What New & Emerging Leaders Needed (but couldn’t find) That Led Me to Create The Rising Leader’s Confidence Blueprint

You've worked hard to get here. You've built your skills, delivered results, and shown your organization that you're ready for more responsibility. Then the promotion comes. You're officially a leader!

🎉🥂🎉🥂🎉🥂

You should feel proud. You do, right?

But somewhere between managing your team, responding to urgent requests, navigating difficult conversations, and trying to meet everyone's expectations, you start wondering: 

Wait a minute. Why is this so much harder than I expected?

You know how to do your job. That's part of what earned you the promotion. But leading people is different from being great at the work yourself. Suddenly, you're responsible for helping other people succeed, making decisions that affect your team, and figuring out how to keep everything moving forward.

And somehow, you're also supposed to know exactly what to do.

Maybe you're spending your days putting out fires instead of working on the things that really matter. Maybe you replay conversations in your head long after you've closed your laptop. Maybe you're wondering whether you're cut out for leadership at all, even though you've worked hard to get where you are.

And when you finally get home, you might find that you're physically present but mentally still at work.

If any of this sounds familiar, I want you to know something: You don't have to figure it all out on your own.

You deserve support, guidance, and practical tools to help you become the leader you want to be without sacrificing your well-being in the process.

That's why I created the Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint.

I believe we can do a much better job of supporting people as they step into leadership. We don't need to wait until they're overwhelmed, their teams are frustrated, or burnout is knocking at the door before we give them the tools to succeed.

We can start from day one.

Let me tell you why this matters so much to me, what I've learned about the leaders who make a lasting difference, and why I'm on a mission to help rising leaders learn to lead well and live well.

Great leadership changes people. I've seen it in the stories they tell.

My work in leadership development is grounded in education, experience, and a deep curiosity about what makes people effective leaders.

I earned my Master's degree in Transformational Leadership in 2015. I've been a leader in my professional life and in my community, hold an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coaching Federation, and have spent the past five and a half years coaching leaders.

I've had the opportunity to learn from leaders in many different ways, but one of the most meaningful has been through my podcast, Illustrating Leadership.

On the podcast, I interview guests about the leaders who have inspired and influenced them most throughout their lives. I ask them to reflect on the people who made a difference and what it was about those leaders that stayed with them.

And there's a theme I keep hearing.

When people talk about the leaders who made the biggest impact on their lives, they often describe someone they worked with early in their careers.

They talk about someone who made them feel seen, heard, and valued.

Someone who made them feel like they mattered.

They remember a leader who got into the trenches with them, who listened to what was really happening, and who trusted them to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

They remember what it felt like to be part of a mission and to know that their contribution made a difference.

Those stories have stayed with me because they remind me that leadership isn't just about getting results. It's about the people who help make those results possible.

And here's what I find especially interesting: many of these stories begin early in someone's career, when they're still figuring things out.

The support they received from a leader during that time made a lasting impression.

That got me thinking.

If we know how much of an impact a good leader can have, why don't we do more to help people become good leaders from the very beginning?

Why do we wait until someone has years of experience before we invest in their development?

What if we gave rising leaders the same kind of thoughtful support that we know can make such a difference?

That's a question I keep coming back to, and it's a big part of why I do this work.

I'm calling BS on the idea that new leaders have to struggle to prove themselves

There's a lot of great leadership development support available for mid-level and C-suite leaders. I think that's wonderful. Experienced leaders need opportunities to grow, too.

But I see a gap when it comes to rising leaders: the people who have just stepped into their first leadership role or are preparing to take that next step.

Too often, we promote people because they're excellent at their jobs and then expect them to figure out leadership as they go.

We give them a new title, a new set of responsibilities, and a team to lead. We might offer some initial training, but then they're expected to deliver results while learning how to manage people, navigate relationships, and make decisions that affect others.

(Actually, don’t get me started on company management training. 😤)

They're learning a whole new job while doing the job.

And if they struggle? Well, that's just part of the process, right?

There's an outdated idea behind this approach: new leaders need to prove themselves by going through the fire. They need to struggle, make mistakes, and somehow emerge stronger on the other side.

Honestly, I think that's b.s.

