Robin, a consistent high achiever, has just been promoted into her first leadership role. But what she thought would be a natural next step in her career has turned into a daily struggle. Her colleagues no longer joke around with her. She’s pulled in multiple directions, constantly putting out fires, and feeling like she’s always behind. When one of her top performers suddenly leaves, Robin realizes her team is under-resourced—and the pressure only intensifies. As dread builds every Sunday night, she begins to wonder: Was I ever meant to be a leader?

Robin’s experience isn’t unusual. Transitioning into leadership often exposes a surprising truth: what made us successful as individual contributors doesn’t always serve us in leadership. And sometimes, the culprit isn’t just the environment—it’s how our brain processes stress, change, and expectations.

The Psychological Weight of Leadership

Becoming a leader introduces a new set of mental demands. Leaders must manage ambiguity, influence without micromanaging, and make tough decisions—all while regulating their own emotions and supporting others. Our brains, wired for safety and certainty, often perceive leadership challenges as threats. This can trigger responses like:

• Overthinking or indecision

• Emotional exhaustion

• Difficulty disconnecting from work

• Fear of being seen as incompetent

These neurological responses can quietly sabotage our ability to lead effectively—especially in high-stakes or under-resourced environments.

Common Challenges Faced by New Leaders

New leaders like Robin often find themselves caught off-guard by a combination of emotional, operational, and relational challenges, including:

1. Shifting Team Dynamics

The social landscape changes once you move into a leadership role. Former peers may become more guarded, leading to a sense of isolation.

2. Decision Fatigue

Leaders make more decisions—many of them high-stakes or unclear. Without experience or clear frameworks, this can quickly become overwhelming.

3. Competing Demands

Leaders are pulled in several directions: delivering results, supporting the team, aligning with upper management, and managing conflict.

4. Holding the Emotional Load

You’re no longer just managing your own workload—you’re responsible for the energy, morale, and performance of others.

Under-Resourcing: A Hidden Leadership Barrier

One of the toughest realities for new leaders is leading a team that lacks the capacity or resources to succeed. In Robin’s case, losing a top performer not only exposed a gap—it created cascading effects across morale and productivity.

Signs of an under-resourced team include:

• Consistent burnout or stress among team members

• Missed deadlines or backlogged work

• High turnover and disengagement

• A sense of being reactive instead of strategic

Addressing under-resourcing requires a mix of tactical and strategic approaches, such as:

• Advocating for additional headcount or tools

• Re-prioritizing workloads

• Delegating effectively and upskilling team members

• Reframing goals to match available capacity

The Role of Self-Doubt in New Leadership

Leadership often stirs up imposter syndrome and self-doubt, especially when things don’t go as planned. But these feelings are not proof that someone is failing—they’re signs that growth is happening.

To overcome self-doubt:

• Seek mentorship from experienced leaders who can provide context and encouragement

• Celebrate small wins to build confidence over time

• Shift the mindset from needing to “have all the answers” to being a curious, evolving leader

• Ask for feedback regularly to stay grounded in reality

Rewiring for Leadership

Our brains tend to default to old patterns under stress, but leadership requires new ways of thinking. To lead effectively, new leaders must:

• Build emotional resilience

• Learn to tolerate discomfort

• Focus on long-term thinking, not short-term fixes

• Stay present in the face of pressure

The good news? These are skills, not traits. And they can be developed.

Conclusion

Leadership isn’t just a new title—it’s a new mindset. Robin’s journey reflects what many new leaders experience: a loss of certainty, increased responsibility, and moments of deep doubt. But by understanding how our brains respond to pressure and learning to work with those responses—not against them—leaders can adapt, grow, and lead with clarity and confidence.

The path to effective leadership starts not with having all the answers, but with self-awareness, strategic support, and the courage to keep going.

FAQs

Q: What are the biggest challenges new leaders face?
A: New leaders often struggle with shifting team dynamics, increased decision-making pressure, managing emotional loads, and balancing multiple demands.

Q: How does under-resourcing affect leadership performance?
A: Under-resourcing can lead to team burnout, decreased morale, and poor performance. It also places immense pressure on leaders to deliver results without adequate support.

Q: Is self-doubt normal in leadership?
A: Yes, especially for new leaders. Self-doubt is a natural response to unfamiliar responsibilities. It becomes a problem only when it goes unacknowledged or unaddressed.

Q: How can leaders build resilience?
A: Leaders can build resilience by developing self-awareness, setting realistic expectations, seeking support, and learning to reframe challenges as growth opportunities.

Q: Can leadership be learned, or is it innate?
A: Leadership is absolutely learnable. While some people may have natural leadership traits, the most effective leaders continuously develop their skills through feedback, reflection, and experience.

