You don't have to want the leadership job to be great at it. But you do need help once you take it.
A lot of capable people are sitting on the fence right now. Deloitte's 2026 survey found 80% of Gen Zs are interested in a supervisory or management role at some point, yet only 6% of Gen Zs and millennials call leadership their primary career goal. Interested, but not eager.
That hesitation isn't a flaw. DDI's newest Global Leadership Forecast, as reported in Forbes, found one in four leaders didn't even want the role before they were asked. The reluctant ones who got coaching were 1.3 times more likely to be fully engaged than eager leaders who got none. Only 5% of keen, uncoached leaders said they were fully engaged.
The support gap is real. An American Management Association study found 51% of managers were promoted into people management without formal leadership training, and only 27% described their own manager as highly effective.
What the fence sounds like
In my years leading teams in healthcare, I've watched great people talk themselves out of leadership with lines like:
- "I'd lose the part of the work I'm good at."
- "I've seen what my manager deals with. No thanks."
- "I don't know if I'm the type."
Those are fair concerns. But they're usually about the version of the job people have seen up close, not the version they could build. Remember, about half the managers in that AMA study got the job with no formal training. Much of the struggle you've seen may simply be people thrown in with no one in their corner. That's a setup problem, not proof that leadership isn't for you.
Three moves if you're on the fence
- Test the work before the title. Ask to lead one project, onboard one new hire, or run one standing meeting. Ninety days of doing will teach you more than a year of wondering. Pay attention to what gives you energy and what drains it.
- Name what you're actually afraid of. Write down your top reason for hesitating. Workload, conflict and losing your craft are different problems with different fixes. Fear you can name is fear you can work on.
- Get a coach before you need one. In the DDI data, coaching mattered more than enthusiasm. Find a mentor, inside or outside your company, who has made the jump and will tell you the truth about it.
If you're the one doing the asking
If you're tapping someone who's hesitant, don't just sell the role. Commit to coaching them through the first year, and put it on the calendar. The same DDI research found only 25% of leaders say their manager is an effective coach. Be in that 25%.
These are starting points, not the whole answer. The right path depends on your goals, your organization and the kind of leader you want to be, and that's worth working through with someone who knows your situation.
Where to go from here
If you're weighing your next step, grab the free Leadership & Wellness Playbook for a simple way to think it through.
If you want a sounding board as you grow into leadership, start a mentoring conversation. If you lead a team and want help building your next layer of leaders, let's talk consulting.
More on leading well is on the blog.
— Nate