S9 Ep1: From Department Head to Enterprise Leader

Welcome to Season 9 of Your Path to Career Success — the podcast that helps you build the mindset, influence, and executive presence to thrive at the highest levels of leadership.

We’re kicking things off with one of the biggest leaps in your career: moving from leading a function to thinking and operating like an enterprise or C-Suite leader.

If you’ve ever found yourself laser-focused on your team’s wins, only to realise the executive table demands a completely different perspective, this episode is for you. 

In just over 21 minutes, I’ll walk you through the mindset shift that separates great department heads from true enterprise/C-Suite leaders.

Because here’s the truth: at the C-Suite, it’s not about running your department anymore, it’s about representing the organisation as a whole.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
• Why enterprise/C-Suite leadership demands a completely new mindset
• The shift from silo thinking to system thinking — and why it matters
• How to balance depth in your expertise with breadth across the business
• The trap of short-term wins (and how to pivot to long-term value)
• Practical steps to build trust and credibility across the executive table

This episode is packed with real client stories, reflection prompts, and actionable strategies to help you expand your lens, so you’re seen not just as a function head, but as someone ready to run the business.

What next?
A big thank you for tuning in to Your Path to Career Success — where your ambition meets actionable advice.
🦉 Ready to step into enterprise leadership with confidence? Book a free discovery call and explore how my Unlock Your Career Potential coaching programme can support your transition: https://calendly.com/thecareerowl
🦉 If this episode sparked a shift for you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague who’s preparing for executive leadership.
🦉 Follow me on LinkedIn for daily insights and behind-the-scenes leadership strategies.

Useful Resources:
🎧 Book: The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins — a must-read for leaders transitioning into bigger roles

📃 FROM MID-LEVEL LEADERSHIP TO C-SUITE: Your 7 step roadmap for Senior Leadership

Stay tuned — this season is your blueprint for the C-Suite. 

Next week: Commercial Acumen: Speaking the Language of the Board.

Transcript

Welcome to Season 9 of “Your Path to Career Success” — the podcast that helps you build the skills, confidence and strategies to thrive in your career.

I’m your host, Kathryn and this season is about equipping you with the mindset, influence, and executive presence needed to secure and succeed in the top roles of your organisation.

Over the next twelve weeks, we’ll walk through three critical phases of entering the C-suite journey:
1. Thinking and Operating Like a C-Suite Leader (Weeks 1–4) – The mental leap. You’ll learn how to reframe your perspective from leading a department to shaping an enterprise, sharpen your commercial acumen, contribute to strategy and manage risk with a CEO’s mindset.
2. Positioning for Executive Opportunity (Weeks 5-8) – The career leap. You’ll discover how to craft a personal brand that commands respect, showcase your enterprise-wide impact, understand what CEOs and boards look for in candidates, and start stepping into the role before you’re officially in it.
3. Expanding Influence Beyond Your Function (Weeks 9-12) – The visibility leap. We’ll explore how to build alliances with senior peers, communicate with impact in the boardroom, guide transformational change, and navigate the politics of the C-suite while staying true to your values.

Each episode will blend practical strategies, stories, and insider insights designed to accelerate your readiness for executive leadership.

Think of this season as your blueprint for the C-suite: part playbook, part mentor and part reality check.

By the end of these twelve weeks, you won’t just be aiming for the executive table, you’ll be ready to sit at it, contribute at the highest level, and lead with vision, influence, and impact.

Welcome to Episode 1 – From Department Head to Enterprise/C-Suite Leader: How to reframe your thinking from running a function to running the whole business.

Imagine this: you’re at your desk, coffee in hand, scrolling through your inbox, when a calendar alert pops up. It’s a meeting with the CEO. Right now.

Wait…what?

One minute, you’re running your department, owning your function, feeling confident in what you do. The next? The whole business is suddenly on your shoulders. 

Shareholders want results. 

Your peers are watching to see if you can connect the dots across teams. 

Your exec team? They’re expecting vision, strategy, clarity. 

And that little voice in the back of your head? Yeah…it’s whispering: “Am I really ready for this?”

Here’s the thing: if you’re feeling that swirl of excitement and panic, congratulations—you’re exactly where every enterprise/C-Suite leader starts. Because moving from function-focused to business-focused leadership isn’t just a promotion. It’s a reframe of how you think, act, and see the world.

And that’s what we’re talking about today—how to make that leap, step into that bigger lens, and start thinking like the kind of leader people actually want to follow.

So, take a deep breath. Lean in. This is where it all begins.

Now that your heart rate has (hopefully) settled a bit, let’s unpack what just happened.

