Three Decisions That Actually Get You to the C‑Suite
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Leave a comment on this guest post by Andrea Nicholas to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of her new book, The Executive Code: Rise. Lead. Last.
Deadline for eligibility is 06/07/2026. International winners will receive an electronic version.
Everyone says they want “a seat at the table.” Few are willing to make the decisions that truly earn it and keep it.
In The Executive Code: Rise. Lead. Last, I call these invisible transitions the real work of enterprise leadership. They’re rarely addressed in development programs, but they determine whether you rise, whether you thrive once you get there, and whether your leadership actually lasts.
Decision 1: Stop acting like a high performer; start acting like an enterprise leader.
High performers win by delivering results in their lane. Enterprise leaders win by defining the game for the whole business. The closer you get to the C‑suite, the less your value is doing the work and the more it is clarifying the problem, tradeoffs, and impact for everyone else.
Decision 2: Trade comfort for clarity.
Rising leaders often manage for harmony; executives manage for alignment. That means saying the thing others are skirting, naming the hard constraint, and choosing principles over popularity. If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.
Decision 3: Lead like your legacy is being written now because it is.
The C‑suite doesn’t give you more character; it amplifies what is already there. Your legacy is built in the opportunities you create, the standards you insist on, and the behavior you refuse to overlook in your highest performers.
Before your next big decision, ask, “What would the enterprise‑first version of me do here, and how will this look in my legacy?” Then act from that place.
Leave your comment below to become eligible for a complimentary copy of, The Executive Code.
Andrea Nicholas is an executive leadership advisor and author of The Executive Code: Rise. Lead. Last. She works with seated and aspiring C‑suite leaders to strengthen judgment, influence, and impact.
Spot on! Interesting insight.
Indeed very interesting!
“…the behavior you refuse to overlook in your highest performers” – this really resonates. Too often people/organizations protect their high performers for the results they deliver, and ignore how they treat people, their alignment with values, etc. The at what cost question is critical. People watch, adapt to what leaders allow.
An interesting & thought-provoking views on the new emerging leaders! Ambitious people look for opportunities to innovate and contribute. They also try to pick up a winning team to execute things to reach new heights of corporate success.
In essence, “Rise” is about proving oneself through building credibility by developing expertise, deliver consistent results, and cultivate visibility across the organization to be seen as a trusted leader.
“Lead” is about scaling and expanding one’s influence – shifting from managing tasks to inspiring people, aligning teams with strategy, and making decisions that affect the entire enterprise.
“Last” is about sustaining impact, enduring and leaving a legacy in the form of maintaining resilience, adaptability, and integrity while navigating complex pressures, ensuring long-term organizational success and personal legacy.
I absolutely love the line, “If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.” In positions of true leadership you have to be ok having critical conversations with people but these are only effective if your people know the vision of your work. Too frequently people think they are leading by just disagreeing with people. When this happens without clarity of purpose, it can be extremely counterproductive.
Excellent points. Excited to read this book!
This post (and book) are meaningful to me as I am navigating this currently. Can’t wait to read this one and loved the post – has me thinking about what I am doing in my leadership role.
I am going to use this article’s content in an executive forum that I facilitate every month. This should be an exciting conversation. The point that they need to stop acting like high performers is one that is difficult for them to understand. All high achievers! The organization rewards performance not leadership. Thank you for this so timely message.
I love the section on Trading Comfort for Clarity, “If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.” I am excited to read the book and apply the principals mentioned in it.
Decision #2 and the following really made me stop and think this morning:
That means saying the thing others are skirting, naming the hard constraint, and choosing principles over popularity. If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.
A moment of reflection that has me taking a deeper dive on myself. Thank you.
“Enterprise leaders win by defining the game for the whole business.” Its the business of defining the game. Clarity comes from keeping the “game alive” in everyone’s mind. Legacy is defining the continual aspects (new and changing) that come from the market and helping your organization help your customers get there.
I like “keeping the game alive in everyone’s mind” – as technology, people, and the world continues to evolve every day, it’s incredibly important to have a growth mindset to allow yourself to learn from the ever-changing market, which helps both your customers and employees!
I practiced these principles and was told I didn’t have emotional
Intelligence. After 10 years I was passed over for a rare opening in career advancement.
Moving to clarifying the problem from doing the work – that is the most elegant way of describing it!
This would be very appliable to my role and future career goals. Thanks for offering this.
Paul Fein
In line with my leadership development organization – The IDD Leadership Group LLC – INSPIRE / DRIVE / DELIVER. Leaders need real and authentic, as stated with details in my forth leadership book – A.U.T.H.E.N.T.I.C Leadership. The fifth book at press is – Being a Dynamic EXCEPTIONAL Leader. Leadership is about trust and reality!
