You’ve earned your seat in the C-suite: use it!

If you’re new to the C-suite, it can be disorienting. I see many of my clients – particularly those from law and finance backgrounds – holding themselves back from contributing outside their areas of expertise. While this is understandable, it is a problem.

As you enter the C-suite, armed with the depth of expertise that has defined your career thus far, the landscape of leadership transforms before your eyes.

It's a shift from the precision of expertise to the broad canvas of strategic vision.

It’s no longer solely about depth in one area but about how that area interacts with and impacts the whole. Your expertise becomes a lens through which you view the broader organisational strategy.

Take, for example, a leader from a strong marketing background. In the C-suite, their challenge is to transcend the marketing silo, to see how marketing perspectives align with, influence, and are influenced by operations, finance, risk, HR and more.

This transition calls for a new set of skills. It's about leading conversations that bridge diverse areas, fostering an environment where cross-functional collaboration is not just encouraged but becomes the norm. It’s about becoming fluent in the languages of all functions, not to overshadow the experts but to bring together their collective expertise into something greater than the sum of their parts.

In the C-suite, your role evolves from being an executor of tasks to an architect of possibilities. It’s about setting a vision that others can rally around, inspiring your team to see beyond the immediate horizon to what could be. It's a subtle but profound shift from doing to enabling, from individual excellence to collective brilliance.

It’s about recognising that success now lies in your ability to integrate, to see the interconnectedness of all parts of the organisation, and to lead not just with knowledge, but with vision and empathy.

It’s ok if it feels weird or uncomfortable at first. It’s a new skill. Remember, though: you’ve earned your seat at that table. Use it!

Until next week,

Take care of yourself and others

Madeleine

PS: Need some help stepping out of your expertise comfort zone? Working with a coach can be incredibly helpful. Let me know if you’d like to talk and please share with anyone you think may benefit.

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