Things Leaders Do
Things Leaders Do is the go-to podcast for leaders who want real, actionable strategies—not just theory. Whether you're a new leader stepping into management or a seasoned executive refining your skills, host Colby Morris delivers practical tools and processes you can start using today to lead with confidence, clarity, and impact.
Each episode breaks down key leadership topics with humor, insight, and real-world application, covering:
✅ How to communicate effectively and build trust in your team
✅ The secrets to high-performance leadership and team culture
✅ Handling setbacks and leading under pressure
✅ How to be a people-first leader without losing accountability
✅ Mastering the balance between strategy, execution, and influence
No fluff. No vague concepts. Just tactical advice that helps you grow as a leader and drive real results in your business or organization.
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🔑 Keywords: leadership, leadership development, new managers, executive coaching, team culture, business growth, personal development, management strategies, communication skills, success, accountability, productivity
Things Leaders Do
Promoting High Performers: The Hidden Risks and Strategies for Success
Show Notes: Promoting High Performers: The Hidden Risks and Strategies for Success
Episode Summary:
Promoting top performers into leadership roles may seem like the natural next step, but what happens when they struggle—or worse, when they never wanted to lead in the first place? In this episode, we explore why great individual contributors don’t always make great leaders, how leadership requires an entirely different skill set, and what organizations can do to better prepare their people for leadership before handing them the title.
Drawing from a personal leadership mistake early in my career, I share how I promoted an exceptional performer into a leadership role—only to realize too late that I had set them up for failure. We’ll also discuss the Michael Jordan principle—why the greatest players aren’t always the best coaches—and how leaders can ensure they’re making the right decisions when it comes to promotions.
If you’re a leader responsible for hiring or promoting team members, this episode will give you practical strategies to assess readiness, develop future leaders, and create career growth paths that don’t force people into roles they don’t want.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why high performance in a role doesn’t automatically translate to leadership success
- How to identify whether someone wants to lead before promoting them
- Actionable ways to develop leaders before they step into leadership positions
- The difference between a Leadership Track and a Mastery Track and why every company should have both
- How to avoid treating leadership as a reward instead of a responsibility
Key Takeaways:
- Ask before you promote: Ensure your top performers actually want to lead and understand the challenges of leadership.
- Prepare leaders early: Use mentoring, shadowing, and leadership opportunities before promoting someone.
- Offer alternative career paths: Not everyone wants to manage people—some thrive in roles where they continue growing as individual contributors.
Resources & Next Steps:
- Let’s connect on LinkedIn: Colby's LinkedIn
- If you found value in this episode, subscribe and share it with another leader who could benefit.
- Looking for a leadership speaker or training for your organization? Contact Colby Here
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Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you Now. Here's your host, colby Morris. Is you Now? Here's your host, colby.
Speaker 2:Morris. I was sitting across from him one afternoon and I remember he just looked at me and said Colby, I don't think I want to do this. That's when it hit me. I had made a huge mistake. Just two months earlier I'd promoted Jake, my highest performer. He hit literally every target. He outworked everyone, solved every problem that came his way. Naturally, when a leadership position opened up, I didn't even hesitate. Jake was my guy. I promoted him immediately. But now the team was in chaos. Deadlines were slipping, performance was down, morale worse, and Jake, he was drowning. The pressure of leadership had turned his dream job into something he didn't even want anymore.
Speaker 2:Too often we think leadership is the natural next step for our best performers. It makes sense on paper, right? I mean, if someone is the Michael Jordan of their role, they should be the next coach. Right Wrong, Because great players don't always make great coaches. Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time, but you don't see him coaching in the NBA. Why? Because playing the game at a high level and leading others to do the same are two completely different skill sets. And here's what I've learned the hard way Just because someone is great at what they do doesn't mean they want or are prepared to lead others to do it.
Speaker 2:There's three big reasons why this happens. Number one they were never prepared for leadership. Leading leadership requires new skills coaching, delegation, accountability. But if someone has only been trained to perform and not to lead, they step into a role unprepared and usually unsupported. Think about it. Did you train them on how to have tough conversations, how to manage conflict, how to lead peers who were once their equals, or did you just assume they'd figure it out? Number two they never wanted to be leaders in the first place.
