You’re a senior leader. So why aren’t you being seen as one? Senior leadership challenges.
If you're experiencing some of the biggest senior leadership challenges; visibility, stakeholder influence, strategic thinking or leading through change, you may be discovering that what made you successful earlier in your career isn't necessarily enough at this level.
You’ve worked hard.
You’re experienced.
You deliver.
People rely on you.
You’ve built a reputation for getting things done.
And yet, somewhere along the way, something has changed.
The things that made you successful earlier in your career don’t seem to be enough anymore.
You’re being asked to think more strategically.
Influence people you don’t manage.
Navigate competing priorities.
Get senior stakeholders on board.
Lead through uncertainty.
And increasingly, you’re being judged not simply on what you deliver, but on the impact you have beyond your immediate area of responsibility.
If that sounds familiar, there is some interesting research behind it.
The No. 1 senior leadership challenge identified for senior leaders
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) analysed leadership challenges reported by more than 48,000 leaders across more than 7,000 organisations worldwide. CCL 2026
For its senior-leader group, the number one challenge is credibility gaps. And CCL defines this in terms of:
building credibility
gaining stakeholder trust
increasing organisational visibility
strengthening leadership presence.
Read that again.
Credibility. Visibility. Stakeholder trust. Leadership presence.
These aren't issues we normally associate with someone who is already a senior leader. But perhaps that's exactly the point. You can be very good at your job and still find that the way you need to lead has changed.
Because your senior role /challenge has changed - even if you haven't noticed
Earlier in your career, your value may have been relatively easy to demonstrate.
You delivered the project.
You solved the problem.
You knew your subject.
You managed your team well.
You hit the target.
But as you become more senior, the equation changes. Your impact increasingly depends on what happens through other people and across organisational boundaries.
Can you influence a decision when you don't own it?
Can you get different functions aligned?
Can you communicate a complex idea so that senior stakeholders understand why it matters?
Can you challenge constructively without damaging the relationship?
Can people see you as someone who thinks beyond your immediate remit?
Can you make your contribution visible without feeling as though you're constantly having to promote yourself?
These are leadership challenges. And they are not necessarily solved by working harder.
Influence becomes more important as you move up
CCL identifies cross-functional influence as one of the major challenges for mid-level leaders.
The issue is influencing people beyond your own group often without formal authority which requires credibility, organisational networks and partnerships. CCL, 2026 This is one of the biggest shifts that happens as your career progresses.
You move from:
“I know how to do this.”
to:
“I need to get other people to see it, support it and act on it.”
And those are very different skills.
Strategy becomes part of the job
There is another important finding. DDI's 2025 Global Leadership Forecast surveyed 10,796 leaders and 2,185 HR professionals across more than 50 countries and 24 industry sectors. DDI, 2025
Leaders identified setting strategy and managing change as their two greatest skill gaps.
Only 22% of HR teams currently prioritise these skills. DDI, 2025
So the challenge isn't simply becoming better at managing your existing responsibilities.
The expectations are changing. You are increasingly expected to understand the bigger picture, think beyond your immediate function and help other people navigate change.
And then there is the pressure of the urgent
At executive level, the tension becomes even clearer. PwC's 2026 Global CEO Survey, based on responses from 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries and territories, found that CEOs spend an average of:
47% of their time on issues with a horizon of less than one year
compared with just:
16% on issues with a horizon of more than five years.
PwC describes this as the tension between the “microscope” dealing with immediate issues and the “telescope” looking further ahead. And that tension doesn't suddenly appear when someone becomes a CEO. You often start experiencing it much earlier. The more senior you become, the more competing demands arrive.
The urgent.
The strategic.
The political.
The operational.
The people issues.
The stakeholder issues.
The things nobody else can quite resolve.
And somewhere in all of that, it can become difficult to step back and ask:
“Am I actually spending my time and influence in the way that my role now requires?”
So perhaps the question isn't: “Am I good enough?”
This is where I think senior leaders sometimes ask themselves the wrong question.
They ask:
“What do I need to improve?”
But perhaps the better questions are:
How am I currently perceived by the people who matter?
Where is my influence stronger or weaker than my formal authority?
Am I being seen as strategic, or primarily as an excellent functional expert?
Where am I visible, and where am I invisible?
What conversations am I not yet having?
What would change if I operated with greater clarity and intentionality?
Because sometimes the issue isn't capability.
It's the gap between your capability and the impact that others can see, experience and act upon.
So what do you do when your leadership needs to evolve?
This is where stepping back can make a difference. Executive coaching gives you dedicated space to examine how you're leading, how you're perceived and where your impact could be stronger without getting pulled back into the day-to-day.
It's not about being told how to lead. It's about creating the space to think more deeply about the challenges you're facing and uncovering what may need to change.
How are you showing up?
What impact are you having?
What might other people be seeing that you aren't?
Where are you relying on expertise when influence is now required?
Where are you holding back?
Which relationships matter more than you realise?
What strategic contribution could you be making that isn't currently visible?
And perhaps most importantly:
What needs to change in how you lead if you want your impact to match your level of responsibility?
Because the answer isn't always:
Work harder.
Sometimes it is:
Think differently.
Communicate differently.
Influence differently.
Position yourself differently.
Lead differently.
If you're already operating at a senior level...
…and you have a nagging sense that your capability is greater than the influence you're currently having, that is worth exploring. Not because something is necessarily “wrong”.
But because the leadership challenge at your level may be different from the one that got you here.
If you'd like to explore that, I offer an Executive Leadership Strategy Session a confidential conversation to look at where you are now, where you want your leadership to go, and what may be getting in the way.
If you'd like to explore that, I offer an Executive Leadership Strategy Session - a confidential conversation to look at where you are now, where you want your leadership to go, and what may be getting in the way.
Book your Executive Leadership Strategy Session → here
Research sources
Center for Creative Leadership (2026) — The Top 20 Leadership Challenges Research based on more than 48,000 leaders across 7,000+ organisations. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/top-leadership-challenges/
DDI (2025) — Global Leadership Forecast 2025 Research involving 10,796 leaders and 2,185 HR professionals across 50+ countries and 24 sectors. https://www.ddiworld.com/about/media/global-leadership-forecast-2025
PwC (2026) — 29th Annual Global CEO Survey Research involving 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries and territories. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/1/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey.html
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