Introducing my work on Leadership Thresholds
Thresholds are innate in all of us. The moment we were born, our identity changed from foetus to baby. We crossed a threshold: from being in the safety of our mother’s womb to being an independent human being; from not breathing for ourselves to breathing for ourselves; from not eating for ourselves to eating for ourselves.
We cross thresholds for the rest of our lives. Think back to your first day at school and waving goodbye, perhaps tearfully, to your parents at the gate. It might have been painful, but you crossed a threshold: from pre-schooler to pupil. Or think of being in a church or registry office at your wedding: you cross the threshold from single to married.
In essence, a threshold is when a previous identity breaks down and we step into something new.
Which brings me to Leadership Thresholds. This is language I have been using in my coaching and retreats over the past year. They are the moments when the ground beneath a leader shifts. It might be because of rising complexity in the system (e.g. US tariffs), technological acceleration (e.g. pressure for returns on AI investment) or planetary awakening relating to ecological and social crises. It means a leader's familiar mindsets, behaviours and tools no longer suffice and something new needs to emerge. They need to cross a Leadership Threshold.
In my work advising and coaching CEOs, government ministers and other leaders across multiple industries and countries, I have noticed that framing the challenges and opportunities they face as Leadership Thresholds is incredibly powerful. And I have found it does two things.
One, it brings clarity to challenges that have lingered in the shadows for too long. Once addressed, it speeds up the process to higher performance: that is, the financial metrics.
Two, this framing allows for shifts in consciousness - beliefs, assumptions and priorities - that lead to higher impact.
I have repeatedly noticed 10 distinct thresholds - five personal and five organisational - each representing a critical dimension of a CEO’s journey. They are the questions a leader doesn't have an immediate answer to, that perhaps keep them up at night. But when they do go over a threshold, they experience a frisson: a combination of excitement and anxiety. That’s often where untapped energy is locked up. Find a way of unlocking it and it will take you to a higher level of performance and impact.
The personal thresholds are:
On becoming
Stepping into new roles, letting go of old behaviours and beliefs, focusing on the right priorities. Think of a CFO stepping up to become CEO, or someone leaving a corporate leadership role to found their own business.
On people
Practicing transformational listening, bringing vision to life, enabling human potential. Crossing this threshold means shifting from being the hero to creating heroes in others.
On renewal
Accepting what is no longer working, navigating liminal space, creating the next platform. This is because leaders, like organisations, must renew or decline.
On genius
Letting go of old identities and beliefs; embracing fear and stillness; aligning love, passion, gifts, service and money. Can you cross the threshold from Zone of Excellence to Zone of Genius?
On being
From head to heart, from doing to being, from fear and judgement to abundance and compassion. CEOs who cross this threshold lead not only with technical competence but with presence.
The organisational thresholds are:
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On purpose
Finding your why, aligning with stakeholders, realising impact. Without purpose, strategy drifts and execution fragments. With it, coherence emerges.
On strategy
Making the right choices, transforming behaviours, aligning activities and resources.
On transformation
Calling out the unsustainable status quo, formulating the future vision, leading the journey to the future state. Crossing this threshold is disruptive, messy, and often resisted. Yet it is the CEO’s role to hold the vision until others can see it.
On execution
Making things happen, aligning people around a plan, delivering critical metrics. Vision without execution is hallucination.
On systems
Finding a resonant systemic challenge, creating a theory of change, realising impact. The challenges of the 21st century are systemic. Climate change, inequality, supply chain fragility… these cannot be solved by one company alone. Crossing the systems threshold means seeing the enterprise as part of larger networks and acting as a system leader.
Together, these thresholds form a map: they interweave and overlap. And remember, they are not stages to be completed but doorways to be crossed again and again. In my work, I have seen how each crossing deepens leadership, aligns impact and even expands humanity.
The world of the modern CEO is defined by complexity. The playbooks of the past no longer work. My call to leaders is to become much more conscious of these thresholds - because if they fail to understand them, they will trip up and fail.
Stay tuned for more updates on this work in the coming weeks and months...
To register for my LinkedIn Live events on Leadership Thresholds on Thursday, 8th January, follow the links below...
7.30am-8.30am GMT: https://bit.ly/4ptPlxc
3.30pm-4.30pm GMT: https://bit.ly/48CFUnJ
A message from the author
Thank you for reading the 84th edition of this newsletter. As CEO of transcend.space and former senior fellow of management practice at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, my coaching, teaching and research has focused on how leaders can transcend 21st century challenges such as disruptive technology change, the climate crisis and creating diverse and inclusive environments… alongside the ongoing challenge of delivering profitable growth. Through Transcend.Space and Saïd, I have worked with leaders from many geographies, industries and governments. It has given me a deep understanding of how good leaders create value - and bad leaders destroy it. Never before has this topic been so important on a global stage, which is why I am undertaking this work.