Why should someone have to burn themselves out to prove they deserve to lead?

Why should their team have to deal with unnecessary confusion and frustration while their new leader figures out how to delegate, set priorities, and communicate expectations?

And why should an organization wait until a promising employee is overwhelmed before investing in a way that will help them succeed?

I don't believe leadership development, or the lack therof, should be a hazing ritual.

We don't expect someone to become excellent at every other aspect of their job without training, feedback, or support. So why do we treat leadership as something people should magically know how to do?

I believe anyone can learn to be a leader, and people deserve support while they're learning.

That doesn't mean leadership will always be easy. There will be mistakes, uncomfortable conversations, and moments when you have to figure out a new way forward.

But those experiences don't have to happen in isolation.

You can learn from challenges without being left to struggle unnecessarily. You can build confidence without pretending to have all the answers. And you can develop the skills to lead effectively without sacrificing your health, your relationships, or the parts of your life that matter outside of work.

I'd rather help someone build a strong foundation from the beginning than watch them struggle for months because nobody thought they needed help yet.

That's the difference I want to make.

The three challenges I see rising leaders face

In my coaching work, I hear about three recurring challenges that can make those first years of leadership especially difficult.

They may seem like separate problems, but they often feed into one another. When you don't know what to focus on, you spend your days reacting. When you're constantly reacting, you have less time to build better systems. And when you don't have systems that support you, work can start taking over your life.

Let's look at each one.

1. An Emerging Leader Was promoted because they were great at their job, but nobody taught them how to lead

Imagine you've been an excellent individual contributor for years. You know your work inside and out. People trust you to get things done, solve problems, and deliver results.

Then you get promoted.

Congratulations! You're now responsible for helping other people do great work, too.

Except nobody handed you a clear guide to making that transition.

You might still measure your success by how much you personally accomplish. You may feel the urge to jump in and solve every problem because that's what made you successful before. Delegating might feel uncomfortable, especially when you know you could complete the task yourself.

Meanwhile, you're trying to figure out how to give feedback, motivate your team, navigate difficult conversations, and make decisions when there's no obvious right answer.

You may find yourself second-guessing even the smallest things.

Should I have handled that conversation differently? Am I giving my team enough direction? What should I be focusing on today? What if they realize I don't know what I'm doing?

It's exhausting to feel as though you need to prove yourself every day.

But here's the thing: being a good individual contributor and being a good leader require overlapping but different skills.

Your promotion recognizes what you've already accomplished. It doesn't mean you've somehow acquired every skill you need for your new role overnight.

You are allowed to be a beginner at leadership.

You are allowed to ask questions, develop your skills, and learn what works for you and your team.

You don't need to become a completely different person. You need to learn how to use your strengths in a new way.

And with the right support, you can start building that confidence.

2. New Leaders Are constantly putting out fires instead of doing the work that matters

If you've ever finished a full day of work and wondered what you actually accomplished, you know this feeling.

You answered emails. You dealt with an unexpected problem. You helped an employee work through an issue. You attended meetings, responded to urgent requests, and handled three things that weren't even on your calendar that morning.

And the work you planned to do?

Still waiting.

When you're a new leader, it can feel as though everyone needs something from you. If you're not careful, your entire day becomes a series of reactions.

You spend so much time responding to immediate problems that you rarely have the space to address the issues causing them.

Maybe the same questions keep coming up because expectations aren't clear. Maybe your team relies on you to make decisions that could be handled differently. Maybe there's a process that creates unnecessary work, but you've never had the time to step back and improve it.

You know something needs to change, but you're too busy dealing with today's problems to figure out how to prevent tomorrow's.

So the cycle continues.

You need to learn how to prioritize, create systems, clarify responsibilities, and make space for proactive work. You need to recognize the difference between being helpful and becoming the person everyone depends on for everything.

And you need to understand that being busy all day isn't the same as being effective.

Imagine what could change if you had the time and tools to step back, look at the bigger picture, and ask better questions.

What could you improve? What could you delegate? What recurring problem could you solve once instead of addressing it every week?

Those are the kinds of questions that help you move from constantly putting out fires to leading with intention.

