One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is that once someone reaches the top, they no longer need support. After all, they have power, authority, and influence, right?
But the truth we see again and again is that leadership at the top can be profoundly lonely.
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a senior executive from a well-known multinational. From the outside, his role looked enviable – a corner office, a large team, and the kind of influence many dream of. But when he spoke about his reality, there was heaviness in his heart.
He said, “Saloni, I feel like I’m carrying this mountain on my own. My team looks up to me for every answer, but there’s no one I can truly open up to. Even the coach my company provided feels like an extension of HR. I can’t risk being fully vulnerable there.”
That conversation stayed with me. Because it revealed something we rarely acknowledge: the higher leaders climb, the fewer safe spaces they have.
Teams hesitate to challenge them. Colleagues hesitate to be fully honest. And when even the coaching space feels like a KPI-driven extension of the company, where does a leader go to be human?
The truth is at that level, they really need a safe space, a soundboard, where they can drop the armour, the need to have it all figured out and just be fully themselves. This is why senior leaders should always have the freedom to choose their own coach.
Not someone imposed upon them, but someone they resonate with, they feel inspired by. Someone they trust enough to be vulnerable with.
Because real coaching isn’t about performance metrics or leadership dashboards. It’s about giving leaders the one thing they rarely receive: a confidential, non-judgmental space where they can pause, breathe, and reconnect with themselves deeply.
And when that happens, something powerful shifts. Leaders stop leading from pressure and start leading from presence. They stop hiding behind the mask and start showing up authentically. And that shift ripples outward too.
Their teams feel safer, creativity expands, and the whole organisation benefits and thrives.
As the saying goes, “As is the leader, so is the team.”
I’ve written a longer piece “Time to Rethink Leadership Coaching“, on the hidden isolation of leadership, and why giving leaders the choice of their own coach can transform organisations.
You can read it here, link 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/time-rethink-leadership-coaching-dr-saloni-singh-np0zc/
To spreading the light of leadership…
Saloni