Thank you for this: “If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.” … It’s hard sometimes to see the team stressed out and uncomfortable, I want to FIX IT, but that isn’t always the right answer.
As a new Executive Director, I’m soaking this up!
Great article!! What really resonated with me was “…saying the thing others are skirting, naming the hard constraint, and choosing principles over popularity”.
That’s exactly the issue I’ve had.
After being a high performer for 30+ years, I am interested to learn more about “The closer you get to the C‑suite, the less your value is doing the work and the more it is clarifying the problem, tradeoffs, and impact for everyone else.” It will be hard to convince my mindset that I no longer have to perform at a high level, because it appears that I do, just in a different capacity.
Love this!
Learning how to have healthy conflict (trading comfort for clarity) is something I wish I had learned years ago. It is key to success, especially as your lanes expand. The transition from high performer to enterprise leader requires a shift in mindset and I wish more people talked about that. You’re still performing at a high level, but the metrics by which your effectiveness is measured change.
“Your legacy is built in the opportunities you create, the standards you insist on, and the behavior you refuse to overlook in your highest performers.” Really great quote to reflect on for today. Loved this!! -Natalie Ortiz
The reality is that many people are both doing the work and trying to lead at the same time, which can lead to burnout and important tasks being overlooked. I’ve learned the value of delegation and building strong rapport with capable individuals. When you trust your team, things get done effectively, and it frees up your time to focus on higher priorities instead of overwhelming yourself with too many tasks. The key to being a good leader is building relationships with people who can help turn the final goal into reality.
I have been struggling for years and this is where I am at. I need to read this.
Interesting, can’t wait to read this book, compared to some other leadership books I’ve recently read.
Executives manage for alignment, which is priceless knowledge! Without alignment across an organization, you gradually tear it apart. The leader should consistently reinforce their organization’s vision and mission. They are the CRO, Chief Repeating Officer.
Sometimes, it takes a fair amount of listening and asking questions to help others untangle situations and see solutions.
Most people don’t think about legacy until it is too late. And, people tend to think of legacy in terms of materials or products. Legacy is also in the people you leave behind. Are they leading like you want them to lead, like you modeled for them. Do they embody the leadership characteristics you exemplified as their leader?
As a leader, Decision 2 really speaks to me, managing for harmony versus managing for alignment. As another commenter above mentioned as well, healthy conflict as a leader is not a bad thing. Thanks for this post.
Letting others do more (if not most) of the work has been certainly the most difficult aspect for me. This article is spot on!
As a young leader who has experienced growth and mentorship, Decision 1 echoes what I’ve been told time and again, especially this: “The closer you get to the C‑suite, the less your value is doing the work and the more it is clarifying the problem, tradeoffs, and impact for everyone else.” Too many people still associate climbing with grinding or hustling and get lost in busyness. Leaders learn to strategically prioritize and delegate, while also ensuring the work gets done by those who could use that as a growth opportunity. My main goal as a leader: Work myself out of a job by elevating those who I’m responsible for.
Managing for alignment and trading comfort for clarity – simple concepts that are difficult to implement but we should all aspire to do so. Great post!
” If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job. ” Clarity creates confidence and delaying the uncomfortable interaction is multiplying its discomfort
love the distinction between high-performers and enterprise leaders! I had not thought about it this way.
The best advice I have been given aligns with #1, stop doing and start leading. It is no longer about what you can do but how you lift others to their full potential.
The enterprise point is something all leaders need to hear. Very easy to confuse high performance with being an enterprise leader.
This line resonates with me “Your legacy is built in the opportunities you create, the standards you insist on, and the behavior you refuse to overlook in your highest performers.” We often talk about setting the bar and challenge people – this includes behaviors not just the output of work they are able to deliver.
Decision 1 seems to be the hardest. When you have lived your life as a high performer, it’s difficult to get out of that mindset. Some never do.
This decision was the most difficult for me: Decision 1: Stop acting like a high performer; start acting like an enterprise leader.
I became a school superintendent after being a high school principal in another district. I was still focused on what made me successful in that role UNTIL I our high school principal told me very directly “You’re not the principal here. You’re the superintendent. I’m sure you have other things to do.” He and I still laugh about it because it was 100% dead on correct. He is still the one person here I can count on to “smack my nose with a rolled up newspaper” when I devolve into high performer status instead of leader.
Decision 3: Lead like your legacy is being written now because it is.
This is the one that resonates with me currently. I have about 8 years until retirement and I’ve thought more about legacy the last year plus than anything else. What do I want to leave behind? What position do I want to leave the district in when I retire? What can I do today/this week/this month/this school year to impact that legacy?
