Why Your Best People Are Struggling as Leaders (Part 1 of 5)

What elite athletes can teach us about the leadership gap hiding in plain sight

The Hook

I've spent 38 years leading and coaching in nonprofit organizations, and I've seen the same pattern repeat itself in two very different scenarios.

Version 1: Your best program manager gets promoted to Program Director. They were exceptional—passionate about the mission, meticulous, consistently delivering results. Six months in, they're overwhelmed, their team is frustrated, and you're wondering what happened.

Version 2: You hire an experienced leader from another organization. Impressive resume, proven track record, came with strong references. A year in, key staff have left, morale is low, and the results don't match the promise.

In both cases, the struggle sounds the same: "I just can't seem to get everything done," or "My team doesn't seem to respect my leadership."

Here's what I learned from watching the Winter Olympics that changed how I think about both leadership transitions: Nobody tries to ski cross-country on one ski.

And yet, that's exactly what we ask when we promote program managers without developing their leadership capacity—or when we hire external achievers who haven't learned to earn respect in a new culture.

The Two Skis

Every leader has two skis:

•       The Achievement Ski: Mission delivery, program excellence, results, execution, technical expertise, strategic planning. Getting things done.

•       The Emotional Intelligence Ski: Connection, empathy, psychological safety, team development, reading what others need, building trust. Getting things done through people.

For promoted managers, they mastered the Achievement Ski as program staff. That's what got them noticed. For external hires, they mastered it in another context. That's what got them hired.

And for a while, both can keep moving forward on that one ski. They're hitting goals. Results look okay from a distance.

But here's the problem: They're off-balance, working three times harder than necessary or completely missing the culture that already exists, and heading toward burnout or team breakdown—often both.

What This Looks Like on the Ground

The promoted manager: Works 60-hour weeks because "the mission can't wait." Avoids difficult conversations until small issues become team crises. Stays in program work—it's comfortable—while leadership tasks pile up.

The external hire: Drives for results before earning trust. Brings "best practices" from their last organization without first understanding this one. Tells more than they ask. Wonders why people aren't getting on board. I’ve been here saying “this is what we did at my last job”. People stopped listening.

The common thread: Achievement dominant, with the EI ski dragging behind.

The Question Worth Asking

You're delivering the mission—but at what cost to your team, your culture, and your own sustainability?

Why This Matters to You as a Leader or a Hiring Manager

If you're an Executive Director deciding who to promote or hire: The selection criteria you use today will determine whether your next leader builds a thriving team or quietly bleeds your best staff out the door.

If you're a leader in transition: The skills that got you here are real and valuable. But they're not sufficient for where you're going.

If you're a board member: Turnover among mid-level and senior staff is expensive, demoralizing, and mission-threatening. It often traces back to a leadership development gap that was never addressed.

The good news: Both skis are learnable. The question is whether you're intentional about developing them—or hoping they'll emerge on their own.

📣 Call to Action

What pattern do you recognize here—the promoted manager, the external hire, or both? Drop a comment below. And follow along for Part 2, where we go deeper into why success itself often becomes the obstacle.