What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.
Article written by Nick Roud, Multi Award Winning Leadership Coach. March 2026.
Most leaders reach a point in their career when they feel the ground shifting beneath their feet. Have you felt that yet or are you currently feeling that shift?
The strategies, habits, and strengths that once propelled them forward now feel insufficient. It’s not that they’ve stopped working hard or lost their edge it’s that the game itself has changed. Each day we change you may not notice it but we do as does our environment.
This is the inflection point described perfectly in the phrase: “What got you here won’t get you there.”
It’s not a criticism it’s a call to evolve. Many a person I meet try desperately to hold onto the past. As you read today’s article my invitation to you is please let go. Trust me, let go. You will be better.
The Trap of Past Success
Let’s face it success can be seductive. When you’ve spent years perfecting how you work, it’s natural to keep leaning on those same skills and systems. But leadership operates on a different level. What made you a super star as an individual contributor might actually limit your growth as a leader. We see it a great deal in sport, you see a great player and a stand out performer who steps up to a leadership role, one thing they do well is to let go of what got them there, they start to laser in on the group the team the people not the job that he/she was doing within the team.
Let’s share some more thoughts on this shall we;
- The precision that made you brilliant in execution can now make you micromanage.
- The drive that helped you hit targets can now drain your team’s energy.
- The self-reliance that built your career can now isolate you from collaboration.
It’s called the success trap: the very tools that carried you here become the anchors that hold you back. If you are going to be successful in the new role let’s call it the ‘leader role’ you will definitely need to evolve. There is a saying that a person was born a leader. Not sure I agree as you can learn to be a leader.
Transitioning into leadership requires an entirely new mindset (remember I am not asking you to address or change your values here) one centred on influence, not control; direction, not perfection; and empowerment, not execution. I call this working thru and with others.
Stepping Up
To step up means more than climbing to a higher title or pay grade. I mean it’s about elevating your perspective. What I observe across my coaching business with CEOs to emerging leaders level is too often they are on the dance floor not up in the balcony observing, watching, looking out. The term “step up” implies both movement and intention. You’re not simply promoted you’re choosing to rise into a role that carries greater responsibility, impact, and complexity. Some of us call that pressure. Not everyone can or wants to tackle pressure but as you step up into bigger roles the pressure will come your way.
Leaders must step up in three profound ways:
- From Doing to Enabling
Leadership begins by creating space for others to do their best work. Your value isn’t measured by how much you accomplish personally, but by how much you enable others to achieve. Focusing on being self-less here. That behavioural and emotional shift from personal excellence to collective excellence is often the hardest adjustment to make. People say Nick I can do it better, quicker rather than someone else doing it……… - From Knowing to Learning
Strong leaders aren’t defined by their knowledge but by their curiosity. They lead with questions, not with answers. Continuous learning becomes the cornerstone of influence. My invitation here is in a meeting notice how much you are talking as opposed to listening! - From Commanding to Connecting
In today’s environment, authority is earned through authenticity. Command-and-control leadership is outdated. Although with the political leadership around today I am questioning that. Modern teams follow passion and trust, not position or power.
These shifts don’t happen overnight, some things move quicker than others what I am asking you to do is real introspection, courage, and support. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t work out first time round, notice, course correct and try again.
Letting Go #1
Letting go is one of the hardest parts of leadership growth. To let go doesn’t mean to give up; it means to release what no longer serves you. Consider mindsets, behaviours, or roles that once worked but now restrict your effectiveness. Only you can really answer that.
The word transition comes from the Latin transire, “to go across.” That’s exactly what happens during leadership transformation: you cross from one identity to another. It’s hard to carry everything with you into that other area so drop everything and pick up only what you need.
What does this letting go look like in practice?
- Let go of control. As your responsibilities expand, you simply can’t control every detail. You must shift from task ownership to trust delegation. Understanding your communication approach and decision making within our RLA360 Degree leadership assessments really helps.
- Let go of being the smartest person in the room. Leadership isn’t about being right; it’s about bringing out the best in others.
- Let go of needing certainty. Ambiguity is now your landscape. Leaders who thrive become comfortable navigating the unknown with calm and confidence. Sit, pause, think, then act!
The movement is clear by letting go, you gain more. You free yourself to focus on vision, strategy, and connection.
The New Leadership Skillset
The leadership playbook has changed dramatically over the past decade. Technical ability, though still important, is now table stakes. What distinguishes great leaders today are skills that sit at the intersection of character and capability. A client recently shared feedback to me on my dyslexia and how his son is also dyslexic, he is seeing his boy really take on new opportunities and as he heads into the workforce is being in undated with offers. The world will need people who see things differently!
