As a leader, sometimes you're ahead of insights and sometimes you're behind
As a leader, sometimes you're ahead of insights and sometimes you're lagging behind.
Often as a leader you have unique insight and a broader vantage point to make connections across subjects and areas. You may also have longer tenure at this level, and so may have more experience to draw from to develop plans and solutions. This can lead you to have insights which others have not yet stumbled upon. When this happens, you may be misunderstood or others may have doubt that the choices are the right ones. It's important in these moments to hold strong and follow through, as well as helping the team to develop the context of the decision. At times people may not truly see what you have been seeing, until it all comes together. During the messy middle it can be easy to slow down or bail on a plan, but it's important to hold strong if you feel clarity and conviction.
Other times, the position you are in creates blind spots to seeing changes and opportunities developing, or issues growing that need attention. The authority you have may lead people to not share important issues until they are very problematic. It's therefore important to take extra steps to get the context on the ground from people who are closer to customers, closer to the code, closer to the finances. A powerful analogy for this phenomenon is that Snow melts from the edges. Two things I've found to help me avoid these pitfalls are: Leaders should be in the details, and Snowmelt meetings.
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