
They stop challenging what’s possible.

And instead of leading the team,
you end up dragging them behind you.
Step by heavy step.

And that’s the problem with so much of the “lead the way” advice out there.

You were never meant to carry it alone.
You were never meant to be the smartest person in the room.
You were never meant to have all the answers.

→ You were meant to light the path.
And focus the team’s brilliance on that journey.
So they can find better answers than you ever could.

Because a team that thinks together will always be smarter than any one person thinking alone — no matter how smart you are.

When you stop giving all the answers, you make space for this:
→ They bring ideas you’d never have thought of.
→ They spot risks before you see them coming.
→ They find faster, smarter paths forward — together.

In other words, no need to pull the team forward.
They will move the whole thing with you.

Which means you finally get to do what you’re really here to do.

Not to answer every question.
But to make sure they’re asking the right ones.

In the end, it’s not about how smart you are.
It’s about how smart you enable your team to be.

Keep lighting the path!

Posts in Tag: first-time exec

People trust you. But with what?

Your words travel. What message do they carry?

Space for Truth

The map runs out

They will be smarter than you