A company’s culture plays a foundational role in its success, often influencing aspects like employee engagement, productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, and long-term sustainability. While it is challenging to assign an exact percentage to culture’s contribution, numerous studies and business cases suggest that it is a critical driver of overall success.

The most successful cultures are communities – a group of people with complimentary contributions that are aligned toward a shared vision. Companies such as Google and Apple have been strategic about designing and supporting their company cultures, and while there may not be research to directly back the return on investment, one could easily connect the dots between developing a productive company culture and the results they have produced.

In my 20 or so years working with companies, I have seen hundreds of different company cultures, from the highly engaged to the transactional to the somewhat functional to the toxic. There are no cases in which leadership has not been intentional about creating company culture where the culture was excellent – high engagement, productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, and sustainable and scalable. In every case where the culture was excellent, it was excellent on purpose!

Establishing a Clear-Cut Vision

1. Establishing a clear-cut vision that everyone on the team can embrace. If everyone is on the same page and knows where the team is going, it will be easier to help people understand their contribution and make them feel like part of the team.

Defining Goals

1. Defining goals that clearly link to the vision. Aligning them with how they contribute to the vision makes the vision more “tangible,” so to speak, and shows the potential for progress toward the vision.

Getting the Right People on the Team

1. Getting the right people on the team in the right roles. For any team to be successful, it is important to get the right people on the team. While it is great to have loyal people, not everyone is designed or experienced to be successful at every phase of business growth. The thing is: everyone on the team knows when the wrong person or people are on the bus.

Let People Do Their Job

1. Letting people do their job. When someone on your team is out of their position or role, there are often consequences that impact the entire team, typically in the realm of productivity, but also in employee morale, confidence in team members, and even the outcome of the initiative. Everyone on the team was brought to the team to do a specific job. Let them do it or replace them if they cannot.

Establishing a Culture of Growth

• Encouraging team members to think differently. Diverse thinking on your team will enable the team to address problems, challenges, and opportunities from varied perspectives that could result in innovative solutions
• Ensuring everyone has a voice. When you put outspoken and quiet people at the same table, those who are outspoken tend to dominate the thinking, which means that you are losing out on the introspective, patient, observant thinking from the quieter people. Make sure to accommodate for them, and don’t make the mistake of thinking everyone handles information the same way.
• Introducing an environment of intentional continuous improvement and innovation. Creating something that is truly novel is far less likely than improving on something that already exists.

Embracing Loss and Evaluating Wins

• Embracing the losses and ensuring that the team is ready and willing to evolve from the mistakes. Every time you miss the lesson in the loss, your loss multiplies.
• Evaluating the wins. While it is important to celebrate the wins as a team, it is just as, if not more important, to understand why the win happened and what mistakes were made that could result in improved performance in the next instance.

Leading the Way

• Leading the way. As a leader, the team will take its queues from you. As a leader, your job is to clearly articulate the vision for the company and lead the way there. If you lose faith in the vision, so will they.

Inspecting What You Expect

• Inspecting what you expect. Building a strong team is an intentional activity. The team must be clear on what is expected, held accountable for their contributions (or lack thereof) and must receive accurate, constructive feedback and support in order to be the best they can be.

Taking Action

• Taking Action. If change needs to be made, make the change. Don’t wait. Don’t be of two minds about it. Be decisive, and act with a sense of urgency.

Not Missing the Forest for the Trees

• Not missing the forest because of the trees. Keep in mind that there is often more than one way to get things done. Getting stuck in the details can cause the team to lose sight of the big picture and result in lower performance.

Conclusion

Every team and every culture is going to be different. There isn’t a blueprint that is going to produce the perfect team and perfect team dynamics. As a leader, you are going to need to put the time and energy into creating the culture that will allow your team to thrive. You’ll need to be consistent, decisive, and observant in order to build the right team so that your company can thrive. Don’t be discouraged that every action may not appear to be wins. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll learn, grow, and make impact along the way.

Build a culture that embraces a Relentless Pursuit of Winning!

FAQs

• What is a culture of winning?
  A culture of winning is a shared vision that everyone on the team can embrace, with clear goals, the right people on the team, and a culture of growth.
• How do I establish a clear-cut vision for my team?
  Establish a clear-cut vision by defining your company’s purpose, values, and goals, and ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives.
• How do I get the right people on the team?
  Get the right people on the team by defining the roles and responsibilities, and ensuring that each team member has the skills and expertise needed to excel in their position.
• How do I lead the way for my team?
  Lead the way by setting a clear direction, providing clear goals and expectations, and being a role model for your team to follow.

