
May 22 Change Starts with Choice
Leadership isn’t about waiting for the dust to settle in today’s unpredictable economy and ever-changing business landscape. It’s about making a choice—every day—to lead yourself and your organization to higher ground, no matter how uncertain the terrain may seem.
Many professionals plateau not due to a lack of capability but because they stop choosing to grow. They rely on past successes, stick to outdated routines, or shy away from challenges that could stretch them. Leaders who begin to plateau are in decline because others are advancing more rapidly. The leaders who consistently rise to the top don’t wait for success to occur—they actively design it, one intentional decision at a time.
So, how do you intentionally design the next level? Let’s begin with you—because the performance of your team and organization will never exceed the performance of the person at the top.
Upleveling Yourself Begins with Clarity and Courage.
The highest-performing leaders do not leave their development to chance. They regularly audit their behavior, challenge their assumptions, and intentionally decide how they want to present themselves. They ask tough questions such as:\
- What am I tolerating that keeps me from being exceptional?
- Am I making bold choices or safe ones?
- Where am I relying on past successes instead of developing new strengths?
These are not casual reflections; they are strategic prompts that differentiate high-growth leaders from those who plateau.
The professionals I coach often express feeling stuck, not due to a lack of ambition but because they haven’t created space to reassess. They’ve built their entire identity around what made them successful in the past, without recalibrating for the current reality.
Suppose you’re serious about elevating your impact. In that case, it’s time to make new decisions about how you lead, how you communicate, how you prioritize, and how you challenge yourself to stretch beyond what’s comfortable. The next version of your leadership doesn’t appear by accident; you unlock it through intentional effort, courageous action, and a willingness to evolve.
Elevating Your Team Requires Deliberate Energy
Once you begin to operate at a higher level, your team will either rise with you or reveal where they have been coasting. That presents a powerful opportunity. I’ve seen it happen repeatedly.
The most effective leaders don’t just focus on their performance—they ignite a culture of performance. They foster an environment where initiative, innovation, and accountability are expected, not optional. That’s why they begin to achieve outstanding organizational results.
But let’s be clear: this doesn’t happen by pushing harder or setting bigger goals. It occurs when you foster clarity, demonstrate strategic thinking, and cultivate an environment for honest feedback.
Ask yourself:
- Which team members encourage my growth, and which ones do I need to challenge to take initiative?
- Have I fostered an environment where it’s safe to speak up and take initiative, or are people participating merely to avoid losing?
Great leaders develop other great leaders, create succession pipelines, mentor the next level of decision-makers, and ensure the team is not just hitting targets—it’s evolving in capability, confidence, and agility.
Upleveling Your Organization Requires a Vision Focused on the Future
In times of disruption, the temptation is to double down on what has always worked. However, that instinct is dangerous. Organizations that thrive during volatility are those led by professionals willing to innovate, reframe, and evolve—before they’re forced to.
This starts by reimagining what success looks like. What does your organization need to become 18 months from now? How must your strategies, talent, and culture evolve to reach that point?
Now is the time to revisit your leadership DNA and align it with your future—not your past. At Hathorn Consulting Group, we work with clients to strengthen their internal leadership pipeline using our Predictable Promotion® System. We understand that growth becomes unsustainable without the right people prepared to step into larger roles.
Culture also plays a crucial role. If your environment does not reward innovation, empower decision-making, and cultivate trust, no strategy will successfully endure execution. High-performing cultures are not born—they are crafted.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need a crisis to create change. You just need to make a decision.
Choose to take a different approach to leadership.
Make a deliberate choice to grow intentionally.
Choose to raise expectations for yourself and others—regardless of what is happening in the marketplace.
Although the economy may be unpredictable, your leadership can remain steady.
And that decision? It’s up to you to make today.
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