Listen First, Then Make Yourself Unnecessary

This week was mostly conversations — new scope, new people, a lot of catch-ups. When you step into a bigger job, the temptation is to start deciding. The better move is quieter. Four things I was reminded of. First listen 1. In a new mandate, your first job is to listen, not to fix. Most of my calendar this week was one-on-ones and intro meetings. I went in with topics, but the goal wasn’t to land opinions. It was to understand how the work actually flows and where people feel friction before I change anything. The failure mode when you inherit scope is shipping changes on week-one confidence. You break trust and you usually break something that was load-bearing for a reason you couldn’t see yet. Takeaway: treat the first few weeks of any expanded role as a listening tour. Ask how things work and why, take notes, and earn the right to redesign before you do. Make yourself unecessary 2. The best thing a senior person can do is make themselves unnecessary. I spent real time this week…