Congratulations… Everything Just Changed

Congratulations.

You earned it.

Whether your new title says supervisor, manager, director, or vice president, someone looked at a list of qualified people and decided you were the right person for the job.

Take a minute and enjoy that.

I know I did.

When I was promoted into my first director position, I was on cloud nine.

I’m not exaggerating when I say I could barely sleep. Every time I woke up, I’d lie there for a second thinking, This is real. I actually did it.

Years of hard work had finally paid off.

I wasn’t just excited.

I was proud.

Then morning came.

I remember standing in front of the mirror longer than usual. I’d picked out my outfit the night before. I’d always heard people say, “Dress for success,” and suddenly those words seemed important.

When I got to work, one of my coworkers smiled and asked,

“Do you have an important meeting today?”

I laughed.

“No.”

I didn’t tell them I was trying very hard to look like someone who belonged.

Walking across the parking lot felt different too.

I remember thinking, Don’t trip over your pant leg in these heels.

It’s funny how you can feel like a big deal and completely self-conscious at the exact same time.

Then I walked across the office floor.

I smiled at everyone like I always had.

Inside my head, though, one question kept playing on repeat.

Do I look as different as I feel?

You know when you’re eating potato chips and they sound incredibly loud inside your own head? You start wondering if everyone else hears them that loudly too.

That’s what that walk felt like.

Every thought in my head felt like it was somehow visible to everyone around me.

Then I met my new team.

I floated into that room.

The silence brought me back down to earth.

People smiled.

People were polite.

But they were also studying me.

I knew some of them were excited.

I also knew not everyone was.

That’s another part of leadership nobody talks about.

Your promotion may be someone else’s disappointment.

It started to get real… real fast.

A few days later, someone stopped by my office.

“Hey Robin, we need to record a quick video for the website.”

“Sure.”

“It’ll be easy.”

Famous last words.

“We’re just going to ask you about your vision for the department, your mission, and where you’re taking the team.”

The little red light on the camera came on.

My mouth instantly went dry.

The first question was easy.

Then came the next question.

“So tell us about your vision.”

My smile froze.

Inside my head I was thinking,

My vision?

I’d been in the job less than a week.

I was still learning what the department actually did.

My only clearly defined mission at that point was making it through the first month without embarrassing myself.

Getting promoted and becoming a leader are not the same thing.

A promotion happens in a moment. Becoming the leader the promotion requires happens over time.

Excerpt from It Was Just a Tuesday: What New Leaders Need to Hear But Nobody Says

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