Leadership is not an extension of your old job. It’s a new one altogether, writes Sinha
Most leaders transition from being specialists to becoming leaders. You move from being an engineer to a manager, from a strategist or a salesperson to a chief executive. But here’s the catch — most of us continue to behave the way we did in our specialist roles.
There’s no playbook for this transition. The journey from being defined by your skill to being defined by your ability to orchestrate is messy, humbling, and profoundly transformative.
From Vertical To Dashboard
When you’re in a specialist role, your world is vertical — you go deep into one subject, one skill, one function. Success comes from mastery. But leadership requires a dashboard view — a panoramic awareness of how every moving part connects to the whole.
When I moved from being Head of Strategy across 14 markets in APAC to becoming CEO of India, the shift was dramatic. As Head of Strategy, I led a team of 50. It was a skill-based role focused on thinking, brand building, and frameworks. As CEO, I was suddenly responsible for 1,200 people — not just for brand strategy, but for everything from the plumbing in our offices and leave policies to client relationships, employee happiness, product quality, and the health of our business.
It was no longer about being the best strategist in the room. It was about ensuring the room itself functioned at its best — every day.
The Leadership Paradox
Skill-based roles are linear. You solve one problem, finish one task, then move to the next. Leadership, on the other hand, is about simultaneity. You’re managing multiple priorities, people, and pressures — often with incomplete information and limited time.
As leaders, we must develop comfort with many things in motion at once — a kind of mental dashboard where you’re constantly scanning across functions, decisions, and outcomes. The challenge is not just doing more, but learning to think differently.
From Doing To Enabling
The most significant mindset shift in leadership is moving from doing to enabling. As specialists, we take pride in the precision of our craft — that perfect presentation, that winning strategy, that solved problem. As leaders, the joy comes from helping others do their best work — from building systems, teams, and environments where great work can thrive.
Leadership is not an extension of your old job. It’s a new one altogether.
And the sooner we accept that, the better leaders we become.
Because true leadership isn’t about looking deeper down your vertical — it’s about learning to read the entire dashboard.
Article first published on BW Marketing World.