Leading After Someone Else: How to Make Changes Without Burning Bridges
Leadership transitions are always tricky. When you take over for someone - especially someone from your own team, organization, or political party - you’ve got a fine line to walk.
How do you bring change without throwing your predecessor under the bus?
We saw this in the 2024 U.S. election, when Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. She had to try and convince voters that she wasn’t just “Biden 2.0”, but also couldn’t act like any part of his presidency was a failure. Now, we’re seeing the same challenge play out in Canada - with Mark Carney taking over as Prime Minister after Justin Trudeau stepped down.
Carney is from the same party as Trudeau, but he still has to win the next election (probably held sometime this fall). If he’s too much like Trudeau, voters might not see a good reason to keep the Liberal party in power. But if distances himself too much, he risks alienating his own party’s base.
This isn’t a political issue. It’s a leadership challenge that happens everywhere.
It’s the new CEO that has a vision for change, but has to win over employees who were loyal to the previous leadership. It’s the manager taking over a team that needs to establish trust, while also making improvements that may not sit well with everyone. A new pastor who has to balance honoring traditions while still bringing in fresh ideas.
When you replace someone, there are two main pitfalls to avoid. Some leaders change too much too fast. When this happens, people get defensive, resistance builds, trusts erodes, and even good ideas get rejected because they feel like an attack on the past. The other pitfall is not changing enough, and keep things just as before, avoiding making tough decisions. While this may keep things stable at first, eventually people will wonder why a leadership change was needed at all.
The key is to frame your leadership as an evolution, not a rejection.
The best leaders start by acknowledging what worked before - giving credit where it’s due. At the same time, you must clearly communicate your vision - people won’t buy into change unless they understand why it’s happening and where things are headed. The goal isn’t to tear down what came before, but to build on top of it in a way that makes sense for the present. If handled well, a leadership transition can bring fresh energy and perspective while still respecting the foundation that was already in place.
You have to find the right balance - moving forward without losing the trust of those who believed in the old way.
If you found this useful, you’ll love my book “It’s Not the Tech” - which is packed with leadership lessons from the I.T. field.