You are ready to approve a proposal when a colleague asks for more information. They want to understand the assumptions behind the timeline and whether the team has the capacity to deliver. You feel your patience thinning. Why do they always make things complicated? Before they have finished, you are explaining why the team needs to move forward. Their concern remains unresolved, but your impression of them is reinforced. Most leaders can think of someone whose approach they

You can be highly valued by your organisation and still not be considered ready for broader leadership. Your performance may be respected, your expertise trusted and your reliability unquestioned. Yet the same reputation that established your credibility may also be keeping you associated with your current level. You become the person who can always be relied upon to deliver, solve the problem or rescue the outcome. The organisation continues giving you important work, but th