You Earned the Title, But Are You Leading Like It?

The transition from top producer to VP is one of the most disorienting moves in professional services, not because the leader lacks capability, but because the skills that earned the promotion are different from the skills the role now demands. Laurie Fenske, MCC and Executive Leadership Coach, works with VPs navigating exactly this gap. In her experience, the struggle is neither unusual nor a character flaw — it is structural. And the path forward begins not with a new tactic, but with a new understanding of what leading at the VP level actually requires.

Why High Performers Struggle After Promotion

I know this transition personally. I spent 25 years in leadership roles across financial services before building my executive coaching practice, and for more than a decade I have worked with leaders navigating significant moments in their careers. One pattern I see repeatedly is that the move to VP isn't simply a promotion with more responsibility. It is a fundamentally different leadership role.

The challenge is that no one necessarily tells you that. You receive the title, the responsibilities and the expectations, but rarely do you have a conversation about what needs to change in the way you lead.

Research from the Center for Creative Leadership, dating back to its 1989 research on executive derailment, found that approximately 30–50% of high-potential managers and executives derail at some point during their careers. Importantly, this is a career-level finding—not a statistic about failure within the first 18 months of a new role. CCL's research also highlights an important paradox: strengths that contribute to success in one environment can become liabilities when circumstances change.

McKinsey research has similarly found that the failure rate among newly hired or promoted executives has historically been around 40%, based on a compilation of landmark studies. Those underlying studies included: 1999 Bradford Smart, Topgrading; 2005 Mark Murphy, Leadership IQ study; 2008 Institute of Executive Development/Alexcel, Executive Transitions Market Study 2006/2009 George Bradt, Jayme Check & Jorge Pedraza, The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan

The research points to an important distinction: these transitions are not necessarily failing because the individual lacks intelligence, experience or capability. Often, leaders struggle because they have not adapted how they lead to the demands of the new role.

That distinction matters. When we believe the problem is that we aren't capable enough, our natural response is to try to become better at what we already know. Working harder, learning more, we look to add another strategy. But what if the more important question isn't "What else do I need to learn?", what if it is "What do I need to let go of?".

When What Made You Successful Starts Working Against You

Think about what made you successful before the promotion. Perhaps you were the person who always had the answer. Maybe you were the strongest technical expert on the team. Perhaps you were the top salesperson, the person clients requested, or the person everyone turned to when something needed to get done. Those qualities created your reputation and identity. So when you step into a VP role, it is completely understandable that you continue operating in the same way. You stay close to the client. You review the proposal. You join the meeting. You solve the problem. You make the decision.

And because you can often do these things faster than anyone else, it can feel like the right thing to do.

But there is a question worth sitting with: What happens to your team when you are always the answer? When a leader consistently steps in, the team can gradually learn to step back. People become less comfortable making decisions. Problems move upward. Eventually, the leader becomes the bottleneck without ever intending to be.

This is one of the most difficult realizations for a high performer because the behavior usually comes from a positive place. You care, are committed and want things done well. But leadership at the VP level isn't about proving how capable you are. It is about creating the conditions for other people to become capable. That is a very different measure of success.

What the Shift Looks Like

The transition from high performer to VP is not about becoming less capable. It is about changing where and how your capability creates value.

The shift can feel subtle from the outside. You may still attend important meetings. You may still make significant decisions. Your expertise still matters. But again, the question changes from "How do I get this done?" to "What does my team need from me for this to get done well?" Instead of immediately answering a question, you might ask, "What do you think?" Instead of taking over a difficult situation, you might ask, "What options have you considered?" Rather then telling someone what you would do, you create the space for them to develop their own recommendation.

And sometimes, the most powerful leadership decision is to pause. That pause can feel uncomfortable—especially when you know the answer. But that discomfort may be exactly where development begins.

The Identity Shift

When I work with leaders experiencing this transition, I don't begin by telling them they need to delegate more. Delegation may be part of the answer, but I am usually more interested in what is underneath the behavior. What does it mean to you to be the person who has the answer? How comfortable are you when someone on your team approaches a problem differently than you would?

What happens when you aren't involved in a decision? Where are you still proving your value through what you personally accomplish? And perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all: If you aren't the person doing the work anymore, how will you know that you are valuable? For a high performer, that can be a surprisingly difficult question. When your career has rewarded you for being knowledgeable, dependable and highly capable, stepping back can feel almost unnatural. You may intellectually understand that your role has changed while emotionally still feeling responsible for doing the work.

The title has changed. The identity hasn't necessarily caught up. And until it does, it can be difficult to truly lead at the level the role requires.

From Control to Capacity

One of the greatest fears I hear from new VPs is that stepping back means losing control. It is understandable. When you are personally involved in everything, you know what is happening. You know the details. You know the decisions. But that isn't necessarily control. It may simply be dependence.