See, when you step into enterprise leadership, the first challenge isn’t the numbers. It’s not even the strategy. It’s your mindset.

Up until now, your world was clear. Your function, your team, your KPIs. You knew exactly what success looked like. But now…everything changes. Suddenly, success isn’t just your department hitting its targets. Success is the entire organisation moving forward together.

And that’s where most leaders stumble. Because we’re wired to focus on what we can control, right? But in this new role, you have to learn to influence what you can’t directly control. Marketing, ops, finance, HR…all of it.

Let me give you an example. Imagine you’re leading the company’s growth strategy. Marketing wants to spend big on brand campaigns, finance is screaming about budgets, ops is warning about capacity, and the product team…well, they’re asking for more R&D. 

Now what?

In your old role, you might have just executed your function’s plan and called it a win. But as an enterprise/C-Suite leader, your job is to step back and ask:
• How do these pieces fit together?
• What’s best for the business as a whole?
• How do I get these different teams aligned, without stepping on toes or burning people out?

And that’s exactly where the transformation happens. The moment you start seeing the business as a system, not just a collection of departments, that’s when you start thinking like an enterprise/C-Suite leader.

Here’s a little secret: most people never make this leap. They get stuck thinking, “I just need to run my function really well, and that will get the company results.” But that mindset? It’s a trap. Because no matter how brilliant you are at your department, it’s not enough anymore. You have to expand your lens.

And that’s what we’re diving into today: practical ways to shift from function-focused to business-focused leadership, without losing your edge, your credibility, or yourself in the process.

So, take a moment. Picture your team, your peers, your exec team. 
Now ask yourself: are you thinking like the leader they need you to be, or just like the head of your department?

If it’s the latter, don’t worry, that’s exactly why you’re listening. And by the end of this episode, you’ll have some clear ways to start flipping that switch.

So why does this matter
Here’s the thing: if you don’t make this shift, it can really trip you up. You might find yourself:
• Overprotecting your department at the expense of enterprise goals.
• Creating silos that slow down strategy.
• Missing the bigger picture, the one that actually drives growth.

But—and this is the exciting part—when you embrace enterprise/C-Suite thinking, everything changes. You start to:
• See connections across the business you never noticed before.
• Balance short-term pressures with long-term impact.
• Build credibility as the kind of leader who can run the whole organisation.

And let me tell you—from coaching dozens of leaders making this leap—this is the single biggest mindset shift that separates great department heads from true enterprise/C-Suite executives.

So What I’ll share in this episode
Over the years, both running my business as well as in my 20+ years’ experience in HR management, I’ve had the privilege of guiding leaders stepping into enterprise/C-Suite roles. Whilst I haven’t personally walked into the C-suite myself, I’ve watched and supported clients navigate the wins, the struggles, and the mindset pivots that made all the difference. And that’s what I want to bring to you today.

So here’s what we’ll cover:
• Why enterprise/C-Suite leadership demands a whole new mindset.
• How to shift from optimising your department to maximising the entire organisation.
• Real-life lessons my clients have faced—and the mistakes that tripped them up.
• Practical, actionable ways to reframe your daily thinking so you lead with breadth, not just depth.

By the end of this episode, my goal is simple: you’ll have a clearer sense of how to expand your perspective and start leading like the business is truly yours.

So before we dive in, grab your favourite drink, find a comfy spot, and get ready to map out your leadership path—with a few “aha” moments along the way.

So let’s get started 

One of my clients told me about their very first executive team meeting.

[pause]

They walked in ready to champion their function—numbers, plans, wins—all laid out on their slides. They thought their job was simple: prove the value of “my team” and “my area.”

But by the end of that meeting, reality hit. Every time they pushed their agenda, they realised they were missing the bigger picture—how their priorities connected—or sometimes conflicted—with the needs of the business as a whole.

They weren’t seen as a partner yet. They were still operating like a department head in a room full of enterprise/C-Suite leaders.

That was their wake-up call.

And then it clicked: their job isn’t to be the best head of a function anymore. Their job is to think and act like the CEO of the whole business.

Boom. Mindset shift. [pause, smile in voice]

From that day, they started reframing every conversation, every decision, every strategy around one simple question:
“What’s best for the whole organisation?”

And that’s when the transformation began.

Here are some lessons for making the shift

1. Shift from silo to system
As a department head, your natural instinct is to defend resources, budgets, and priorities for your team. It makes absolute sense—you’re responsible for delivering results, hitting targets, and keeping your people happy. That’s how you’ve been measured your whole career.

