Whether you are the high potential who receives the news or the executive who delivers it, everyone feels good when he hears or says, “Congratulations—we have an amazing new assignment for you. It’s an opportunity to confirm that you are a rising star.”

Exciting? Yes, but any new opportunity also entails new risks. Research consistently shows that nearly half of high-potential executives fail to reach their full potential. The fancy name for it is midcareer derailment. Considering that the derailment usually occurs within eighteen months of a major promotion, perhaps you should wait a while before uncorking the champagne. As the high potential who is being promoted or who is promoting others, you need to be prepared and clearheaded. But prepared for what? Armed with which skills and perspectives?

For starters, look at the subtle messages embedded in the typical statement that follows the promotion of a high-potential executive: “I have no doubt that you’re up to this new challenge. But if you run into a problem, call my assistant, and he’ll squeeze you into my calendar.”

If you are on the delivery side of this conversation, your lack of active involvement is setting the high potential adrift to succeed or fail alone—you have not provided leadership. If you are on the listening side, we hope you realize that you should expect little assistance from your boss—which should scare you because, at a minimum, you need a conversation about expectations, your boss’s and yours. If instead you take the statement as a sign of the boss’s confidence that you can handle the new assignment simply by doing more of what you did in the past, then keep your resume up-to-date, because you may well find yourself among the half who are looking for another job within eighteen months.

High Potentials Don’t Know What They Don’t Know

Most high potentials are derailed not by things they know they need to learn but rather by things they did not even realize had changed. What new challenges do you face when you climb the leadership ladder? How must you think differently? What new actions must you take? The answers to these questions are the difference between success and failure. What we want you to avoid hearing or saying is “Poor Dave, we thought he could handle more responsibility. But it looks like he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a leader. His reputation may never recover from this disaster. That’s unfortunate because we had high hopes for him.”

As they rise in an organization, high-potential executives must integrate management and leadership skills in successively more accomplished ways. The new challenges require leadership conversation skills that few executives instinctively possess and that are only now beginning to be taught in the top MBA and executive training programs.

The Challenge of Moving Up

Each time a high potential is promoted, her job changes in fundamental ways; and if she fails, the hole into which she falls is deeper and the recovery more difficult. The hole is especially deep when she crosses the threshold from individual contributor to manager or from manager to leader, as she must basically change how she thinks and what she does to achieve the same success she enjoyed in the past. She also must accept that other people—her boss, role models, mentors, coaches, and team—are vital to her success.

High potentials who derail usually tell us they wish they could go back and do things the right way now that they have broader experience and deeper skills. This book is about succeeding the first time—helping you and the high potentials who work for you prepare for the future, rather than marching into it only partially equipped to succeed. Conversations that connect and align you with your people, your peers, and your bosses are the straightforward path to success.

Leadership Conversations—The Book

This book presents concepts and practical tools to show high potentials how to hold conversations that align followers with leaders. Most of the case studies we cite are taken from our business careers and our experiences in conducting executive education programs. All the case studies are real. However, we use fictitious names and alter or omit immaterial details because leadership conversations among rising high potentials are inherently sensitive, and we feel obligated to protect these individuals’ identity and respect their privacy. So, except for publicly available information, we have not identified people or organizations by name in the case studies. Our intent is to focus on ideas and actions rather than on personalities and reputations.

The book is designed for high potentials who are looking to make the transition into top leadership roles, and for those looking to mentor and guide their rising stars. A high potential is any executive from first-line manager to CXO who has the desire and skill to advance. The book poses questions that

• Invite you to reflect on and enhance how you manage and lead today
• Challenge you to develop a vision for how you will manage and lead in the future
• Encourage you to assist other high potentials to do the same

The case studies in the book are about leaders in private industry, government, the military, nonprofits, and educational institutions. From a management and leadership viewpoint, these five sectors are becoming more and more alike. Executives frequently migrate among the sectors, and best management and leadership practices are freely exchanged via the Internet and social media.

When you receive a promotion or join a new organization, your direct reports, peers, and bosses will watch your every move. They will listen equally to what you say—and do not say—gleaning meaning from each interaction with you. Will they hear, feel, and do what you intend? How accurately and completely will you understand their goals and desires? How well will you stay in touch with the shifting demands of your market? The power of Leadership Conversations lies in showing you how to have conversations that answer these questions and inspire others to align with your vision and follow you as a leader. Achieving greatness will require you to conduct effective leadership conversations.

We have seen too many high potentials fail because they did not get the mentoring, coaching, and training necessary to succeed. We have also seen, as employees and consultants, organizations where executives defaulted to management activities when a leadership focus was appropriate—and not even recognize the difference. This book will prepare you to communicate effectively and think like a leader to produce results that propel you, your people, and your organization to greatness. Consciously engage in leadership conversations with those around you to incorporate this learning into your leadership persona.

My Leadership Conversations—The Website

The companion website to this book, www.myleadershipconversations.com, enables you to personalize your reading experience and tailor it to specific situations and issues. On the website you will find a brief leadership assessment that will measure your leadership and management strengths and provide you with an individualized leadership profile. As you read this book, visit the website frequently to engage in conversations with leadership experts, with us, and with others who have high potential and are facing issues similar to yours. The website also provides social, community, coaching, mentoring, and implementation resources.

Consider sharing your leadership assessment results with a trusted adviser or some of your colleagues. They can assist you in interpreting your results relative to the specific needs of your industry and your unique professional growth path. Sharing your leadership journey with them will push you to continually reexamine how you show up as a leader, why you are getting your current results, and what your career goals might be, and to define your path to achieve them. In short, you will be pushed to engage in leadership conversations.