Leadership Isn’t a Promotion - It’s a Transformation
Leadership Isn’t a Promotion - It’s a Transformation
Being promoted to a leadership position isn’t the end of the journey; it’s the beginning of a more profound transformation. This episode explores how new roles require new awareness, mindset shifts, and visible personal change.
Leadership Isn’t a Promotion - It’s a Transformation
Boardroom Briefs with Frans Versteeg
When you become a leader or when you change leadership roles, it’s essential to really understand the role. And normally that requires more personal transformation than you might imagine. Like the famous story, very often the best sales rep does not necessarily make the best sales manager because it’s a completely different set of skills.
In some cases, there are also inspiring examples that demonstrate how accepting a new leadership role requires a transformation. Sometimes, when I work with films like Invictus or even plays by Shakespeare, I use these as tools. One of the most interesting plays is Henry V. Before becoming Henry the Fifth, he’s a wild young man, spending most of his time in the pub with friends, drinking too much, doing everything a future king would never do.
Shakespeare starts the play with his miraculous transformation, and that transformation is indeed overnight and complete. Of course, it’s symbolic. But the symbolism tells us something: from one day to the next, the young man assumes a completely new responsibility. And so he also changes his behaviour completely and radically. Shakespeare finds all sorts of wonderful ways to show that. But the story is important.
I see that it’s really vital to understand: what is it that is expected of me in this next role? Most of the skills I’ll need do I already have them? Or do I need to be truly aware that this role requires other ones?
In professional organisations with a lot of awareness, you may be supported. HR or your reporting leaders may help you understand what you now need. But even if that’s not presented so clearly, one of the essential things is to start asking yourself: what is it that I really need to be, in this role?
Without making it too lofty, the famous sentence Be the change you want to see in the world is essentially true. To understand what needs to be done, you have to let it sink in. And you must understand what you will need to do. Sometimes that also needs to be symbolic because what you do communicates what needs to be done.
Gandhi said it. But he also showed it. He started weaving himself. That one picture of him personally weaving it said it all. He made the long walk to the ocean and picked up a handful of salt. That was before social media. And even then, his message was clear. He used symbolic action that people could immediately relate to.
One of the key aspects of becoming a leader is understanding what people need to feel, what they need to understand, and what they need to see. That is another way of trying to fully grasp the role. What is needed in this specific leadership role? What do I need to learn? What do I need to do? And perhaps most importantly, who do I need to be?
Highlights:
00:00 Understanding Leadership Roles
00:10 The Importance of Personal Transformation
00:57 Lessons from Shakespeare's Henry V
02:44 Identifying Required Skills for New Roles
03:11 The Role of Professional Support
03:59 Be the Change You Want to See
04:52 Symbolic Actions in Leadership
05:23 Concluding Thoughts on Leadership
Links:
Website: https://www.fransversteeg.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fransaversteeg/
Transcript:
When you become a leader or when you change leadership roles, it's essential to really understand the role. And normally that requires more personal transformation than you might imagine. Like the famous story is very often the best sales rep does not necessarily make the best sales manager. Because it's a completely other set of skills. And in some cases, uh, there are also inspiring examples where, uh, we can see that becoming a or accepting a new leadership role really requires that transformation. Um. It is actually, uh, sometimes I, uh, I work with, uh, uh, films like, like Invictus or, or, or other, uh, uh, and there's even like plays by Shakespeare.
One of the, uh, the interesting one about, uh, plays by Shakespeare, uh, is about Henry the V and before becoming Henry the V Is basically, uh. Well, uh, a very well wild young man spending most of his time in the pub with his friends drinking too much beer, and he, he sort of does everything in what a king would never do, and it's very interesting. Shakespeare starts the play with his miraculous transformation and that miraculous transformation is indeed, he changes overnight and completely. And of course that's a, that's a play and it's, it's, but the symbolism is, is telling that really from one day to the next. The young man assumes a completely new responsibility, and so he also changes his behavior completely and radically. And of course, Shakespeare has all sorts of wonderful ways to tell us that. But the, the story is important and I see that it's really vital to understand. What is it that is expected of me in this next role? And are there is, is most of the stuff that I'm going to need to, most of the skills that I need to have, do I already have that or should I be really aware that this role requires yet other skills?
And of course, in, in. Professional, uh, organizations with a lot of awareness, you will be supported to and, and people and from HR or through your, your, uh, the leaders that, that you report to, they will explain to you what are the skills that you now need. But, um, in as much as it may, you may not always be presented with that. Oh, dramatically. One of the essential things is that you start asking yourself, what is it that I really need to be, uh, in this role? And, uh, without making this all too lofty and, and, and high brow in that sense. Um, the famous sentence being, the change you want to see in the world is completely and essentially true because you really, to understand what needs to be done, you have to sort of let that sink in and also understand what you will be need to do and sometimes.
That can also be very symbolic because the way you, what you do communicates what needs to be done. Uh, it's the, the famous, uh, be the change you want to see in the world is of course by Gandhi, the saying by Gandhi. But, uh, he had fantastic symbolic stuff. He started to, to do the weaving himself. So one picture of him personally weaving, said it all. He made the long walk to the ocean and grabbed this handful of salt. So that was before social media. And four, he made stuff clear, uh, by, by doing. Taking actions that people could immediately relate to. And one of the things of, uh, becoming a, a leader is to, to understand what people need to feel, need to understand and need to. And so that's another way of, uh, really trying to understand the role. What is needed in this specific leader leadership role and what do I need to learn? What do I need? What do I need to l to do, and who do I need to be?