Morning friend ☕️

I know I promised The Transporter series last week (featuring Werner from the novel), but I’ve had a pivot in the plan for the rest of this year. I am building out our first paid product!

I’ll give a proper Scary Management business update in the next few weeks, but essentially, the book will not be ready by end of October as planned. It’s not yet at the level it needs to be - and I don’t want to rush it.

I still want to launch the store on the website this year - one of my goals for 2026 is to make the first sale on scarymanagement.com 💪 I’m working on something in the background, and this series feeds into that.

So, what is the new series?

Grab your coffee.

Let’s chat!

You’ve spent years becoming good at your job. Then, someone offers you a management position.

It sounds like recognition. Perhaps even the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Someone has noticed what you bring, and they think you could have more impact.

Alongside the pleasure of being asked, there may be a quieter thought: I hope they’re right.

And somewhere between wanting the opportunity and wondering whether you’re ready, another question niggles:

What exactly am I taking responsibility for?

That’s where we’re beginning The Unexpected Leader, a five-part series following Thandi, the central character in my novel The Call to Lead, as she steps towards management.

At the start of my Scary Management story, Anand, the Head of Engineering, invites Thandi for a coffee. He has been hearing good things about her work. She keeps things moving. People come to her when they need help. Her contribution has been noticed.

Then the conversation turns to the Sharks team.

They have had three managers in three years. Delivery has been inconsistent, and the team has a reputation of being difficult. Anand wants Thandi to take over as acting manager.

It is easy to see the attraction in being asked. The person who has quietly made things work is being offered a chance to have more influence over how they work. But this particular opportunity comes with a team whose history began long before her arrival.

Thandi knows how to be useful in her current role. Take on the awkward problem, help someone through it, deliver. She has earned her place that way.

If she accepts, she will be responsible for helping a whole team perform, including the work she cannot do herself and the problems she does not yet understand. Being good at her present job gives her something to bring. It doesn’t guarantee success at what she’s being offered.

Anand offers her the weekend to think.

There is room to consider the opportunity. There is also quite a lot to ask about it.

When I was first asked to lead a team, back at UEC Technologies in the late 2000’s, I stayed focused on the technical work I was good at. I paid less attention to bringing the team together to deliver as a whole.

It didn’t work. I had to realise that the job was to bring everyone and everything together so the team could deliver. My own technical contribution was only part of that.

That experience is why Thandi’s offer interests me. It is possible to accept the responsibility of a team while still reaching for the individual work that makes you feel competent. You can be putting in real effort and missing an important part of what the team needs from you.

For someone used to being reliable, doing more yourself can feel like a sensible answer. The harder question is what needs to happen between people: whose work depends on whose, what they are trying to achieve together, and what will help them get there.

Your existing strengths still matter. You are learning to use them in a role with a wider responsibility.

Here is a simple Leadership Shift Map to make that change easier to see:

A shift from relying mainly on my individual output to enabling the team’s outcomes.
From having all the answers to creating shared clarity.
From managing my priorities to balancing the team’s needs and constraints.
From building my credibility to building the team’s capability and trust.

These are changes in emphasis. You may still write code, solve a technical problem or contribute directly. You also need to understand what allows everyone’s contribution to come together.

Linda Hill explores the need to develop beyond our initial strengths in this excerpt from Becoming a Manager. It is a useful companion to this question: which parts of the new job will require more than the strengths that got you noticed?

For Thandi, that means looking more closely at the assignment itself. She has heard about the Sharks’ history. She has been offered the role. There is still a difference between a team’s reputation and understanding what is happening inside it.

What result is she expected to help them achieve? What authority will she have? What support can she count on when something cannot be resolved inside the team?

Those questions belong beside her willingness to try. They help her understand the responsibility she is considering, rather than leaving her to fill the gaps with determination.

If you are considering a leadership role, identify the biggest thing you still don’t know about the responsibility. Then choose one person who can help you clarify it.

Maybe its what success should look like. Maybe it is which decisions you can make, or what happens to your old workload. Pick the uncertainty that would most change how you approach the job, and arrange that conversation.

If you are already in the role, you can ask the same question about the responsibility you are carrying now. You do not need a new offer to revisit an unclear agreement.

Some answers may remain open. Give those questions a person and a next check, so they do not quietly become promises you never meant to make.

The Leadership Shift Map widens the question from what you can deliver yourself to what you must help the team achieve. Before your next yes, identify the most consequential unknown about that responsibility and someone who can help you understand it.

Thandi still has a decision to make. She has been recognised for something real. Accepting would mean stepping into work she will have to learn, with people who will have their own expectations of her.

If an opportunity has ever left you feeling pleased to be asked and a little exposed at the same time, perhaps you recognise the pause she is in.

There is room in that pause for a useful question.

Until next time, friend ☕️

Vaugan