Who Is Holding You Up Right Now?

Hi Nik,

Every week I share one thing I have observed in the field of commercial leadership. This week it is about the leader nobody checks on.

This week in the field

Something I keep noticing in conversations with commercial leaders is how much energy goes into building belonging for a team, and how little is left over for the leader doing the building.

Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, published in 2026, found that manager engagement has dropped nine percentage points since 2022, with leaders now reporting roughly ten points higher loneliness than the people they manage. Gallup also found managers account for 70% of the variance in how engaged their teams are, so when the leader is running on empty, the whole team tends to feel it.

What it means in practice

What I have seen shift things is not a grand gesture, it is smaller and more deliberate: having a trusted someone to talk to, who listens without judgement and simply supports them where they are, whether inside or outside the business.

The leaders who protect that kind of relationship tend to sustain their own energy for longer, and it shows up in how consistently they show up for their teams.

The question to sit with this week

Who do you turn to when you need to be led, rather than the one doing the leading?

Curious where you'd score on this? Take the free CODE Leadership Scorecard, five minutes, free.