Greg StevensonStevenson, Gregory · Ask Greg — Leadership Coach

Why the top job gets lonelier the better you do it

4 Sept 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:41

In this monologue, Greg Stevenson argues that as leaders become more competent, they experience increasing isolation. Competence creates a perception of self‑sufficiency, so colleagues stop checking in, assume the leader has everything under control, and offload their own problems while ignoring the leader’s needs. To preserve the image that earned them the role, leaders continue to project certainty, widening the gap between how they appear and how they actually feel. Over time, this gap turns strength into a solitary façade, making the top job progressively lonelier.

Chapters

Here's the cruel part of leadership. The better you get at the job, the lonelier it becomes. Because competence buys you distance. The more capable you look, the less anyone thinks to check on you. People assume you've got it. They bring you their problems and take none of yours. And you let them, because needing something would crack the image that got you here. So you keep performing the certainty. And the gap between how you look and how you feel gets wider every year. Strength that has no one to lean on isn't strength. It's just isolation you've learnt to wear well.