But when you step into enterprise or C-Suite leadership, that mindset can actually hold you back. 

Your focus needs to zoom out. You have to start thinking of the organisation as an ecosystem, where every function is connected, and every decision you make ripples across the organisation.

Let me give you an example. Imagine you’re in charge of marketing, and you’re pushing for a big campaign. From your perspective, it looks like a clear win: brand awareness goes up, leads come in, and your team gets credit. But have you paused to think about operations? Can the team handle the spike in demand? What does it cost the finance team in terms of cash flow? And how does it impact customer experience if the product team can’t deliver on time?

These are the ripples you need to map. When I work with clients on this, I often ask them to literally draw it out: “If you make this decision in your function, how does it impact finance, operations, customer experience, or the brand?” Sometimes, seeing it visually is a total game-changer. It shifts your mindset from my team vs. theirs to what’s best for the organisation as a whole.

Another powerful habit? Pause before every big decision and ask yourself: Am I advocating only for my team, or am I contributing to what’s best for the business as a whole? That one question alone can dramatically change the way you lead.

Reflection prompt: Next time you’re in a cross-functional discussion, consciously take a step back and ask yourself this: Am I pushing for my function’s win, or am I thinking about the organisational win? Over time, this shift in perspective will become second nature and that’s when you start to operate like an enterprise leader, not just a department head.




2. Balance depth with breadth
You’ve spent years—or maybe even decades—building deep expertise in your field. That’s your superpower. It’s what got you promoted, what gave your team confidence in you, and what made you a trusted voice in your function.

But here’s the twist: in enterprise or C-Suite leadership, your strength suddenly comes from breadth, not just depth. You don’t need to be the deepest expert in every area—finance, operations, HR, technology, strategy—but you do need to understand enough across these areas to make informed, holistic decisions.

Think of it like this: in your department, knowing the nuances of your function is like holding a magnifying glass—you can see every detail up close. But as an enterprise/C-Suite leader, you need a wide-angle lens—you still notice detail where it matters, but you can also see the whole system, how the pieces fit, and where decisions intersect.

Here’s a example for one of my clients. They came from a marketing background and walked into their first executive team meeting feeling confident, until finance started debating budget allocation, operations flagged capacity issues, and the product team raised questions they’d never considered. Suddenly, their depth wasn’t enough. They realised they needed enough fluency across functions to meaningfully contribute to the discussion, and influence decisions.

This is where coaching—or deliberate learning—becomes a game-changer. It’s not just about gaining knowledge; it’s about building confidence. I help clients develop the language, frameworks, and tools so that when they walk into a boardroom, they can speak credibly across functions, ask the right questions, and hold their own—even outside their original expertise.

Reflection prompt: Which area of the business outside your function feels least familiar to you right now? What’s one concrete step you could take this quarter to start building fluency there—maybe it’s a course, a podcast, shadowing a colleague, or even just a 30-minute conversation over coffee?

Remember, breadth doesn’t mean giving up your expertise. It means leveraging your depth while stretching your perspective so you can make smarter, enterprise-level decisions. And when you do, your influence skyrockets—and you start being seen as a true enterprise leader, not just a function head.

3. Prioritise long-term value over short-term wins
In a department role, success is often clear-cut: hit your targets, deliver your projects, and your performance is measured by immediate results. That’s tangible, and it’s rewarding.

But at the enterprise or C-Suite level, the lens shifts dramatically. Now, you’re balancing shareholder expectations, market shifts, operational realities, and sustainable growth. The questions you ask yourself—and the decisions you make—need to move from:
“How do I maximize my department this quarter?”
to
“How do we position the business for success three years from now?”

Let me give you a real-world example. I worked with a client who was used to celebrating small wins every quarter. They were focused on hitting departmental KPIs and loved showing progress in weekly meetings. But once they stepped into a C-Suite role, they realised their board and peers were less concerned with quarterly wins and more interested in whether the organization was on a trajectory for sustainable growth. That meant sometimes making decisions that sacrificed short-term recognition for long-term advantage.

One of the biggest coaching conversations I have with new executives is about letting go of the need for immediate wins. It’s hard, I know, because those quick wins feel safe, measurable, and visible. But boards and leadership teams want confidence that you’re thinking ahead, that you’re building resilience, and that you’re making choices that will drive growth over years—not just months.

Reflection prompt: What’s one decision you’re currently making that prioritises short-term wins over long-term value? How could you shift your perspective to consider the business three years from now?

4. Build trust across the table
Your peers are no longer just colleagues—they’re your leadership team. And that changes everything.

