Most new leaders will fail. It’s not a possibility—it’s a certainty backed by decades of data. Furthermore, when organizations promote star performers into people management, they create a perfect storm where technical expertise collides with human complexity. Consequently, current Gallup data shows that 82% of companies select the wrong person for management positions, while McKinsey reports that poor leadership costs organizations $15,000 per employee annually in lost productivity.
As a globally recognized executive leadership coach, I transform organizational excellence through pioneering partnerships with C-suite leaders. My strategic frameworks revolutionize how multinational enterprises develop exceptional leaders, consistently delivering measurable impact across industries and cultures. Here are the critical pitfalls that derail promising leaders:
Brilliance Becomes Burden
Top individual contributors often get promoted based on technical excellence, but managing people requires an entirely different skillset. New leaders frequently micromanage their teams, struggle to delegate effectively, and fail to develop their direct reports’ capabilities.
Power Poisons Progress
Many new leaders believe asserting authority equals strong leadership. This mindset stifles creativity, reduces psychological safety, and prevents the honest feedback needed for organizational growth and adaptation.
Hearts Before Charts
First-time leaders tend to focus exclusively on metrics and deliverables while overlooking team dynamics and individual motivations. This oversight leads to decreased engagement, higher turnover, and reduced team performance.
Less Talk, More Impact
Inexperienced leaders often overwhelm their teams with constant updates and directives. Instead of clarity, this creates confusion and reduces team autonomy and ownership over outcomes.
Missing the Horizon
New leaders obsess over daily operational details while broader strategic imperatives drift away. They actively avoid complex organizational challenges by burying themselves in tactical work. This strategic blindness erodes both business performance and team capability development.
Success in leadership demands one fundamental truth: excellence emerges when you stop proving and start growing. Therefore, build trust through purposeful interactions, embrace bold delegation, and redefine success through your team’s achievements rather than your own.
Lead from Within: When technical brilliance meets human complexity, only those who master the art of leadership can truly succeed.
#1 N A T I O N A L B E S T S E L L E R
The Leadership Gap
What Gets Between You and Your Greatness
After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.
Additional Reading you might enjoy:
- 21 Things A New Leader Should Do to Succeed
- How to Succeed as A New Leader
- What is Good Advice for a New Leader
- How to Successfully Transition to a New Leadership Role
- What is Good Advice for a New Leader
- How To Successfully Overcome The Imposter Syndrome As A New Leader
Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.