Kim Groshek is a name synonymous with innovation, resilience, and transformative leadership. With over three decades of experience, she has shaped the lives of Fortune 100 executives, leaders, and high-achievers, all while staying committed to her ultimate mission: unlocking human potential and reimagining well-being.

As a dynamic keynote speaker, bestselling author, founder of Spring Soiree Scholarship Foundation, editor-in-chief of The Author’s Edge, Executive Producer of Dynamic Games, and CDO of Lifeful Habits, Kim empowers individuals and organizations to navigate modern challenges with authenticity, clarity, and purpose. Her journey, rooted in cognitive science, computer science, and organizational psychology, is a testament to the power of blending expertise with heartfelt passion.

A Passion for Change

Kim’s career has been driven by one undeniable truth: stress is more than just a mental burden—it’s a life-threatening crisis. With 77% of individuals experiencing physical symptoms of stress and 73% grappling with anxiety or depression, the human toll is undeniable. For Kim, this wasn’t just data; it was personal. Watching friends, colleagues, and families suffer under the crushing weight of chronic stress inspired her to act.

“My vision crystallized around a belief: that we can create a world where stress doesn’t imprison us but empowers us,” Kim explains. Her work has since evolved into a movement that goes beyond traditional stress management, aiming to shift how we view human potential and well-being fundamentally.

Turning Challenges into Opportunities

Building a movement to address stress resilience was no easy task. Kim faced resistance from organizations dismissing stress management as a “soft” issue, proving the critical importance of evidence-based strategies; she reframed the conversation, proving that reducing stress wasn’t just ethical—it was essential for innovation and productivity.

Her commitment to scientific validation was another game-changer. Partnering with leading psychologists and neuroscientists, Kim made sure that her interventions were grounded in indisputable research. Yet, even as she tackled systemic challenges, she confronted personal ones, including burnout within her team, a reminder that even change-makers need self-care and boundaries.

The “Pause” A Practical Approach: Elevating Leadership

At the heart of Kim’s approach is the “Pause,” A Practical Approach, a transformative and effective framework that empowers leaders to step back, gain clarity, and act with purpose. “Sometimes, the greatest breakthroughs come from moments of stillness,” Kim shares. This philosophy has helped countless leaders find balance, simplify complexity, and elevate their influence.

Through this year’s inaugural 2025 Dynamic Games™—a suite of innovative events like Mentor Me Summits, Masterminds, and Hackathons—Kim blends entrepreneurial strategies with mental well-being, uniting elite experts, top-tier entrepreneurs, and rising talents to collaborate on game-changing ideas. These initiatives not only address the root causes of stress but also foster creativity and connection, leading to measurable improvements in workplace performance and individual resilience. Scholarships for rising talents to join the 2025 Dynamic Games are made possible through corporate and individual sponsorships for the non-profit Spring Soiree Scholarship, overseen by Kim, creating a philanthropic pathway for broad participation. 

Kim’s Vision for Global Well-Being

Kim’s vision for the future is ambitious: to create a comprehensive, globally adaptable ecosystem for stress resilience. By integrating advanced AI and culturally sensitive intervention models, she’s championing accessible well-being for all.

“Your ‘why’ must be bigger than your challenges,” Kim says, underscoring her dedication to empowering individuals to reclaim their lives and helping organizations transform their cultures. Through her work, Kim redefines productivity as resilience rooted in connection, reshaping the way we experience work and life.

Legacy of Empowerment

Kim’s ultimate goal is clear: to create a world where stress no longer dictates our lives. She envisions a global movement that celebrates human potential, fosters genuine connection, and makes well-being a cornerstone of success.

Through her work, Kim Groshek proves that addressing stress is not just about survival—it’s about thriving. Her legacy is one of empowerment, compassion, and an unshakable belief in the power of resilience to transform lives and organizations alike.

To join her journey toward balance, innovation, and purposeful leadership, Find out more about sponsoring individuals, visit Kim Groshek’s website, website to learn more about sponsoring individuals or explore the transformative 14-Day Digital Detox Challenge.

About Kim Groshek:

Kim Groshek is a dynamic keynote speaker, internationally bestselling author, and founder of The Author’s Edge. With over 30 years of experience shaping industry standards, Kim has empowered CEOs, executives, and high achievers to reclaim balance, overcome overwhelm, and elevate their influence. She specializes in the transformative power of pausing to gain clarity and purpose through her Pause Philosophy. Kim’s unique approach blends strategic frameworks, mindset shifts, and actionable tools to simplify complexity, break free from burnout, and lead with authenticity. Through her work, Kim inspires individuals to create legacies that transcend generations, empowering them to navigate today’s challenges with grace, success, and purpose.

Connect with Kim:

Website: https://kimgroshek.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kgroshek/