Move from indispensable operator to strategic multiplier
Transform from "only I can do this" to building strategic thinking capacity in others
You've become the sole strategic thinker because your team hasn't developed strategic judgment.
You attend every important meeting because others lack the context to represent the product vision.
You make all cross-functional decisions because your PMs can't navigate competing stakeholder priorities.
You've accidentally trained your organization that strategic thinking only happens through you, making you the constraint on breakthrough innovation speed.
Move from being the only strategic thinker to building strategic thinking capacity in others. Transform "only I can do this" into "my team thinks strategically without me."
Moving from task delegation to true empowerment and multiplication. Transform from being indispensable to being a multiplier who creates other strategic leaders.
Use these questions to assess your current state and identify opportunities for growth:
What part of your work still depends only on you?
When did someone last make a great call without you?
What thinking could you teach once and never repeat again?
This skill develops through three levels of mastery: low (incremental), medium (emerging), and high (breakthrough). Below are the common patterns leaders experience at each stage:
You've built success by being indispensable.
Your fingerprints are on every major outcome, which works but limits scale.
The next evolution is moving from heroic execution to strategic multiplication.
You're extending your judgment through others.
Some of your team now operates independently, but consistency depends on you.
The next step is ensuring strategic thinking happens even when you are not in the room.
You have built a leadership system, not just a team.
Strategic judgment flows naturally through others and progress continues without you.
That is real scale.
The year-end feels wrong despite hitting deadlines and attending meetings. This is 'quiet burnout'—but the real issue isn't overwork exhaustion. Leaders suffer from being overloaded with context. High-performing leaders become trapped when their team depends on their clarity rather than developing their own understanding. Your role expands, but your impact does not.
You've already said no to most things. So why does the wagon still feel impossible to pull? The Pumpkin Patch Moment I have this photo of my daughter at a pumpkin patch. She's maybe three years old, determinedly pulling a wagon with a few pumpkins in it. Her whole body is leaning into it. She's […]
If your team can’t think strategically without you, that is not a compliment. It is a warning sign. This is the essence of what I call The Context Keeper Trap, one of the most common ways capable product leaders unintentionally limit their impact. On the surface, it looks like leadership: you are in every pivotal meeting, […]
Take the full assessment to see how you score across all 9 breakthrough skills.