Leading While Becoming and What Got You Here Won’t Get You to the Next Level
Written by Beverly K. Johnson, Health & Wellness Coach
Beverly K. Johnson is a Certified Health Coach and transformation strategist. She helps midlife women reinvent their wellness, leadership, and identity with grace and purpose. I teach alignment over hustle and resilience over burnout.
At some point in our careers, we realize that the habits that helped us succeed may not be the ones we want or need as we move forward. For years, people have learned that success comes from working hard, being reliable, taking initiative, solving problems, accepting responsibility, pushing through challenges, and doing what others might avoid.
Those qualities work.
These qualities create opportunities, build our reputations, and help us move forward. They shape how others see us and how we see ourselves. But eventually, things change. The next level is not about doing more, but about changing who you are.
The leader I learned to be
When I graduated from college, I started my career as a military officer. I was eager to learn, ready to lead, and wanted to prove I belonged. The military taught me discipline, accountability, the value of preparation, resilience, and how to make decisions under pressure.
Those abilities have been very useful to me throughout the years.
Even after leaving the military, my approach to leadership stayed the same. I would assess the situation, make a plan, carry it out, and keep moving forward. But a strong foundation should not hold you back.
Now, as I move into a new stage of my career, I’ve had to rethink what I’ve learned. It’s not that those lessons were wrong, but leadership now asks more from me.
Earlier in my career, I could keep going, take responsibility, solve problems, finish the job, and handle the pressure. These traits helped me grow. But I’ve learned that leadership isn’t always about carrying the heaviest load.
Sometimes, leadership means knowing when to let go of certain responsibilities.
When your strengths become your default
Throughout your career, you have been praised for being dependable, always available, rarely complaining, and the one who can handle everything.
Over time, being capable can turn into taking on too much. Striving for excellence can lead to burnout. Being dependable can make us feel we must always be available. Because we’ve praised these habits before, we might not stop to ask if they still help us.
The idea of changing as a leader can feel uncomfortable. The challenge ahead might not be a weakness to fix, but a strength you need to use in a new way.
What got you here won't get you there
At some point, leadership is about more than adding new skills, certifications, or achievements to your resume.
It calls for self-reflection:
What did I have to become to get to this point?
What did that version of myself think about success?
What did she think she had to prove?
What does leadership require of me now?
Earlier in our careers, we measured progress by reaching certain milestones: getting invited to meetings, landing the job, joining important discussions, or having our expertise recognized. At one time, just being in the room felt like success. I wanted the action, the deadlines, the responsibilities, and the chance to prove myself.
Now, I don’t feel I need to be in every room. This doesn’t mean I’m less ambitious; it means I’m more selective. Even capability needs limits.
Leadership can look softer and still be strong
For many successful leaders, growth can look like working less. They change how they show up at work, delegate more, guard their time, ask more questions instead of giving quick answers, focus their energy, and sometimes leave things unfinished so others can learn.
Mature leadership doesn’t always mean taking action. Sometimes, it shows up as restraint. It can mean making space for others instead of taking it, or trusting people instead of always stepping in to help.
It’s about knowing the difference between what you can do and what you should do. Most importantly, your value as a leader isn’t measured by how tired you are.
Becoming may disappoint people
There’s another part of growing as a leader we rarely talk about: not everyone will welcome the new you. If you’re known for always saying yes, your “no” might unsettle people. If you’ve always been available, setting boundaries can seem distant. If you’ve always fixed everything, stepping back may frustrate those who relied on you. Growth can make you less convenient, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
One of the hardest parts of change is resisting the urge to return to an old version of yourself just because it made others comfortable. Growing as a leader takes self-awareness to notice old habits and courage to make new choices.
You don't have to reject who you were
There is no need to criticize the person we used to be; I have by no means discarded the disciplined young officer who acquired leadership skills all those years ago. I still require her. Her courage remains with me. So does her preparation. Likewise, her resilience, responsibility, and readiness to move forward when action is needed are still deeply embedded in my character.
I’m grateful for who I was, but she doesn’t need to lead every situation now. The person I’m becoming takes a new approach. She knows that being selective can be as powerful as being disciplined, that boundaries and excellence can go together, that rest doesn’t mean less ambition, that delegating isn’t weakness, that sometimes listening is better than giving directions, and that leadership isn’t about how much you carry alone.
The courage to lead while becoming
A wise leader knows it’s not just about carrying the load, but also about knowing when to set it down. If leadership feels different lately, it doesn’t mean you’re losing your edge. You might be stepping into a new way of leading. The real question is not, "How can I keep leading the same way?" but "Who do I need to become to lead in a new direction?"
The next stage of leadership may not require you to do more. It may ask you to become a different version of yourself.
Read more from Beverly K. Johnson
Beverly K. Johnson, Health & Wellness Coach
Beverly K. Johnson is a Certified Health Coach, speaker, and midlife wellness strategist helping women navigate hormonal transitions, workplace burnout, and identity shifts with resilience and clarity. Drawing from her background in wellness, leadership, and personal transformation, she developed the MindBodySoul Reset, a science-informed framework for sustainable wellbeing. Beverly’s work bridges emotional intelligence, hormonal health, and intentional leadership to support high-performing women in thriving personally and professionally. She writes about reinvention, alignment, and the evolving landscape of women’s wellness.