3. A Rising Leader’s work/life balance starts to disappear

This is the part that breaks my heart a little.

Because the struggle doesn't always end when you leave work.

You finish your day, but your mind is still running through everything that happened.

You replay a difficult conversation. You wonder whether you handled a situation correctly. You think about an employee who seems unhappy or a decision you still need to make.

You tell yourself you'll just check one more email, finish one more task, or prepare for tomorrow.

And before you know it, another evening has been swallowed up by work.

When you are with your family or friends, part of your attention is still on the office. When you're trying to rest, your brain reminds you of everything that's unfinished.

You might feel guilty when you're at home because there's so much to do at work. Then, when you're working, you feel guilty because you're missing time with the people you love.

It can start to feel as though you're failing everywhere.

You're working hard, but you don't feel particularly successful. You're trying to be a good leader, but you don't have much energy left for yourself or the people who matter to you.

And because you're still new to leadership, you may assume this is simply how things have to be.

It's not.

Your career matters. Your team matters. Your personal life matters, too.

Being a committed leader doesn't mean being available every hour of every day. It doesn't mean carrying every problem home or sacrificing your well-being to show that you care.

You can be ambitious and have boundaries. You can take your responsibilities seriously and still make room for rest, relationships, and the things that bring you joy.

In fact, learning to work sustainably is an important part of learning to lead.

I don't want people to have to choose between being a good leader and having a good life. I want them to learn how to do both.

That's what I mean when I talk about helping leaders lead well and live well.

What if we supported leaders before they reached the breaking point?

These challenges don't affect only the individual leader.

When a new leader struggles to set direction, the team can become confused about priorities. When the leader is constantly putting out fires, important work can fall behind. When communication breaks down, frustration can build.

People may become disengaged when they don't feel supported or don't understand what's expected of them.

For organizations, these issues can contribute to burnout, turnover, inefficient work, and the cost of replacing employees or trying to get a struggling team back on track.

And the person who was promoted because they showed so much promise may start questioning whether they made the right decision.

This is why I want organizations to think differently about leadership development.

What if coaching were part of the support offered when someone steps into their first leadership role?

What if a newly promoted leader had someone to talk through difficult situations with, someone who could help them identify priorities, develop practical systems, and build confidence as they learn?

What if they had a place to ask questions without worrying that doing so would make them look unqualified?

Imagine the difference between a leader trying to figure everything out alone and a leader who has a trusted partner walking alongside them.

The second leader still has to do the work. They still have responsibilities and decisions to make. But they don't have to spend as much time trying to work out every challenge from scratch.

They have someone who can help them step back, see another perspective, and identify a practical next step.

That's the kind of support I want more rising leaders to have.

Not because coaching will magically solve every workplace problem, but because people deserve a real opportunity to learn and grow into their roles.

And organizations have an opportunity to invest in that growth before the costs of unsupported leadership begin to show up across the team.

Meet the Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint

This is why I created the Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint, my one-on-one coaching partnership for new and emerging leaders.

I wanted to create a space where people could work through the real challenges of leadership with someone who understands that there's a human being behind every title.

Someone who can listen without judgment, ask the questions that help things become clearer, and work with them to find a way forward that fits their needs, values, and responsibilities.

At the heart of my approach is tuning up your Rising Leader's Operating System: specifically your mindset, systems, and skills.

These three areas work together to create a strong foundation for leadership.

Mindset: Become more confident in the leader you're becoming

Leadership development starts with how you think about yourself and your role.

You don't need to have all the answers to be a good leader. You don't need to prove your worth by doing everything yourself. And you don't have to wait until you feel completely confident before you begin making decisions.

Through coaching, you can explore the beliefs and assumptions that may be holding you back, identify where you're second-guessing yourself, and develop a healthier relationship with your responsibilities.

You can start recognizing the difference between not knowing something yet and being incapable of learning it.

You can learn to approach mistakes as opportunities to reflect and grow rather than evidence that you don't belong in leadership.

And you can get clearer about the kind of leader you want to be, so you're not simply copying someone else's style or trying to meet every expectation placed on you.

Systems: Create a way of working that supports you

Confidence alone won't fix a calendar that's overflowing or a team that relies on you to answer every question.