If you cling to a “my department first” mindset, friction will absolutely appear. Meetings feel transactional, decisions become defensive, and you risk being seen as someone who only represents their silo. But when you actively build trust, share information openly, and support others’ priorities, you elevate the entire business—and your own credibility as a C-Suite leader.

Here’s an example: one client I coached initially treated cross-functional projects as “my team’s work first.” They quickly noticed resistance from other leaders, slow approvals, and even tension in discussions. We worked on shifting their approach: they began framing every conversation with C-Suite outcomes in mind, celebrating other teams’ contributions, and volunteering support where needed. Within a few months, not only did collaboration improve, but they were now seen as a partner across the leadership table—someone with enterprise influence, not just a functional mandate.

So make it a habit of celebrating enterprise wins, not just departmental victories. Mentioning a cross-functional success in a meeting, highlighting a project where multiple teams contributed, or publicly recognising another department’s role signals that you’re thinking bigger—and that you’re operating as a true C-Suite leader.

Reflection prompt: Think about your last leadership meeting. Did you highlight only your team’s wins, or did you acknowledge contributions from across the business? How could you reframe your next update to celebrate enterprise or organisational success?

Practical Next Steps for This Week
Let’s bring all of this into action. I want to give you three practical things you can try this week—small moves, but the kind that, when applied consistently, start to rewire the way you lead.

1. Reframe one cross-functional decision
Pick a decision coming up in the next few days that involves multiple functions. Before you speak or weigh in, pause and ask yourself: “Am I advocating for my team, or am I thinking about what’s best for the business as a whole?”

Even this one conscious shift in perspective can completely change the tone of the conversation and how others perceive you as a leader.

2. Explore an area outside your expertise
Identify one part of the business that feels unfamiliar to you, maybe it’s finance, operations, market trends, or even HR. Commit to learning something concrete this month. This could be a course, a podcast, a shadowing session, or a simple coffee chat with a colleague.

The goal isn’t to become an expert overnight, it’s about building enough fluency to contribute confidently to organisational-level discussions. Over time, that breadth becomes a superpower.

3. Celebrate organisational wins
In your next leadership conversation, don’t just highlight what your team accomplished—acknowledge a cross-functional or company-wide success. Name the other teams, describe their contribution, and show how it moved the business forward.

This small habit signals that you’re thinking bigger than your function, and it helps your peers see you as a true C-Suite leader.

I know these may sound simple. And yes—they are. But here’s the thing: C-Suite leadership isn’t about doing one giant, dramatic act. It’s about consistently applying small shifts in thinking, in conversations, and in decisions. These tiny moves are about what build credibility, influence, and real impact over time.

Reflection prompt: Which one of these three actions will you commit to this week? Pick one, start small, and notice the difference it makes in your conversations and decisions.

Closing
So today, we unpacked the big mindset shift—from department head to enterprise or C-Suite leader.
We covered:
• Moving from silo to system thinking [pause]
• Balancing depth with breadth across the business [pause]
• Prioritising long-term value over short-term wins [pause]
• Building trust and credibility across the leadership table [pause]

When you embrace this shift, you stop being seen as just a functional expert—and start being recognised as someone who can run the whole organisation.

Here’s the bottom line: enterprise leadership isn’t about representing your department. [slight chuckle]

It’s about representing the organisation as a whole.

So here’s your challenge for the week: start reframing your thinking in just one conversation, one decision, or one meeting. Notice how your presence in the room—and the impact you have on the business—starts to change.

And remember…these small, consistent shifts are what separate great department heads from true C-Suite leaders.

If you found today’s episode valuable, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague who’s making the same transition. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn—just search Kathryn Hall, The Career Owl.

If you want more resources to support your C-Suite leadership journey, head over to www.thecareerowl.co.uk.

And remember, this podcast gives you the tools and mindset shifts to step up into executive leadership. If you’re leading leaders and facing decisions where the stakes feel high and you’d like more personalised support in applying these lessons to your own career journey, I’ve got 2 spaces available this quarter — I’ll leave the link in the show notes.

[pause, upbeat tone]

Now—let me give you a sneak peek into next week.
Episode 2 is all about Commercial Acumen: Speaking the Language of the Board.
We’ll dive into why understanding the P&L, shareholder priorities, and market dynamics is non-negotiable if you want to be taken seriously at the executive table. [pause]
I’ll share what I’ve seen work for my clients, the pitfalls that can hold leaders back, and practical steps you can take to start thinking—and speaking—like a true C-Suite leader.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one.

Thanks for tuning in to Your Path To Career Success. Until next time—keep growing, keep leading, and keep communicating with confidence.