What Do You Need to Shed? Nicole Nelson on Leading Up Through the Ranks

What actually changes when you stop being the best individual contributor in the room and start being responsible for the people around you? Nicole Nelson has navigated that question at every level of a 20+ year career in CPG sales, from her first people management role covering Southern California and Hawaii to leading cross-functional teams as a Senior Director. In this conversation, she gets specific about the moments that forced her to recalibrate, the mentors who saved her, and why self-assurance beats imposter syndrome every time.Guest: Nicole Nelson is Senior Director of Sales, Distribution and Sales Planning at CJ Schwan's, with a career spanning General Mills, Lactalis, and roles across retail and food service sales.In this episode:00:02:45 — Nicole's career path: from General Mills sales intern to Senior Director across retail, food service, and sales ops00:12:00 — The first people management role: why even high performers struggle to leave the doing behind00:14:51 — The manager who reset her on day one: "You're not doing the job we hired you for"00:18:58 — Redefining what a "solid day's work" looks like as you move up00:27:23 — The jump to director at General Mills: no onboarding, high stakes, and leading alongside00:32:13 — Managing former peers, former mentors, and the person who wanted the job you got00:38:54 — The loneliness of leadership and why being close-vested is part of the job00:42:43 — Nicole's single best piece of advice for newly promoted leaders: find a feedback partnerResources mentioned:"No bad teams, only bad leaders" — a leadership principle Nicole references throughout (associated with Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership, search for this)The concept of "leadership aspiration vs. leadership drive" — referenced by Kent from his consulting background in assessment and succession planningSwiss army knife career development — building breadth of skills before depth of title (no specific resource; Nicole references a mentor who shaped this philosophy)Links for today's show:Nicole Nelson 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.