You also need practical ways to manage your responsibilities.

That might mean getting clearer about your priorities, establishing routines, improving how you organize your work, or identifying opportunities to make recurring tasks more efficient.

It might mean looking at how you spend your time and deciding what needs your attention, what could be delegated, and what doesn't need to happen at all.

It might mean creating more consistent ways to communicate with your team so that everyone understands expectations and knows where to turn for information.

Together, we develop a way of working that helps you focus on what matters, make better use of your time, and reduce the feeling that everything depends on you.

Instead of asking, What do I need to put out today? you can start asking, What can I put in place to prevent this from becoming a recurring problem?

That shift can create more room for thoughtful, proactive leadership.

Skills: Learn how to lead people effectively

Leadership comes with responsibilities that may be entirely new to you.

You may need to navigate difficult conversations, communicate expectations, give feedback, delegate work, manage competing priorities, or help your team work through challenges.

These are skills you can develop.

You don't have to be a naturally gifted communicator or an instinctive people manager. You can learn, practice, reflect, and improve.

You can get better at having conversations you've been avoiding. You can learn to communicate more clearly when things are uncomfortable. You can become more intentional about how you support your team and how you help people take ownership of their work.

My role is to help you identify the skills that will make the biggest difference in your current situation and work through how to apply them.

Because every leader and every team is different, the support should reflect the challenges you're actually facing, not simply follow a one-size-fits-all formula.

Your co-leader, not another person telling you what to do

I like to think of myself as your co-leader.

That doesn't mean I'll take over your role, make your decisions for you, or hand you a checklist and tell you to follow it.

I'm here to walk alongside you as you figure out what works for you and your team.

Sometimes that means helping you untangle a complicated situation. Sometimes it means asking a question that helps you see something from a different perspective. Sometimes it means taking a big, overwhelming challenge and breaking it down into a few manageable steps.

And sometimes, it means giving you space to say the thing you've been thinking about but haven't felt comfortable saying out loud.

My coaching style combines empathy, curiosity, practical insight, and a willingness to challenge the assumptions that might be getting in your way.

I want you to feel comfortable bringing the real stuff into our conversations. The difficult employee situation. The decision you're second-guessing. The project that keeps getting derailed. The feeling that you're supposed to know more than you do.

We can talk about those things without turning every conversation into a big, formal exercise.

We'll work together to make sense of what's happening and identify what you can do next.

The Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint includes one 60-minute coaching session with me each month, plus the option to schedule up to two additional 30-minute check-ins each month as needed.

Our monthly sessions give us dedicated time to work on your leadership development. The additional check-ins offer opportunities to talk through challenges as they arise rather than feeling that you have to wait until the next scheduled session.

This is a partnership built around your growth, your goals, and the realities of your role.

You bring your knowledge of your team, your organization, and your own ambitions. I bring my coaching experience, leadership perspective, and commitment to helping you develop the mindset, systems, and skills you need.

Together, we work toward building a foundation that helps you lead with greater confidence and intention.

What my clients have taught me about the power of support

One of the most meaningful parts of coaching is hearing clients describe what has changed for them.

Their experiences remind me that when people have the opportunity to work through challenges with the right support, the impact can extend far beyond a single decision or difficult conversation.

One client shared that they had worked with several coaches before, but found my approach particularly impactful. They described me as relatable, practical, and insightful, and shared that issues they'd struggled with for much of their life began to improve after the first few sessions.

They described feeling free of significant emotional and mental weight and being able to show up more fully as themselves.

Another client reflected on how coaching helped them make progress not only in their career but also in personal priorities. With support and small, manageable steps, they worked toward goals that included improving their finances, getting into graduate school, and moving to a new country.

As they put it, my coaching helped them build a bigger picture from small, achievable steps.

A third client came to coaching during a difficult time in their career. They shared that the tools and guidance they received helped them develop the confidence to make a career change that better aligned with their values, professional goals, and family's future.

Other clients have highlighted my empathy, authenticity, and personalized approach.

One described having an immediate connection with me and feeling the impact of coaching through a plan tailored to their needs.

