Becoming a Leader: Advice on Transitioning into Your First Professional Leadership Role helps professionals transition into their first formal leadership role. It is intended for mid-career professionals seeking to transition from a professional role into their first official leadership position. It provides a definition of what it means to be a leader: people who seek to help their team members grow professionally and personally. They help their employees evolve through challenging assignments by offering guidance. The book helps the professional who is unsure if a move into leadership represents the correct career move. It offers reasons why one would seek transition into leadership, or why someone might realize they have the wrong intentions. Leaders can be managers or team leaders. Although one does not necessarily need a title to become a leader, this book offers a How-To guide on how one can convince their senior leaders that they are worthy of formally taking on leadership roles.
Additionally, Becoming a Leader discusses mentors and sponsors. It guides readers in finding mentors who help them grow in their career, so they can develop skills and gain experiences that prove their merit to senior leadership. The book explains the differences between mentors and sponsors. Sponsors being senior leaders who can take risks on employees by mentioning their names when management roles become available.
Becoming a Leader describes how the reader can successfully transition from non-leadership roles to leadership roles. For readers who prefer to seek leadership roles in their current employer, the text describes how they can find roles within their own organization, update their resumes to match the role, and how to seek out challenging assignments to develop new skills and gain a wide breadth of experience necessary to become a leader. Readers gain understanding how to interview for leadership roles – especially if they need to muster a behavioral interview style known as STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Results).
Once a professional has formally entered a leadership role, the book offers readers techniques they can use to succeed in their new role. They include seeking advice from experienced leaders, understanding the difference between strategy and tactics, and ways to inspire your team.
What makes this book unique compared to other leadership and management books is that it offers guidance on making the transition into leadership – not just advice on how one should lead. The transition into formal leadership roles can be difficult and take a long time. The readers will find advice on how to navigate this path with patience, grit, and persistence. After all, it is well worth the efforts must take to become a leader. After all, great leaders help their employees follow in their footsteps. The world needs more leaders who are willing to continuously grow, for this makes the professional experience better for all.
