For a long time in my career, tenacity was one of the strengths people most often associated with my leadership. It showed up as staying with difficult problems, pushing through uncertainty, and not backing away when the work became complex or uncomfortable. In fast-moving environments and high-stakes roles, that persistence helped me deliver results and earn trust. It was a strength I relied on, and for good reason. This strength was reinforced for me by feedback from my managers and then leaders, as well as seeing the outsized results I delivered.
What I did not see at first was how that same strength began to shift as my role expanded.
As I moved into leading other leaders, the work was no longer only about solving problems or getting initiatives over the line. It was about creating the conditions for other leaders to think well, decide well, and grow into their own judgment.
That is when I started to notice the “Flip Side” of tenacity.
There were situations where I stayed in the trenches longer than I should have … not because my involvement added value, but because I was used to solving challenges by working more or trying harder. Instead of providing perspective, my persistence sometimes sent the message that endurance mattered more than strategy.
The realization that it wasn’t always the best approach was a hard pill to swallow, but an important one. It changed how I think about strengths at senior levels.
Strengths have a Multiplier Effect
For leaders of leaders, your strengths no longer just influence your personal effectiveness. They shape how decisions get made across the organization and what behaviors are rewarded or repeated.
When coaching leaders, I’ve found that strengths rarely become problems because they are “wrong.” They become problematic because they are overused, or because the leader hasn’t adjusted how that strength needs to show up at a broader level.
The Leader of Leaders Evolution Matrix
Instead of looking at these as “good” or “bad” traits, think of them as tools that require finer calibration as your scope grows.
| The Strength | The “Doing” Value (What got you here) | The Flip Side (The Risk) |
| Tenacity | You can outwork any problem and stay in the “uncomfortable” longer than anyone else. | Staying in the trenches too long. You signal that “grinding it out” matters more than knowing when to pivot or call it a day. |
| High Ownership | You are the ultimate “safe pair of hands.” Nothing falls through the cracks on your watch. | Becoming the bottleneck. You unintentionally train your leaders to wait for your “okay” instead of building their own judgment. |
| Decisiveness | You’re the “momentum maker.” You keep the engine running and the team moving forward. | Oxygen-sucking. You close the door on dissent so fast that your team stops bringing you the “messy” truths you actually need to hear. |
| Strategic Thinking | You see the horizon and connect dots that others haven’t even noticed yet. | The “Abstract Gap.” You’re living in 2027 while your team is starving for enough tactical clarity to get through next Tuesday. |
| High Standards | You protect the brand and the quality. “Good enough” isn’t in your vocabulary. | The “Learning Chill.” You create an environment where people are so afraid of a “B-” that they stop experimenting entirely. |
What This Looks Like in Practice
High Ownership
In the past, “owning it” was your superpower. But at this level, if you own everything, your leaders own nothing. You become the point where speed goes to die.
- The Shift: Ask yourself: What outcome could I hand over entirely, even if the “how” makes me a little twitchy?
Decisiveness
Decisiveness feels like efficiency, but sometimes it’s just a way to avoid the messiness of a real challenge. As a leader of leaders, you aren’t just making choices; you’re teaching a system how to think.
- The Shift: Make room for the “challenge” before the decision settles. If you decide too fast, you’re essentially telling your team to leave their best thinking at the door.
Strategic Thinking
Strategic leaders often see what others miss. The challenge comes when thinking stays at the abstract level for too long.
- The Shift: One practical habit is to pair every high-level strategy with a small number of clear, “boots on the ground” choices that others can act on immediately.
The Real Shift for Leaders of Leaders
What changes as scope grows is not the value of your strengths, but the way they need to be applied. Leadership at this level is less about doing more of what made you successful earlier, and more about knowing when to temper, redirect, or create space so others can step into their own leadership.
Your strengths still matter. They just need to be used with judgment.
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