Leadership loops.

Leadership isn’t about the title you hold. It’s about how you show up. How you think, act, and shape the world around you.

And this takes practice.

Leadership is a practice. A maturity you must build—and rebuild—over time. It doesn’t grow in a straight line. It loops.

Under pressure, we slide. At every level, we face new traps. But if we pay attention, if we’re curious, if we learn, we can move forward.

There are two loops.

The inner loop is where you learn to lead. It’s focused inward and downward, on your team. Team 2.

The outer loop is where you learn to scale. It’s focused upward and across, on your peers and the organization. Team 1.

The inner loop.

Learning to lead. This is where it starts: managing your team. Your energy is downward. You focus on how your team feels, how much they get done, and how their work lines up to a bigger goal.

The ultimate lesson is separation. You manage work, and you lead people.

Stop #1. Pleasing.

You want to be liked. You avoid conflict. Harmony conquers candor.

This is normal. You focus more on Team 2—your direct reports—than Team 1, your peers. You want a positive culture. A good place to work. But sometimes, that means avoiding tension instead of facing it.

You smooth things over. You say yes too often.

The trap: You avoid tough conversations. You mistake approval for progress.

The shift: Anchor to purpose, not popularity. Candor builds trust.

Stop #2. Grinding.

You get s**** done. Lists matter. Speed beats strategy.

You want to prove you can handle it—that you're reliable. That you and your team deliver. So you stay close to Team 2—clearing to-dos, jumping on problems, putting out fires. But sometimes, speed comes at the cost of direction. You don’t step back. You don’t set priorities. You don’t teach.

You mistake motion for momentum.

The trap: You become the fixer. You work harder instead of smarter.

The shift: Step back. Move from doing the work to directing the work. Teach.

Stop #3. Aligning.

You start pointing the way. Translating strategy. You prioritize.

You want your team to see the bigger picture—and their part in it. So you lift your head. You look sideways and up. You spend more time with Team 1. You connect dots. You explain the “why.” You introduce OKRs. 

But the vision still lives in your head. The goals are still yours to chase.

You haven’t let go.

The trap: You over-own. You stay at the center of everything.

The shift: Let go. Delegate. Use OKRs to invite shared ownership.

The outer loop.

This is expansive leadership. You have separated managing work from leading people. Now, you lead with your peers. Your energy is outward. 

You connect dots. You set the tone. You push the work forward. 

You shape culture. You translate strategy. You build systems.

The ultimate lesson is scale. You stop being the hero. You become the builder. You don’t just lead teams—you create the conditions for teams to lead themselves.

Stop #4. Driving.

You raise the bar. You push for productivity. You prioritize results.

You’ve earned a seat at the table—and now, you want to deliver. You stay connected to Team 2, but your focus shifts to Team 1. You lead across. You set the pace. You measure what matters.

But performance runs through you. Every major decision. Every approval. Every next step. 

You’re still cranking the engine.

The trap: You become the bottleneck. Everything depends on you.

The shift: Step aside. Shift from force to flow. Embed ownership in the team.

Stop #5. Shaping.

You’re connecting dots. You’re setting the tone. You’re pushing the work forward.

You want clarity across the board. You want teams aligned and momentum building. So you shape direction. You clarify what matters. You drive shared priorities. 

But ambition outpaces execution. The vision is clear—but delivery lags behind. You’re shaping the what and the why—but the how isn’t holding.

You haven’t built the system yet.

The trap: You lead ahead of the system. Strategy breaks from execution.

The shift: Slow down to scale up. Shape the system while you shape direction.

Stop #6. Building.

Zoom out. Zoom in. Think long-term and short-term. Build for scale.

You design systems. You shape culture. You grow other leaders. You build the machine.

You want results that last—beyond you, without you. So you simplify. You codify. You create patterns. You invest in rituals, feedback loops, and operating models.

The danger isn’t distance. It’s drift. The machine starts to slip. Systems ossify. Culture drifts. People slide back into old—bad—habits. And if you’re not careful, you do too.

The trap: You let go too much. You slip back instead of scaling forward.

The shift: Stay close enough. Keep building. Reinforce what matters—until the system runs strong without you.

So what now?

Leadership loops. You don’t finish them—you cycle through them. 

You grow. You slip. You rebuild.

Ask yourself:

Where are you now? Which loop are you in? And what’s your next move?

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If you have read this far... Thank you.

My new New Year’s resolution is to grow the readership of this newsletter. It got us past 4,000 subscribers. This year, we’d like to get even more.

Comment with your thoughts on this article and ideas on what you would like to see in future episodes; share the article with colleagues, and if you haven’t yet, please subscribe.

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Gavin.

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Shout out.

The incomparable Eugene Yoon does many of the illustrations for this newsletter. She is amazing; Alexandra McMahon assists her from time to time. And thank you, Giovanni Olla, for the legwork, edits, and revisions.

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