The change leader you're choosing to be
Sep 05, 2026Go-live was behind her.
Cera sat in the debrief meeting and listened to the numbers. System adoption at 81 percent by week four, help desk volume trending down, key stakeholder satisfaction scores above target. By every project metric, it was a success.
What she felt was not triumph, exactly, but something more complicated.
She had delivered the project. She had also, at points, delivered it in ways she was not proud of. There was the steering committee meeting where she reacted too quickly. The two weeks when she stopped checking in with her team leads individually. The month when her meetings had been all status updates and no real conversation.
She had done enough things well. She had also learned, in the doing, where the gap was between the leader she wanted to be and the one who showed up when the pressure was highest.
That gap is the most important data a change leader can collect. It allows you to get better next time, and there's always a next one when it comes to change.
The task-relationship spectrum
Chapter 10 of Inspired by Fear asks you to place yourself honestly on a spectrum between two leadership orientations.
Task-focused. Prioritizes delivery over relationships. Information-heavy, more what than why. Frames change as an event with a clear end date. Moves fast and leaves people behind. Equates being busy and unavailable with being an effective leader.
People-oriented. Leads with purpose. Shares thoughts and questions that inspire and encourage. Frames change as a development opportunity. Influences gradually, so change feels less overwhelming. Earns trust and commitment. Brings people along.
Neither end is a character flaw. But the research is consistent. Leaders who operate primarily from the task end produce compliance, while leaders who lead from the people end produce commitment, and commitment is what makes the change stick after the project team goes home.
Cera plotted herself and recognized she had spent a significant portion of the deployment further toward the task end than she intended.
The fear she was still carrying
Chapter 10 also asks you to name what you are still carrying. Not the project risk register. The fear underneath it.
The workbook prompts are specific. Fear about being wrong. About being imperfect. About moving too fast or too slow. About letting people down. Where does it live? What triggers it? What does it ask of you?
Cera's was the fear of appearing uncertain. She had spent the deployment performing a confidence she did not always feel. What she learned, by watching the moments where her team had been most engaged, was that the opposite was true. The times she had said "I'm not sure, what do you think?" had generated more real energy than any of her polished updates.
The fear had been costing her the very thing it was trying to protect: her credibility with the people she led.
The courageous next action
Chapter 10 ends with a simple prompt.
- What is your single next courageous action?
Not a development plan. Not a set of goals. One thing, specific, doable, slightly outside the comfort zone, that moves toward the leader you want to be.
Cera's was to open her next team meeting by naming something she did not know, and asking for help.
She did it. It was uncomfortable for about 90 seconds. A team lead she had always found difficult to read said, "Honestly, I'm glad you said that. I've been wondering the same thing and I didn't know if it was okay to bring up."
That conversation changed the tenor of the next phase of work more than any communication plan had.
What Cera took from this
The story that started in the book did not end at go-live. It continued in how Cera walked into the next project, with more tools, more self-awareness, and a clearer picture of where her defaults broke down under pressure.
That is what Inspired by Fear is built to do. It gives you the frameworks, and the blog gives you the stories, but the real work comes next: practicing the behaviors, and changing how you lead. One small shift at a time.
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