“I spent 17 years in corporate before jumping into entrepreneurship, and the hardest shift wasn't the work, it was leading people who used to sit right beside me. The win isn't pretending nothing changed; it's having the awkward conversation fast so they know you still see them.”
“I was promoted over people I’d been in the trenches with, and the part no one warns you about is that the title changes the room before you’ve said a word. The best move I made was to address it directly in my first team meeting, own the awkwardness, and make it clear I was there to lift them, not prove the decision was right.”
“I sat down with John McAuliffe when I first inherited a team as a new leader, and the thing that stuck with me was how much the early conversations matter. If I were you, I'd meet each of them one on one this week, ask what they want to keep doing and where they want to grow, and be honest that the dynamic has shifted.”
“When I became a leader at CYDEO, I quickly learned that the title changes faster than relationships do. The people who used to be my peers were now looking at me differently, and honestly, I was looking at myself differently too.”
“The first thing you own is the relationship with the three of them, not the title. I promoted a star supervisor once and almost lost her because I assumed the next rung was what she wanted; your peers may be relieved, resentful, or both, and the only way to know is to ask each one directly what growth looks like to them. Then your real job starts: make them better than they were under whoever came before you.”
“I’ve been promoted into rooms where I was once the junior voice, and the hardest part wasn’t the work, it was the silence at lunch. I’d meet each of them one on one, name the awkwardness, and ask what they actually want next.”
“I was that person once: brilliant at the job, suddenly managing the people I used to moan about the boss with. The hardest part is not the work; it is resetting the contract with people who still see you as one of them. I had to learn that friendly is fine, but inconsistency is what breeds resentment.”
“I remember being promoted at adidas and suddenly sitting across from colleagues who had been my equals the week before. The hardest part was not the work, it was the silence in the room when I walked in. I learned fast that respect matters more than being liked, and that clarity beats popularity. Own the decision without apologising for it.”