Ready before they believe it.
CEO Weekly covered Chris on the gap between being ready and feeling ready, and what leaders can see in people long before those people see it in themselves.
Readiness and the feeling of readiness are not the same.
CEO Weekly ran a leadership feature in August 2026 on a pattern Chris kept seeing once he started hiring and developing people at scale: someone would already have the skills, the judgment, and the track record for a bigger role, and would still be waiting on a feeling that had not arrived yet.
The piece follows that idea into the everyday decisions leaders make, the promotion nobody applies for, the person who says no to an opportunity they would be good at, and the hesitation that gets read as a lack of ambition when it is something else entirely.
It also carries the story of a woman in the credentialing department at his company who turned down a move into sales more than once because she did not believe she was ready. She took it after being told she would be supported through it, and she went on to win sales awards.
Hesitation is not the same thing as inability. A capable person can hesitate because the work is unfamiliar, because failing in front of other people is uncomfortable, or because they are measuring themselves against colleagues who look further along, and none of those are evidence that they cannot do the job. Leaders can see capability before the person does. The questions that separate the two are practical ones: what has this person already demonstrated, what transfers, and what happens if the opportunity comes with real support.
What the Feature Covers
The Gap Nobody Names
People are often ready for the next role well before the confidence to claim it shows up.
Hiring at Scale Reveals It
The pattern repeats across teams and departments once you are watching for it.
Potential Is Not a Resume
Track record shows what someone has done. Potential asks what they could do next.
The Credentialing Story
She said no more than once, accepted with support, and went on to win sales awards.
Support Changes the Answer
The offer is rarely the deciding factor. What comes with the offer usually is.
Judgment Still Applies
Not every hesitation hides a ready employee, and belief in someone is not a plan.
Feeling unready is not the same as being unready.Chris Sund
CEO Weekly.
CEO Weekly publishes business, leadership, and news coverage for founders and executives, with a readership built around the people making hiring and promotion decisions inside growing companies.
That is the audience this one is written for. The choice to move someone up before they feel ready sits with a leader, and the piece is about how to make that call well rather than how to feel better about making it.
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Chris speaks and writes on leadership, potential, and what moves people from capable to performing. He is a sitting executive, not a consultant reporting from outside.