If you’re just joining our Book Club series, you’ll want to start here.  

Welcome back.  

So…. what do you think of the book?  It’s pretty comprehensive, so we’ll bite off a chapter a week to keep it manageable.    

This week we're checking out the introduction.  

I’m an executive coach, so I’ll walk through the chapter like I would when working with a client.  There may be concepts I skip that are perfect for you, so I encourage you to include those in your notes.   

Okay......let’s dive in. 

1.  Vulnerability:  

The first few pages paint a pretty dark picture of leadership transitions.  In my experience, few clients fail outright in those first months.  But they are tough.    

This is a time of "acute vulnerability”.  Leadership transitions are the most challenging times in a leaders career. (p. 16*)      

There's not much you can do much about the vulnerability for reasons discussed on p. 16.  You don’t know what your job includes, working relationships are new and you're learning so much so fast……. Oh - and you get to do it all with your boss, your team and others watching closely.  

Vulnerability sucks.  Especially at work.  

For clients I’ve worked with, it’s helped to know that overwhelm, self-doubt, anxiety and a host of other crappy emotions are normal.  This can come a shock to senior leaders who’ve sailed through transitions their entire  careers.  To experience this for the first time as a new VP or CXO is hard.  But not uncommon.          

In those dark moments, it helps to have a couple of pep talks ready.  Remember, you're smart. That’s why they hired you.  You’ve been through transitions before.  You figured it out.  You’ll do it again.

2.  Transitions:

This sections digs a little deeper into transitions.  Turns out there are dozens of transitions and combinations.  There are common transitions like a new job, new company, promotion…. There's also hidden transitions as well as other's transitions that impact you. (p. 16)  

What kind of transitions have you been through?           

If you can spare a few minutes, list the professional transitions you’ve been through in the past 10 years.  Next list any hidden transitions.  And last, list transitions of others that have impacted you.  (You could work through Table 1.1 on p.25 too.)

Done?  How many transitions did you come up with?  My guess is quite a few.  And during each of those experiences you’ve learned more than you may realize. 

It's helpful to “know what you know”.  As you go through the book, let’s draw from this knowledge to make your transition easier.    

Now, what about your current transition?  New job?  Promotion?  Hidden?  What combination of transitions are you going to be facing?  Knowing this will give you a deeper understanding of the challenges ahead.   

3.  Break-even point

While I like the concept of break-even (p.17),  let’s adapt it.  Break-even can be that point where you’ve got your sea legs,  the feeling of being off balance is gone.  You’re waking up and heading in to work feeling that old confidence again. You’re starting to make the role your own. 

Let’s think of break-even as your destination.  We’ll use the book and these posts to get you there as quickly and enjoyably as possible.

4.  Transition traps

And last but not least is a preview of what lies ahead.  It begins with a summary on transition traps (p.18)  followed by chapter summaries on p. 22.   In case it’s not clear, each chapter will give you the information you need to avoid the transition traps. 

Wrapping up

That’s my take on the introduction.   I skipped a few things like the vicious/virtuous cycles.  They aren’t for me, but may be a great concept for you.   

That’s it for the Intro.  Next week Chapter 1. 

 *Page numbers:  I’m using an e-book on Google Books, so my page numbers may be a little different than yours.  They should be close though