Who you become and what you do
About five years ago, I was still learning a coaching framework. I understood it intellectually but hadn't made it my own yet. It still felt mechanical.
In a session with a COO who had been passed over for the CEO role more than once, I asked a question from that framework almost tentatively - What will not change, even after you become CEO?
He tried to joke about it. Then went quiet. Then sighed and finally said - will I really change in how I think, in how I show up, in what I believe about how to work with people, just because a title changes? In that question he found the answer.
Over the two years that followed, he shifted in how he showed up, in how he related to people, in what he believed about leadership. The inner work led to the title, in a different company.
Many leaders chasing a title believe the role will change them. Sometimes it does. More often - becoming and doing feed each other. That is how leaders evolve.