Here are the skills every emerging leader must cultivate: Emotional Intelligence (EQ): The ability to understand and manage your emotions while recognizing and influencing others’. Leaders with high EQ build trust, empathy, and alignment. Resilience: Leadership is often lonely and full of uncertainty. Resilience allows you to bounce back not by ignoring stress but by mastering it. Adaptability: The speed of change isn’t slowing down. Leaders must evolve faster than their environment. Authentic Communication: True communication isn’t about “giving updates”; it’s about creating shared understanding and inspiration. Coaching and Mentorship: Great leaders coach others to reach their potential, building future leadership beneath them. Self-awareness: The foundation of all growth. You can’t lead others effectively until you understand your own reflexes, triggers, and blind spots. Find out what is your superpower and what is the one or two things holding you back!
Leaders are learners always growing, recalibrating, and refining how they show up. They do not settle they move.
Why Coaching is the Catalyst
Here’s where professional coaching becomes transformative. Coaching isn’t about fixing weaknesses, sure in our one to one coaching sessions we will not avoid the elephant but it’s about expanding awareness.
Working with a leadership coach like Nick Roud helps high-performing professionals develop the emotional and strategic depth they need to take the next big step. The process is both reflective and practical it grounds you in clarity while pushing you into action. I am not one for chalk-n-talk gosh that brings back nightmares of school so whilst we have focused time working on stuff and things it’s all about getting you where you need to be.
People ask Nick what is your coaching approach, here are my four pillars:
- Clarity: Understanding your current behaviours, motivations, and blocks.
- Challenge: Identifying what to unlearn and what new habits to build.
- Confidence: Strengthening your decision-making and presence as a leader.
- Courage: Equipping you to lead boldly through uncertainty and change.
Through one-on-one work, leaders begin to see themselves differently, not as managers of tasks but as shapers of culture, purpose, and outcomes.
The Meaning of Leadership Today (so much opportunity)
Leadership, at its root, comes from the Old English lædan, meaning “to go before.” It’s about guiding others toward a future they might not yet see.
Yet in modern leadership, going before doesn’t mean being at the front barking orders. It means being the steady presence who clears the path, builds trust, and lifts others to walk alongside. Leadership in my mind is influence built on integrity. True leaders take this on, model values before they mandate them. They listen deeply before they direct. They put the wind into others before they instruct. They are firm, they are clear and they course correct when needed.
And that’s exactly why so many talented professionals reach a plateau not for lack of skill, but lack of transformation. You cannot reach new ground with an old map. It fades away. It becomes hard to read.
The Coaching Experience with Nick Roud
My approach to each and every one to one coaching engagement blends experience, empathy, and evidence-based frameworks. With years of working alongside executives and emerging leaders, I get and fully respect that no two journeys are the same. Each engagement is shaped around your goals whether that’s stepping into a leadership role, transitioning industries, or breaking through behaviours that have quietly been holding you back. Just to be clear I struggle with the word ‘goal’ so please interpret that in your own language.
A coaching partnership with me involves:
- Deep Diagnostic Sessions to reveal what’s truly driving your performance and where the friction lies. Evidence doesn’t lie.
- Goal (there’s that word again) Mapping and Accountability to ensure growth isn’t abstract but actionable.
- Ongoing Reflection to transform insight into consistent behaviour.
- Leadership Presence Development crafting how you communicate, influence, and show up daily.
- Then measuring it to prove and show you are progressing. That’s our ROI of one-to-one coaching.
The results aren’t cosmetic; they’re cultural. Leaders emerge more centred, confident, and authentic above that leaders are ready to lead with clarity and conviction. Organisations, board of directors require this.
What Transformation Looks Like
Picture this:
You start the year 2026, uncertain about leading your new team. You find yourself slipping into old habits overworking, overcontrolling, overstressing. Coaching challenges those patterns.
Three months in, you begin seeing differently. Meetings shift from monologues to conversations. You delegate confidently, freeing yourself to think big-picture. Your team feels trusted, and it shows in their engagement. By six months, your entire approach changes less friction, more flow. That’s transformation. How does that sound to you?
It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by intention and support from me your #1 cheerleader and gut kicker (yes this is done at the same time sometimes).
The Call to Action: Step Into Your Next Chapter
The phrase “What got you here won’t get you there” is a reminder that the next chapter of your success will be written differently.
To lead at a higher level, you must unlearn, relearn, and evolve. You must step up into growth and let go of what’s holding you down. You must develop the new skillset that modern leadership demands emotional intelligence, resilience, adaptability, and authenticity.
And you don’t have to do it alone.
Coaching with Nick Roud is your bridge between who you are today and the leader you’re ready to become.
Whether you’re preparing for an executive role, refining your influence, or seeking clarity in a moment of change, working with a coach can be the catalyst that takes you there.
Leadership isn’t a destination — it’s a continual evolution.
Nick, Auckland, 6th March 2026
