The Authentic Chameleon: Leadership Lessons from 'The Pretender'

#managing_yourself Navigating the 2-year tenure reality without losing yourself in the process

Like the protagonist in the 90s TV show "The Pretender," many of us find ourselves constantly adapting to new environments be it new teams, organizations, or even companies these last several years.

In the show, Jarod was a genius impostor who could quickly master any profession—doctor, lawyer, scientist—using his intelligence and adaptability that was groomed and nurtured by a mysterious corporation called the Centre. While most of us aren't prodigies that were products of nefarious organizations who have the ability to become instant experts, as leaders we are frequently expected to be instant impact players forcing us into cycles of constant reinvention. We may not be The Pretender, but we sure feel like a pretender!

Broadly, research confirms this trend toward shorter employment tenures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median tenure of workers with their current employer was just 4.1 years in 2022, down from 4.6 years a decade earlier. For younger workers (ages 25-34), median tenure is even shorter at 2.8 years. In tech specifically, Paysa data suggests the average tenure at major companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple hovers around just 2 years.

This constant motion between roles reflects a fundamental shift in how careers unfold in the modern era. Gone are the days of my parents, who both spent decades working at the same company. If the recent past is any indication, I suspect more change is ahead for us all.

In this article, I'll explore how to navigate these frequent transitions effectively by mastering the art of new beginnings within organizations. We'll focus on creating strong starts and generating early impact in each new role. The goal is to emerge from our 90 day plans more like The Pretender, and less like a pretender.

Understand the actual job to be done

You may think you were hired into a job, but in reality you were hired to solve a specific problem. While anyone can keep the lights on by giving fancy speeches and writing performance reviews, you were brought in to address a particular challenge. Typically, the problem statements begin to emerge either during the interview process or before you transfer to a new role; if you happen to be reorganized into a new job, the problem may not be immediately obvious. Understanding the reason for the change or why you were hired is therefore important. Managers and executives in the company might not always be forthright about this, so it is important to ask specific questions. To truly understand the job to be done, look beyond the surface-level description and identify the core problem you're expected to solve. This requires active listening, keen observation, and a willingness to challenge assumptions. Don't be afraid to dig deeper and ask "why" repeatedly until you uncover the fundamental need your role is meant to address. By understanding the true job to be done, you can focus your efforts on delivering meaningful impact and avoid getting bogged down in tasks that don't contribute to the overall goal.

During this process, you may discover distasteful things. In my 20+ years of dealing with leadership transitions, I've encountered numerous scenarios where the real "job to be done" was far different from what appeared on the job description. The incumbent you're replacing might have been pushed out for political reasons rather than performance. You might be unwittingly serving as a "cat's paw" to execute unpopular decisions like layoffs that existing leaders are unwilling to own. While exact incidence rates vary, multiple studies confirm that new executives routinely encounter hidden agendas, with Leadership IQ reporting that fewer than one-third of teams operate without them.

These hidden mandates create both ethical dilemmas and practical challenges. I once joined a team only to discover after I started that I was expected to dismantle an entire organization within 6 months — information that would have dramatically changed my approach or my decision to join had I known it upfront. You might inherit a team with deep-seated morale issues or technical debt that wasn't mentioned during interviews. Sometimes, the role itself was created to satisfy political demands rather than business needs, or might be ephemeral by design.

Having said this, the true Pretender doesn't run from these uncomfortable truths once they’ve revealed themselves — they leverage them. When you uncover these hidden dynamics, document them objectively, validate your findings through multiple sources, and develop contingency plans. By acknowledging these realities, you navigate with authenticity while protecting your reputation. Your ability to decode these unwritten rules determines whether you become the Pretender who masters the situation or just another pretender who gets mastered by it.

Decoding the organization's true needs positions you to deliver what actually matters: business impact. A McKinsey study found that approximately 70% of transformation initiatives fail, often because organizations lack clear alignment between their change efforts and measurable business outcomes. I've watched brilliant technologists fall into this trap—launching ambitious UI refreshes, adopting trendy tech stacks, or building impressive features that ultimately generated no measurable value.

The Pretender understands that every initiative must make money, save money, or save time. When you enter a new organization, you're granted a honeymoon period of extraordinary goodwill. This capital evaporates quickly in today's results-oriented environment so don’t work on what you can’t measure. Before launching any initiative, ask: "How will we measure success in business terms?" Then communicate these metrics relentlessly. A former colleague once scrapped an entire quarter's roadmap upon joining a struggling product team, replacing it with three focused initiatives tied directly to customer retention metrics which were a key constraint to growing the business. Within six months, churn dropped 18% and she was promoted. That's the difference between a Pretender who delivers impact and a pretender who merely delivers activity.

Manage your inputs to manage your outputs

The Pretender recognizes that not all input carries equal weight. In your first 90 days, you'll face a deluge of meeting requests and "get-to-know-you" conversations — most well-intentioned, but many potentially distracting. Harvard Business Review Research shows that 47% of newly appointed executives underperform during their first 18 months, largely due to information overload and failure to prioritize critical relationships. While relationship-building remains essential, the modern demand for instant impact requires ruthless prioritization.

