You sit in a car for the first time.

No instructor.

No idea how the machine works.

No clue about road signs or rules.

No practice.

How far do you think you’d get?

Chances are, you won't be able to move the damn thing, but if you do, you’d crash at the first corner or intersection. In the best-case scenario, you would grow a beard before arriving to your destination. 

That’s exactly what we do to new managers!

I've been in leadership for over two decades, and the truth is this: most new managers are still expected to figure it out on their own.
No training. No support. Just pressure, responsibility, and a vague expectation to "lead."

I reallys wish I could tell you this has changed.
But it hasn't.

Let me show you why.
And what you can do about it.

A typical story: mine

Let me take you back to November 2003.
I got a call from the CEO of one of the country's largest real estate development companies. He said he was impressed with my work as a real estate broker and made me a flattering yet intimidating offer:

"I need someone to build me a sales department from scratch. You know, a team, an office, processes, the whole shebang."

I had no clue how to do any of that.

Fast forward a few weeks, and there I was, signing my employment contract as Sales Manager. But no leadership training. No onboarding. Just me, a new title, and a whole lot of assumptions. At first, I was proud. I landed a leadership role without any formal background in leadership.

But then it hit me.

After just two months in the role, I felt completely lost. I was overwhelmed, unsure of myself, and constantly afraid of making mistakes. I didn't know how to build a team, let alone lead one. I was anxious about how others saw me, confused about where to focus, and completely stuck in a cycle of self-doubt.

Basically, I was a mess.

Still, I wasn't the kind of person to give up. I made a pact with myself: if I was going to carry the title, I was going to earn it. So, I dove into books. I attended seminars. I talked to peer managers and seasoned leaders. I cherry-picked everything I could find for my specific situation, hoping some of it would stick. It was trial and error. Long hours. Stress. Results eventually came, yes. But so did something else:

Burnout.

The market was booming. The workload was insane.
And while I was:

• building processes
• hiring
• delegating
• traveling and
• chasing goals

life was also happening: I met my wife, got married, bought a home, had a child, and played in a band. At some point, my body said: "That's enough." It wasn't a total collapse, but enough to force me to stop and reassess everything. That's when I started working with coaches and mentors. And everything changed. My progress accelerated. My stress was reduced.

Because I got clarity and laser focus.

Subsequently, I made better decisions—not just professionally but personally, too.
I became a better version of myself—and others noticed.

I earned a promotion. Then another.
Eventually, I was leading the disposal of the largest repossessed real estate portfolio in the country, earning a six-figure salary.

The data (still!) confirms what I lived

You might think this is just my story.
But the data shows it's the story of most new managers.

According to a 2023 study by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and YouGov,

82% of new managers in the UK receive no formal management or leadership training.

Gartner echoes this, reporting that
85% of new managers are thrown into leadership without any formal preparation.

And the 2024 Capterra study reveals that
77% of middle managers report not receiving any form of managerial training upon their hiring or promotion.

The result?
People are promoted and then left to figure out leadership on their own.
Just like I was.

Even in good companies, there's a gap

You might assume this only happens in smaller or disorganized companies.

But even in large corporations—banks, pharma companies, insurance firms...—there's often a familiar pattern:

They offer onboarding sessions, leadership training and workshops, or e-learning platforms, but these programs are usually:

• One-size-fits-all

• Short-term or event-based

• Not adapted to individual context or challenges

Leadership is not a course. It's something that develops over time.
It requires ongoing support, coaching/training, feedback, and reflection.

A stand-alone, one-day workshop on how to give feedback doesn't really help someone battling imposter syndrome, managing conflict, and juggling performance pressure all at once.
It sure wasn't very helpful for me.

Why Gen Z is opting out

A 2024 report by Robert Walters found that
72% of Gen Z professionals would rather choose an individual progression over managing others, and 52% don't want to be middle managers.

Why?
Because they're seeing the leadership experience for what it often is: overloaded, under-supported, and full of unnecessary friction.

In fact, 69% say middle management is too high stress and low reward.

I'm not surprised at all.

Coming back to the Capterra study, middle managers reported:

• Lacking consistent feedback from their superiors on what works and what doesn't (51%)

• Being given more responsibility than they could reasonably handle (39%)

• Wasting up to 44% of their time in meetings and 13% on administrative tasks

• Not having enough time in a typical week to accomplish their tasks (61%)

• Feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or burned out—sometimes or always (75%)

And here's a major red flag:
Almost one in four middle managers are actively looking for another job.

When nearly a quarter of your youngest leaders are trying to leave—it's time to re-evaluate what leadership means in today's workplace.

But...

The report by Robert Walters found that
89% of employers still think that middle managers play a crucial role in their organization.

Regardless of the fact that I am referring to different studies in this blog, the overall picture is clear and imposes a logical question:

So why do we still—in 2025—have a vast majority of first-time managers and middle managers left to their own devices without proper training and support?

The answer goes beyond this blog, but let me say something that comes from a person who has experience being on the receiving side (a new manager in a corporate environment) and on the giving side (a coach helping new managers):

The problem is always the top management.
As long as they don't see the importance and the benefits of structured and lasting leadership training, results such as those in the studies will keep on coming.

Meaning... you need to act on it.
You need to decide what part of the statistics you will belong to.

The buckets you can always count on

Because, like Steven Bartlett says in his book The Diary of a CEO:
In life, there are five buckets you need to fill in the right order:

1. Your knowledge (what you know)

2. Your skills (what you can do)

3. Your network (who you know)

4. Your resources (what you have)

5. Your reputation (what the world thinks of you)

And there are only two of those that any professional earthquake can never empty:
It can never remove your knowledge and it can never unlearn your skills.

The bottom line

After 25 years in the business, I can tell you this: leadership is a skill. It's learnable.

There are two ways to learn everything: you do it on your own. Or, you do it with the help of someone who's actually been where you want to go.

When we first spoke, a recent client asked me: "Why should I become a manager?"

I said:
"I don't think I can answer that, other than it's very fulfilling and rewarding to experience things like:

• Your team walking into your office to thank you for what you've done for them

• Customers asking for your time just to express how much they appreciate your team's work

• The international group your company is a part of adopting your solution as the new group standard

• A team member saying they're grateful to have had you as their boss during their hard times

• Industry peers trying to pick your brain because of your team's success

• Watching your people grow, buy homes, build families

• Your management board thanking you in words and bonuses for your contribution to your country's results."

The bottom line is: being a manager is great!

It's great to have leverage to turn your vision into reality.
It's great to instill your culture and values.
It's great to make an impact. For your team and by your team.
It's great to see how you bring out the best in people.
It's great to work with people and learn from them.
It's great when professional leadership spills into personal transformation.

The next (right) step

And how do you get to great?
With the first steps. The right steps.

So today, the only call to action is this:
🎥 Watch my free workshop ⬇️⬇️