When on a road trip, we typically do better and last longer when we’re familiar with the road.

Leadership is like a road trip. There’s a path and there’s a destination. And there are unique ways to naviagte so we do arrive.

The most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review contains a fascinating and well-researched piece on the life cycle of a CEO. They looked at the careers of 747 CEOs and found patterns. Their findings were interesting for anyone who leads.

The highest performing leaders in this leadership subset have been in their positions for 15 years on average. The researchers also found a series of stages in a CEO lifecycle.

I found this fascinating and helpful. It helps us see a familiar road with any leadership role.

Here is a summary:

1. Honeymoon Stage
   When all is well and new and good and you can do no wrong. People love you. You love people — and this job is the best ever.

1. The Sophomore Slump
   It’s an inevitable brick wall you slam into once you’re 12-18 months into the job. The honeymoon is over. You’re no longer the new girl. You discover misalignment which results in a potential performance dip.

1. The Recovery Years
   If the “sophomore slump” is handled well, it’s possible to gain trust. With trust, there’s forward motion. The next 3-5 years can make progress. Recovery years can be up and to the right.

1. The Complacency Trap
   Years 6-10 feel like the real danger zone for leaders. It’s the period in which most CEOs leave their position. They’ve made necessary changes made by their predecessors, but are now having to do the hard work of looking squarely at their own decisions. Many refuse to make that reinvention. They refuse to jump that particular s-curve.

1. The Golden Years
   But, if they can make the jump, some leaders enter into the Golden years. This is the period in which leaders can bring the most value to the table and create the most value in the world.

I commend this article to you for further study.

Research has proven this is the road. As you lead, you will walk a version of this path. There are two questions I ask when thinking about the road.

- Where are you on the way?

- How do you need to think, act, and behave to make it through to the final phase of value creation?