Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes. ~Lewis Grizzard

Ah, the middle place.

This is the point in your leadership career where nothing is certain, and everything is up for grabs. As a leader, your development is well under way, but nowhere near complete; you are formed but not finished.

The challenge for midcareer leaders is to balance the ends-and-means tension created by the differing wants of your direct reports and bosses.

While most mid-career kicks stem from not paying enough attention to results (the “ends”) or the treatment of people (the “means”), there are additional kicks that you may experience midway through your leadership career:

The Passover

You’ve been working for the company for some time, doing a good job and expecting to be offered the next promotion. What happens next?

You get promoted, right?

Nope. Moving from the middle ranks to the upper ranks takes more than getting great results, treating your people well, or being tapped for the company’s elite leadership program: it takes opportunity.

And many times, you get passed over for an outsider.

So what can you do?

• • Bring the outsider in. Help the new person be successful.
  • Trust your leaders, and ask them what you can do to help create additional opportunities that you might be able to fulfill.
  • Grab the ring yourself. The more your results are unassailable and the deeper the loyalty you have among your people, the closer you’ll be to stepping onto the next rung.

The Smackdown

Failure, for high achievers such as those with a leadership profile, can be crushing. Emotions of fear, insecurity, and doubt can rent space in your mind for months afterward.

Where you once were bold and sure, now you’re tentative and hesitant.

At this point, an ass-kicking from a wise and more senior person can be helpful.

So what can you do?

• • Sulk, but do it by yourself.
  • Get perspective from a senior leader who has had a similar experience in the past.

Your failure is a grueling type of education. You wouldn’t want to go through it again, but the lessons you learn are invaluable, and will have a positive and enduring impact on your career.

The Ebbing

At some point at this middle stage of your leadership career, it’s common to be consumed with a gnawing sense that “there must be something more.”

The job of a leader, which looked so enviable when you were younger and at lower levels, feels less satisfying than you had imagined. Ebbing is a time of reflection and reassessment, when you’ll have more questions than answers. The questions you grapple with during the Ebbing stage are well worth answering, because they will influence the kind of leader you will ultimately be.

Finding the Cheeky Middle

If you find yourself deep in the ebb, pay close attention to the questions that surface for you.

• • Who do I aim to be as a leader?
  • What true difference do I hope to make through my leadership?
  • How do I wish to treat people while I’m leading?
  • What principles will I uphold?
  • What compromises am I willing to make?
  • What actions do I need to take to close the gap between the leader I aim to be and the leader I am today?
  • Can I become the leader I want to become by working where I work today?

The cheeky middle, in other words, is a supremely important place. Rather than endure it, embrace it as an essential part of your leadership development. Do that, and you’ll benefit from what you learn when you become a senior leader.

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Today’s guest contributor is Bill Treasurer. Bill has conducted over 500 corporate workshops designed to strengthen people’s leadership skills, improve team performance, accelerate innovation, and help executives behave more courageously. His latest book, A Leadership Kick in the Ass, will be released on January 16, 2017. You can find out more about Bill at www.billtreasurer.com and http://giantleapconsulting.com.

Image source (before quote added):  Pixabay