This transition is reported to be the most challenging of their career. This is a very sharp turn; a major shift in work values, time application, skills, and mindset is required. It's not simply a matter of becoming more strategic and cross‐functional, though it is important to continue developing these abilities rooted in the previous passage. No

Allowing underperforming leaders to remain in first‐line leadership jobs clogs the leadership pipeline at its source; it also can rob the company of high‐performing individual contributors. No one wants to work for a bad leader.

Figure 3.3. Consolidated Results for Leaders‐of‐Others.

Leaders‐of‐Leaders Translate Strategy into Operating Plans

Function leaders produce products or services or support that satisfy customers and create a competitive advantage for the business. Their compelling questions begin with “Can we … ?” Can we make it? Can we sell it? Can we attract the talent we want? Can we lower our costs without spoiling the product or service? Can we adopt the new technology? Ca

Important support activities will be ignored. Investment might be inadequate. The most appropriate mindset is “building a money‐making machine.” It will help business leaders understand that everything counts and they need help from their team.

The five roles are expressed as passages. Moving from one to the next is a major event in the life of a leader. It represents a significant transition that can't be learned in a day or by taking a generalized leadership course.

Day‐to‐day problem‐solving is important in function work. Business leaders have to give that up. Seeing the patterns of problems and their root cause is important to the business leader. Everyone else in the business is responsible, in one way or another, for solving them. The business leader makes systemic changes to keep problems from recurring.

Roles Remaining Undefined Most companies fail to create Leadership Portraits that are differentiated by leadership level. In fact, Leadership Portraits tend to be nonexistent. Required performance tends to be financial and operational rather than a complete set of performance requirements that include leadership results. Consequently, it's difficul