Great post. Love the daily leadership tips and tricks. Thanks.
Spot on! Thank you for sharing your insight!
These are great! Wish I had known / understood them when I started in mgmt. Still learning and still growing!
Decision 3 here immediately reminds me of Captain America and his exposure to Vita-Rays. It made a good man, great.
Love trading comfort over clarity. The hard things are often the most uncomfortable and also the items that need the most clarity for the team to be successful. Great point!
As always, Dan, you provide great content! This guest post is very insightful and much appreciated! Thanks for giving me plenty to think about and reflect on.
Definitely sounds like this book is going in my Kindle
Great forward thinking stuff for me. Thanks!
As a rising leader, there comes a time when you have to stop working in the business and start working on the business. It’s a hard transition for “doers” but vital to provide the direction and vision needed keep the mission clear.
Spot on!! The second one spoke to me – that is a leader I want to work with and a team I want to be on!
“If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.”
“Your legacy is built in the opportunities you create, the standards you insist on, and the behavior you refuse to overlook in your highest performers.”
These quotes really capture what strong leadership looks like. Good leaders are not supposed to make everyone comfortable all the time. Sometimes growth, accountability, and high expectations create discomfort, but people should never be confused about the mission or what matters most.
The second quote is even more important. Leadership is not about what you say, it is about what you allow. Your legacy is built by the opportunities you create for others, the standards you hold people to, and the behaviors you refuse to ignore, especially from your top performers. That is what truly defines culture.
It strikes me that the idea of leadership traditionally is the best performers of tasks not vision rise to the top. This notion reverses that paradigm especially when seeking multistakeholder alignment rather than comfort between excellently performed tasks.
Wow, great post! I particularly loved this line: “If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.” That’s gold!
Great suggestions. Thanks
You always recommend a good read!
As an executive director working for a large family-owned business, these decision points resonate with me. Thanks for this great post.
Loved these quick insights!
great insights. no one really tells you how to get to the next level of leadership and it’s not always intuitive to high-performers.
Great information and insight on leadership!
The mental shift between high performer and enterprise leader is a critical shift. Some are able to make this change and others can’t. I will start thinking about we can assist through mentoring making this skill application possible. Thank you for the thoughts today!
I love these short leadership tips!
OMG! That first decision is absolutely on point. There can be such a fine line between high performer and enterprise leader. I think I’m going to frame this quote “If your team is sometimes uncomfortable but never confused about what matters, you’re doing your job.”
Inability to clarify/define the problem inevitably leads to wasted effort and time in attempting to solve the problem, when in fact, you probably made the initial problem more complex.
Very good article! To earn “a sit at the table” requires having a broader view and a change in mindset—to start measuring our value by the impact we make at the corporate level, not just measuring our personal output.
Another great read! This framing captures a gap many leadership development efforts miss: the shift from individual contribution to enterprise-level thinking is less about skill and more about mindset and decision posture. The emphasis on clarity over comfort especially resonates. Alignment requires making implicit tensions explicit, which many leaders are never trained to do well. It’s a strong reminder that leadership growth is less about adding competencies and more about recalibrating how value is defined and demonstrated.
I’ve found, both for both my personal roles as well as interacting with senior executives that what my grandmother told us as kids is still the best advice: You have two ears and one mouth. Don’t forget that.
So true! I love that these are described as invisible transitions. It is the change in mindset and intent that differentiates the executive leader. I look forward to reading the book.
These are phenomenal insights and I think you are 100%, they are rarely (if ever) addressed in leadership development programs. You’ve given me much to reflect on. I feel the need to consider to what extent I do or don’t do these things, and, if not, why not!
Reading them they seem so obvious, but how often we miss them. Sharing this with several folks.
I’m trying to apply the shared insights to public education and state government; I’m going to need to sit with these for a bit as there is no true c suite when your leadership is elected… but this column hasn’t let me down yet! Thank you!
Decision 2 can be expanded greatly – how well are you communicating? Are you understood at all levels or are you just spouting the usual symbiotic confusion?
Definitely interested in reading more about this
Highly applicable in higher ed. Interested in reading more!
If we (as leaders, CEOs, CFOs, etc.) don’t learn from our mistake in leadership, we are doomed to repeat them. The viewpoint in this post (in my humble opinion) is SPOT ON…………………….
I am in ministry, an industry where I probably won’t be a C-suite leader. But one thing I do know, regardless of industry is – when a leader gets better everyone gets better. it doesn’t matter where they are in the org chart
Decision 1: Stop acting like a high performer; start acting like an enterprise leader.
This plays out in so many spheres!