There is another kind of control—one built on clarity, accountability and capability. People understand what they own. They know which decisions belong to them and when they need to involve you. They understand the outcomes they are accountable for. Most importantly, they have developed the confidence and capability to operate without you being involved in every step.

That kind of leadership requires trust, and trust requires courage. Because you have to be willing to allow someone to do something differently than you would—and sometimes allow them to make a mistake that you could have prevented. That doesn't mean lowering your standards, instead it means recognizing that developing capable people requires giving them enough space to actually become capable.

You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone

There is another part of this transition that isn't talked about enough. It can be lonely. You may not feel comfortable telling your team that you're uncertain. You may not want your peers to know that the new role isn't feeling as natural as you expected. And you certainly don't want anyone questioning whether promoting you was the right decision. So you keep going, you work harder, you become more involved, telling yourself you'll figure it out, and to be fair, sometimes you do.

McKinsey's research (referenced above) on executive transitions found that more than 90% of CEOs who struggled with their transition wished they had managed it differently. While that research specifically concerns CEOs rather than VPs, it reinforces an important point: waiting until the struggle becomes significant can make an executive transition much harder than it needs to be.

Seeking support isn't an admission that you aren't ready. It can actually be evidence that you are taking the role seriously enough to be intentional about how you grow into it. In my experience, the leaders who navigate transition most effectively aren't necessarily the ones who have all the answers. They are the ones willing to get curious. They seek feedback. They examine their patterns. They ask, "What am I doing that is no longer serving me—or my team?" That is leadership development.

The Real Promotion

Perhaps we need to think differently about what a promotion to VP actually means. It isn't simply recognition for everything you have accomplished, it is an invitation into a different way of creating impact. Your expertise, experience and ability to get results still matters. But now your value is also found in the clarity you create, the decisions you make, the culture you influence and the people you develop.

You move from being the person who solves the problem to becoming the person who creates the conditions for the problem to be solved. You move from having the answers to creating better questions, being needed for everything to building a team that can thrive without you in the middle of it. This requires a shift in identity.

Your promotion did not require you to become someone else, it requires you to become more intentional about how you use what you already have. So if you are in that transition right now and find yourself thinking, "I should be better at this by now," I would invite you to pause.

Maybe the question isn't whether you are good enough for the role, maybe the question is: Who do I need to become to lead well from here? That is a very different question, and it can be the beginning of a very different kind of leadership.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it normal to feel underprepared when you first move into a VP role?

Absolutely. Executive transitions are genuinely demanding. CCL research has found that 30–50% of high-potential leaders and executives derail at some point in their careers, while McKinsey research has historically placed the failure rate among newly hired or promoted executives at around 40%.

Lombardo, M. M., & Eichinger, R. W. (1989). Preventing Derailment: What to Do Before It’s Too Late. Center for Creative Leadership. McKinsey & Company (2016). Making a Successful Transition to CEO.

Feeling challenged by the transition doesn't necessarily mean you are failing. It may simply mean the role is asking you to lead differently.

How long does it take to feel settled in a VP role?

There is no universal timeline. The transition depends on the individual, the organization, the complexity of the role and the support available.

Rather than asking, "Should I have this figured out by now?" I encourage leaders to ask, "What am I learning about this role that I couldn't have known before I stepped into it?" That question moves you from judgment to curiosity.

What is the difference between leadership coaching and leadership training?

Training gives you frameworks, information and tools. Coaching gives you space to think. Coaching allows you to examine what is actually happening in your leadership, challenge assumptions, explore possibilities and translate insight into action. For a VP navigating an identity-level transition, that application matters. The work isn't simply learning what good leadership looks like. It is discovering what your leadership needs to look like now.

When should a VP seek leadership coaching?

You don't have to wait until something is wrong. Perhaps your calendar is still filled with work you should no longer be doing. Perhaps your team keeps bringing you problems instead of recommendations. Perhaps you are working harder but your impact isn't increasing.

Or perhaps nothing is particularly wrong—you simply recognize that the leader who got you here isn't necessarily the leader you need to become next. That awareness is enough to begin the conversation.

Does coaching work for technically strong leaders who are newer to people leadership?

Yes. Technical expertise is an important source of credibility, but it is only one part of leadership. The deeper work is learning how to create clarity, build trust, develop capability, navigate difficult conversations and create the conditions for other people to succeed. You don't have to become less of an expert. You have to learn how to use your expertise in a way that makes the people around you stronger.

Laurie Fenske works with VPs in professional services who are navigating exactly this transition — the move from high performer to intentional leader. If this article describes something you are living right now, her profile on Dream Coach Match is a direct way to explore what the work looks like.

Find Laurie Fenske on Dream Coach Match