Find the context where your leadership thrives
- When you clarify in advance the situations where you perform at your best as a leader, your next career step becomes easier to define.
- A clear “bullseye” helps you articulate your value: what you bring to the table, in which settings it creates real impact, and where you genuinely thrive.
- What you exclude is just as important as what you pursue – while remaining open to well-considered surprises.
- Lasting success in a new role depends not only on your capabilities but also on the environment – one where the strategy, mandate, resources and culture support your success.
Planning brings clarity to your choices
The best time to reflect on your next career move is before change becomes inevitable.
Which roles and contexts bring out the best in you? When have you achieved the most, and what truly motivates you? When these answers are clear, you are better prepared – both to shape your own direction and to engage in meaningful conversations during executive selection processes.
Effective leadership is context-specific
Your leadership “bullseye” is the combination of situation, role and environment where you perform at your best. The key is to identify in which stage of a company’s journey you create the most value – and with what kind of ownership, board and leadership team you are at your most natural.
The bullseye is not a list of titles or industries, but a description of the situations where your expertise translates into tangible results. The clearer you can define this, the easier it becomes to recognize which opportunities truly fit – and when a polite decline is the wiser decision.
Focus and opportunity – narrowing and widening
Next comes focus: which roles, environments and industries are both appealing and realistic – and which do you consciously rule out? Focus does not mean narrowness, but clarity. When you know which contexts are unlikely to bring out your best – whether a particular ownership structure, culture or business phase – you save both your own and others’ time. That’s a sign of self-awareness, not pickiness.
The third dimension is the considered surprise. f an unexpected opportunity arose – slightly outside your industry or in a different business model – what could be worth exploring? Out-of-the-box doesn’t mean a leap into the unknown, but a new context where your core strengths still create value. Your experience might be of real benefit in an adjacent industry or in a company that is building what you already know how to create.
Sustainable career choices are built on the right conditions
Before accepting a new role, it’s worth validating the fundamentals. A credible strategy, a genuine mandate, adequate resources and a supportive culture largely determine whether even an experienced leader can succeed. A role may look right on paper, but without these foundations, success becomes difficult to sustain.
When you combine a clear bullseye, conscious boundaries, considered surprises and a realistic view of the conditions for success, you build a strong foundation for your next move. You’re not waiting for chance – you recognize when an opportunity truly aligns with the direction you want your career to take.