In times of professional transition, the instinctive reaction is to seek quick answers. We crave certainty, plans that restore our sense of control. This is understandable: ambiguity is unsettling, and leadership is often associated with clarity rather than questions.
Over the years I’ve learned that it’s not always about resolving chaos immediately. Sometimes, the most important work is learning to inhabit it consciously.
Transitions that do not appear in the organizational chart
There are changes that can’t be explained by a restructuring or resolved with a strategic decision. They are internal. Silent. They manifest as a need to elevate one’s own leadership, a search for internal change, an adjustment of priorities, and new questions about what we consider success or impact.
When we don’t allow ourselves to listen to that inner movement, we run the risk of continuing to perform with excellence in a direction that no longer represents us.
And here’s the paradox: returning to the center at such times isn’t halting leadership. It’s refining it.
Conscious purification, not forced expansion
Returning to the center means observing honestly:
- Which expectations are still your own and which are no longer your own?
- Where am I putting energy that has ceased to be fertile?
- What needs to be adjusted before we can move forward?
Professional maturity isn’t always about doing more. It’s about making better choices. About having more honest conversations with ourselves. About allowing the leader’s identity to evolve alongside the person.
True growth doesn’t always look like immediate expansion. Sometimes it’s more like a conscious streamlining, an internal simplification that makes room for a clearer, more human, and more sustainable form of leadership.
The leadership that emerges from the transition
Successful career transitions don’t return us to the same place. They lead us to a different kind of leadership: one that no longer needs to constantly prove itself, that can handle uncertainty without reacting impulsively, and that makes decisions based on inner clarity, not just external urgency.
Accompanying leaders through these transitions is to witness how conscious pausing becomes the most strategic act they can perform.
When a leader returns to the center, they don’t come back with the same answers. They come back with better questions. And that transforms everything.
AUTHOR: María Luisa Velasco is a consultant and Executive Coach with over twenty years of experience leading human transformation and organizational development in high-impact companies. She specializes in accompanying leaders through moments of transition, helping them clarify their direction and strengthen their presence. She has worked with executive committees and boards of directors across diverse sectors including finance, retail, technology, tourism, and energy—always through a conscious and strategic leadership approach.