Speaker 2:Some people love being great at what they do and that's enough for them. They don't want meetings, conflict resolution or responsibility for an entire team's success. When we promote someone because we think it's what's best for them, without asking them if that's what they actually want, we set them up for failure. Them up for failure. Number three we assume leadership is a reward and not a responsibility. We often treat promotions like prizes hey, you've worked really hard, here's your next step. But leadership isn't a reward. It's a completely different role. If we promote someone thinking we're doing them a favor, we missed the point. Leadership isn't about more money or a better title. It's about serving others, and not everyone wants to serve in that way. So how do you fix it? How do we put this together so that it makes sense? Okay, these are your action points. Number one ask before you promote, Before assuming that your top performer is your next leader, sit down and have a real conversation.
Speaker 2:Ask them do you see yourself leading one day? Does anything excite you about leadership or what concerns you? If their answers are hesitant, they're probably not ready. A great exercise is to let them shadow a leader for a week. Let them sit in on those tough conversations, decision-making meetings or the day-to-day reality of leadership. Often, this alone will reveal whether they truly want that role.
Speaker 2:Number two develop leaders before you need them. Don't wait for a leadership role to open up. You have to start training your high performers now. Now, yes, I did say high performers, because I'm not looking for my low performers to be leaders. That's just a non-starter. Give them mentoring opportunities. Let them lead like a small project or expose them to some leadership challenges before they're thrown into the deep end. One simple way to do this is by assigning them a junior team member, maybe even a new hire to coach. If they enjoy that mentoring, they might be leadership material. If they avoid it or they struggle, that's a sign they may not want to lead.
Speaker 2:And then, number three create two career paths leadership and mastery. I love this. This is one of those things not a lot of organizations do and not a lot of leaders do. Again, not every great player wants to coach, and that's okay. But instead of forcing leadership as the only way to grow, create two paths. The first, the leadership track, For those who want to manage people and develop teams. They want to become better leaders, they want to serve people. They go into the leadership track. And then there's the mastery track for those who want to grow in their expertise and they want to impact as individual contributors, but they don't really want to serve others. They don't really want to have the other or additional responsibilities, they just want to be really good at what they do. A great example of this is in the tech industry, where software engineers can become either engineering managers or principal engineers. The first leads people, the second leads through expertise. This allows top performers to advance without being forced into leadership roles that they really just don't want.
Speaker 2:If you're a leader, your job isn't just to fill positions. It's to place people where they'll thrive. Leadership should be a calling, not an obligation. So before you promote your Michael Jordan, you have to ask yourself what's the point? Are they ready, Are they willing? Are they meant to lead? If not, just man, just let them ingrate at what they do, Because sometimes the best way to lead is to know when not to promote. And that's tough for a lot of us, because we depend on our high performers and we just naturally assume that those are the next set of leaders. I know I'm kind of repeating myself, but I can't stress this enough that it's one of those things that leaders always do they promote people without preparing them, without even asking them if it's what they want to do. You can't force your promotion or what you think that person should be upon them. You're not them. So just because you think they should promote doesn't mean that they want that too, and you've got to take that into consideration. So, yes, I did skip up my normal routine today.
Speaker 2:For those of you who are new, my name is colby morris, I'm the host of the tld podcast and those of you who are coming back, welcome back. Leaders. I appreciate everything that you do. I appreciate you listening. This is my goal. It's to help you be a better leader faster.
Speaker 2:I want to help you not make the same mistakes I did as a leader when I was new and I've led literally every line of leadership you can think of. I've been that new manager, I've been that middle manager and I've been an executive, and it's one of those things that if I can just help you skip that learning phase where you don't make the same stupid mistakes. I do like promoting Jake before he needed to be promoted, then I've done my job. I want to help you skip those stupid learning lessons that we don't always have to learn the hard way. So again, I appreciate you listening.
Speaker 2:If there's any way I can help you, I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn is in the show notes as well as my email and if there's a way I can help you with keynote speaking or training your managers or just any way that I can do that, please let me know. Reach out to me, I'd love to help. So go out there, lead well. And again, remember, sometimes the best way to lead is to know when not to promote. And you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do. If you're looking for more tips on how to be a better leader, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode. Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.