What Leadership Readiness Should Actually Measure
The performance record, the endorsement, and the confidence in the room all measure how someone operates in the role they already have. The promotion decision is about a role with different terrain. What committees need to see before they decide is how a specific leader will read that terrain, and no instrument in the standard readiness stack was built to show it.
Most leadership models fail because they ignore the reality of the workplace.
Most training programs ask individuals to change their personality to fit a rigid corporate playbook. This creates a massive energy leak. When people are forced to translate their natural professional instincts into a style that doesn't fit the situation, they burn out.
The result is a system where high-performers are exhausted by the effort of "fitting in" rather than the work itself.