The expertise that got you promoted is now holding you back
The expertise you are proudest of is the one most likely to hold you back, because it is where your hands go when you are anxious.
Bill Dickinson, D.Min., RCC
7 min read
I will be honest that this one feels like a loss while you are inside it. At every passage you must decide, on purpose, which of your strengths you will allow to go stale. Nobody assigns it. Nobody thanks you for it. And it is where capable people get stuck for years.
The expertise you are proudest of is the one most likely to hold you back, because it is where your hands go when you are anxious.
The compliment that becomes a ceiling
The technical expertise you are proud of can become your largest liability at VP level if you cannot stop diving into the details. The hands-on style everyone praises is often the thing preventing your managers from becoming leaders themselves. Both of those are compliments today and ceilings tomorrow.
The ledger
It helps to see the exchange written down, because each line is a real trade rather than a slogan.
| Put this down | Pick this up |
|---|---|
| Being the smartest person in the room | Being the person who makes the room smarter |
| Personal output as the measure of your worth | What your people can do because of you |
| Solving the problem | Building the problem solver |
| Giving answers | Asking the question that makes them think |
| Being needed | Being trusted |
| Depth inside your function | Range across the enterprise |
| Being present in every decision | Being selective, so others earn your time |
| Credibility resting on your expertise | Credibility resting on your judgment |
The three habits that cost the most
Being the answer. Good managers jump in. It feels like service and it reads as competence. It also creates dependency instead of capability. Managers create heroes. Leaders build future leaders, and you cannot do both from the same chair.
Being needed. The pull of being indispensable is an emotional one, and I say that with some sympathy, because I have felt it myself. Strategically it works against you. If the work cannot run without you, you cannot be promoted out of it. Being indispensable in your current role is the most reliable way to stay in it.
Being right in the room. At Director level, being right is the job. At VP level, being right at your peers' expense costs you the alliances that make the next seat possible. Enterprise credibility is built by being useful to people who do not report to you.
How to actually do it
How you know you have it
There is something you used to be the best at that you are now merely competent at, and you are at peace with it. That sentence is the whole practice. Most leaders can name the skill. Very few can say the second half honestly.
Bill Dickinson, D.Min., RCC
Founder and Managing Partner, C3 Leadership
Thirty-five years spent alongside leaders in hard moments, first as a pastor and now as an executive coach. Author of Optimizing Self, second edition, September 2026.
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