When I partner with an executive for 60-90 days to help them evaluate and basically reboot their brand, I want to spend time evaluating the environment they work in. Sometimes a client decides that it’s time to do some inner work as in “What has avoiding difficult conversations cost them professionally?” or “How do they manage their own mindset when criticized by a peer?”

Point of note: You can do a lot of work on yourself but if you re-enter the same environment and do nothing to define new boundaries or build new support systems, you will likely fall back into old behaviors. The difference between a vicious cycle and a virtous circle  is YOU. Your ability as a leader to recognize what support mechanisms are lacking, what needs to be strengthened and what needs to stop will be a tipping point for your career if left out of the equation.