Another emphasized that I listen, offer reasonable suggestions, and help them plan action steps.

I appreciate this feedback because it reflects the kind of partnership I want to offer.

I don't believe people need someone to tell them how to live their lives or become leaders. They need a space where they feel understood, where they can explore what matters to them, and where they can work through challenges with someone who genuinely cares about their progress.

Every person's journey is different, and I never want to suggest that coaching produces the same results for everyone.

But these experiences reinforce something I believe deeply: people can make meaningful changes when they have the space, support, and practical guidance to work toward them.

For rising leaders, that opportunity to reflect, build skills, and take manageable steps can be especially valuable during a time when so much about their professional lives is changing.

My vision: A world where organizations invest in rising leaders from day one

I have a dream for the future of leadership development.

I want organizations to recognize that the first two years of someone's leadership journey are an important time to invest in their growth.

I want newly promoted leaders to have access to coaches who can walk alongside them as they learn to navigate their new responsibilities.

I want leadership development to become part of the way organizations support people, not something they offer only after a problem has developed.

Think about what that could mean.

A new leader could have a trusted partner to help them navigate a difficult conversation before it becomes a bigger issue.

They could work on creating better systems before their calendar becomes unmanageable.

They could develop confidence in their decisions while learning to recognize when they need input from others.

Their team could benefit from clearer expectations, more intentional communication, and a leader who has the time and space to think beyond the next urgent request.

And the leader could learn to take their responsibilities seriously without believing they must be available every minute of every day.

For organizations, investing in new leaders is also an investment in the people those leaders support. More intentional leadership development can help teams work more effectively and may help reduce some of the burnout, frustration, and turnover associated with unsupported leadership transitions.

I'm not suggesting that coaching alone can solve every organizational challenge. Workloads, management practices, company culture, and resources all matter.

But I do believe organizations have an opportunity to give rising leaders a stronger start by making meaningful support available early.

Why wait until someone is struggling to offer help?

Why assume that a talented employee will automatically know how to lead people simply because they know how to do the work?

Why make someone prove they can survive the pressure before giving them the tools to navigate it?

I'd love to see organizations partner with coaches like me to support newly promoted leaders from the beginning of their leadership journeys. And I want more rising leaders to become the kind of leaders my podcast guests talk about: the people who make others feel seen, heard, trusted, and valued.

Because today's rising leaders are tomorrow's experienced leaders. The way we support them now can influence the way they support the people who come after them. Imagine the ripple effect if more people entered leadership with the confidence, skills, and systems they needed to help others thrive.

That's a future worth working toward.

You deserve support while you're becoming the leader you want to be

If you're in your first two years of a leadership role, or you're preparing to step into your first one, I want you to hear this:

You don't have to have everything figured out.

You can be excited about your promotion and still feel uncertain about what comes next. You can be talented and still need to develop new skills. You can care deeply about your team and still struggle to find the right balance between supporting them and taking care of yourself.

None of that means you're failing.

It means you're learning something new.

And you deserve support while you're learning.

You don't have to wait until you're burned out, your team is frustrated, or your personal life is suffering before you ask for help.

The Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint is designed to help you work on your mindset, systems, and skills so you can become a more confident, capable, and intentional leader.

You'll have a coaching partner who can listen to what's happening, help you see new possibilities, and work with you to identify practical next steps.

You don't need to become a perfect leader. You don't need to know everything. And you don't need to prove your worth by doing it all alone.

You just need to be willing to learn, reflect, and take the next step.

Ready to explore what leading well and living well could look like for you?

I'd love to hear what's happening in your leadership journey.

Book a free discovery call with me. We'll talk about the challenges you're experiencing as a new or emerging leader, explore what you'd like to change, and discuss whether the Rising Leader's Confidence Blueprint could be a good fit for you.

There's no need to have all the answers before we talk. That's what the conversation is for.

Let's stop expecting new leaders to figure everything out alone.

Let's give them the support they need to grow, the tools to lead more effectively, and the space to build careers and lives they feel good about.

Because leadership isn't a test you have to pass by struggling in silence.

It's a journey of learning, connection, and growth…and you deserve a partner along the way.

I’m ready to help you lead well and live well.