There has been much made for many years around company loyalty, the job market and being a leader and looking to move on.
Leader Loneliness
As a leader, you are under so many more pressures than your team and colleagues realise and will even know.
You keep it bottled up and find one or two people you can vent or download on to.
Team Before Me
Many times as a leader you have to make calls that are best for the team.
Rarely are you given the opportunity to make the calls that are good for you specifically.
Obviously bad and inexperienced managers do put themselves first.
As a leader (not a manager) you make decisions to empower those around you and move towards the department or company targets.
Often as a leader, it can feel like you are too busy to think about your career, you often end up neglecting opportunities to develop your own career, you tend to put those around you or the business first. When you get a chance to look up it can feel like you are going backwards.
Realisation
There comes a time when almost all leaders have that realisation. You will often realise the company is just not what it was or going where you want it to go or it’s just not for you anymore.
This can feel more daunting the higher up you go. Especially in more recent times with lockdowns and pandemics.
Questions From Leadership Team
You might have experienced this first hand or likely have asked it as a leader…are you committed to the company?
There is also only so many times someone can truly disagree and commit.
Knowing when it’s your time
When you realise it is your time to leave, you are actively making the decision to improve the company culture, often when we know we are looking we have the tendency do drop the ball or have passed to the wrong player. It is also completely fine to look to leave for a better company fit for you.
So a new year can be a fresh start, you can look to leave and as many won’t suggest it is good to understand the market, understand or remember your value or worth, remember in no rules rules, Netflix actively encourage you to go for other interviews and understand your value.
Leaders Lead
Do not let questions from other leaders or do what people expect to hold you back. A leader has to lead, and typically it has to start with yourself. So yes, it is always to leave, even if you are the CEO.
The important thing to remember is to leave your company or organisation in a great place and set them up to succeed for as possible.