The Leadership Lesson You Have to Relearn at Every Level

George Parada spent thirteen years learning to lead inside Cargill's highly structured system, then walked into Meta with almost none of that structure in place, and had to rebuild it from scratch. Today, as an account executive at JLL leading a 300-plus person team, he's still relearning the same lesson: letting go of the work that made him successful in the first place.Guest: George Parada is an Account Executive at JLL, where he has strategic oversight of a 300+ person team supporting a life sciences client in the Bay Area. His career spans 13 years at Cargill (production supervisor to Director of Engineering), an 18-month stint in food and beverage, three years at Meta, and now JLL.In this episode:[02:14] — George's career path: Cargill to Meta to JLL, and why he stepped back into an individual contributor role on purpose[06:04] — What changed moving from a 150-year-old structured company to a startup-like Meta[10:38] — The hardest transition of his career: becoming the person the buck stops with[13:30] — Leading functions he has no background in, using a RACI framework[17:19] — The line from his facilitator that reframed how he leads: "I may no longer be six feet from the work, but I'm six feet from the solution"[23:08] — Working "miles across but only inches deep," and why he forces his team to plant progress flags[25:50] — Why he keeps his own name off the RACI for the roles he's filled[32:14] — The lesson he wishes he'd learned sooner: setting expectations and accountability from day one[37:33] — Why "meets expectations" isn't a bad rating, and the trap of grade-inflating it anyway[40:50] — His advice for leaders chasing the next promotion: build your board of directors[42:54] — His advice for newly promoted leaders: read The First 90 Days and establish your norms before you get popularResources mentioned:The First 90 Days by Michael WatkinsRACI framework (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)Links for today's show:George Parada on LinkedInKent Kniebel on LinkedInThe Promoted Leader ToolkitMusic for this podcast comes from a live recording of the song Needle & Thread and is provided with permission by Pert' Near Sandstone. Check them out on pertnearsandstone.com and on all major streaming platforms.Enjoyed the episode? Leave a rating and review wherever you listen, it helps more leaders find the show.