The role you once held may no longer exist.
The question now is where you want to lead from here.
For many purpose-driven professionals, the work itself hasn't lost meaning.
But the structures that once shaped the work are shifting.
Funding is tighter. Roles are being restructured. Teams are dissolving or shrinking.
You still care about contributing.
You still have vast experience to offer.
You’re not questioning your capacity.
You’re questioning how to channel it in a system that no longer looks the way it did.
The structure may have changed. Your leadership hasn't.
In coaching conversations, I hear versions of this tension:
"I've spent years building skills. I still want to use them. But where do I fit now?"
"I don't want to replicate what I had before, but I'm not sure what this next version looks like."
"The system I knew is shifting. The work still matters. But how do I show up inside it now?"
This isn’t necessarily about a lack of clarity or ambition.
It’s about navigating leadership identity when external roles no longer define the path forward.
The next version of leadership often looks different
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