Maria was a director with a reputation for parachuting into high-stakes projects.
When a major client deliverable went sideways, she was the one they called to take it over and fix it.
When cross-functional teams stalled, she jumped in, rewired the plan, and got it back on track.

It made her the hero.
It also made her stuck.

Because while she was busy rescuing projects, the strategic initiatives her boss actually needed her to lead never left the runway.

You built your career on your strengths.
That one thing you could always rely on — the sharp analysis, the firefighting, the ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute.

It worked.
It got you promoted.
It earned you trust.
It made you the go-to person.

But here’s the twist.
The same strength that carried you here has quietly become the ceiling keeping you stuck.

When Strength Turns Into Autopilot

I see it all the time.
The problem-solver who can’t stop diving into details.
The firefighter who always runs toward the blaze.
The “yes” leader who shoulders every request to keep the peace.

These aren’t bad traits. They’re why you got noticed in the first place. But under pressure, you lean harder on them. And what used to be your edge slowly morphs into your cage.

Your team starts to wait on you for answers.
Your calendar fills with crises instead of strategy.
Your boss stops seeing you as the person to grow — because you’ve typecast yourself as the one who carries.

That’s the trap of strengths: they trick you into thinking you’re winning, while they’re quietly capping your impact.

What My Readers See

When early readers got their hands on Lead Like a CEO, this theme jumped out.

Al told me the book works because it “confronts the messy realities of leadership, whether they be our fears, daily emergencies, entrenched organizational cultures, or other barriers.” Translation? Your strengths alone won’t save you in that mess.

Matt said what stood out was the “immediately actionable tactics through a lens of experience, not thought.” Because breaking the trap isn’t about theory. It’s about changing how you use your strengths in real time.

And starting September 30th, Lead Like a CEO will be available on Amazon — where I break down the five dimensions of executive presence and show you how to climb the Leadership Impact Ladder without getting trapped by your own strengths.

The Shift Leaders Miss

Here’s the sticky phrase to remember:
What got you here is the ceiling that keeps you here.

Leaders get stuck because they keep swinging the same hammer, no matter what the problem is. The higher up you go, the less people need your hammer. They need you to design the blueprint, not pound the nails.

This is the shift from being a doer or firefighter to being an architect. Architects don’t abandon their strengths — they redesign them to scale.

Fire Yourself from One Thing This Week

1. Fire yourself from being the first problem-solver.
   When stress hits, what strength do you grab automatically? Write it down. Awareness is the first crack in the ceiling.
   

2. Fire yourself from carrying every answer.
   Ask: How would an architect use this strength differently? If your strength is problem-solving, maybe your move is to design a system that solves problems without you.
   

3. Fire yourself from saying yes to everything.
   In your next meeting, resist your autopilot. If you usually provide the answer, hold back and ask one strategic question instead. Notice what happens.
   

Breaking the Ceiling

Your strengths aren’t bad. They just aren’t enough anymore. The job isn’t to throw them out — it’s to reframe them so they serve your next level, not keep you trapped at your current one.

If you want to climb, you can’t just keep doing more of what you’ve always done. You’ve got to re-engineer the very thing that got you here.

That’s how you stop your strength from becoming your ceiling.

Want to get a head start? Sign up for the free Lead Like a CEO Bonus Toolkit now at jamessaliba.com/leadlikeaceobonus. It’s your early-access guide to breaking ceilings — and it’s only available before the book launches.

P.S. Lead Like a CEO officially goes live on Amazon September 30th. Grab the toolkit today so you’re ready when it drops.