The consequences of failing to manage your calendar are severe and immediate. I've watched promising leaders drown in a sea of courtesy meetings, emerging three months later with strong relationships but no tangible accomplishments. One product director I mentored spent her first quarter attending 37 "alignment" meetings, only to be blindsided in her termination meeting when asked about her impact on key metrics. The pretender, not the Pretender, mistakes motion for progress.

Instead of spreading yourself thin across dozens of courtesy meetings, identify the 5-7 individuals most critical to addressing your core challenges and invest deeply in those relationships. One tech executive I worked with declined 80% of initial meeting requests, instead hosting bi-weekly town halls where he shared his evolving understanding of the organization's challenges. This approach simultaneously established visibility while preserving his focus on high-leverage activities. For any significant initiative, channel Simon Sinek's "Start With Why" principle—communicate the purpose behind your decisions before diving into implementation details.

Equally dangerous are the vague vision statements and process changes that create the illusion of leadership without addressing actual business outcomes. The corporate landscape is littered with failed transformations built on inspirational but meaningless phrases like "customer-centric innovation" or "agile-first mindset." When you introduce new processes, they must directly address the job to be done — and you must relentlessly measure their impact. A former colleague implemented a new sprint planning process that initially created resistance, but she tracked and communicated how it reduced delivery time by 22% over six months, converting skeptics into advocates.

The true Pretender understands that transparency about team capacity is non-negotiable. Without clear visibility into what your team can realistically accomplish, stakeholders will inevitably write checks your organization cannot cash. This creates a destructive cycle: overpromising leads to underdelivering, which erodes trust and increases pressure, leading to more desperate overpromising. Break this cycle by making your team's work and capacity visible to all stakeholders.

Patty Azzarello, in her book "Rise," offers a powerful framework for managing this dynamic. She advocates creating a simple spreadsheet with three columns: stakeholder requests, current team activities, and company goals. By regularly sharing this document, you accomplish three critical objectives: you demonstrate how current work aligns with company priorities, you make capacity constraints visible, and you create a mechanism for negotiating tradeoffs. When a new request arrives, you can point to the spreadsheet and ask, "Which of these current activities should we deprioritize to accommodate this new ask?"

The true Pretender doesn't confuse activity with impact; they curate their inputs deliberately, communicate capacity transparently, and focus relentlessly on the business outcomes that matter. By doing so, they transform from someone playing a role into someone delivering results that speak for themselves.

Set the tone

The Pretender understands that first impressions are nearly indelible. According to the Harvard Study of Communications, first impressions are made within seven seconds of meeting another person. In practice, these first impressions are incredibly difficult to change so be intentional on day one.

One common misstep is establishing an unsustainable pace. Many leaders arrive eager to demonstrate commitment by working punishing hours, responding to emails at midnight, and being perpetually available. While this initially projects dedication, it creates two significant problems: it establishes expectations you cannot maintain long-term, and it silently pressures your team to mirror your unhealthy patterns. I've watched promising leaders burn out within months after setting impossible standards, leaving their teams disillusioned when the inevitable crash occurs. The pretender, not the Pretender, confuses martyrdom with leadership.

Instead, deliberately establish boundaries that reflect your sustainable working style. This might mean declining last-minute meetings without clear agendas, setting explicit response times for non-urgent communications, or defining your availability for travel. In our increasingly remote environment, these boundaries become even more critical. One engineering director I coached made a practice of sending thoughtful emails during standard business hours while batching her actual deep work during her personal peak productivity times. This approach allowed her to signal responsiveness while protecting her focus time — a balance that served both her team and her results.

For a while now, I've maintained a public document outlining my management principles. This practice serves dual purposes: it provides clarity to those working with me about what to expect, and it creates a standard against which I can be held accountable. When I inevitably fall short of my own principles, team members can reference the document as a gentle reminder. This transparency has proven invaluable during transitions, when teams crave predictability above all else.

The psychological need for consistency cannot be overstated. Harvard Business Review wrote:

In our study, we found that unpredictable leadership was the second most significant factor causing employee stress, with 71% of employees reporting heightened anxiety when unable to anticipate their leader's reactions or decisions - "5 Ways Leaders Accidentally Stress Out Their Employees" (2020)

When everything else feels uncertain, your consistent behavior becomes an anchor. This doesn't mean being rigid—it means being reliably yourself, especially when making difficult decisions. People may disagree with your choices, but they'll respect you for making them transparently and consistently.

The true Pretender recognizes that being respected ultimately matters more than being liked. While our social instincts push us to seek approval, optimizing for popularity often leads to compromised decisions and eroded credibility. Focus instead on clarity, consistency, and transparency. A CEO I advised was initially unpopular when he eliminated several beloved but ineffective programs, but his consistent rationale and transparent communication eventually earned him deep respect across the organization. By setting a clear tone early, you may not win an immediate popularity contest, but you'll establish the foundation for sustainable impact — and genuine respect often follows.

The Pretender's Final Act

Spoiler alert! Stop reading here if you want to watch the show on YouTube.

In the series finale of "The Pretender," Jarod faces a pivotal moment when he must choose between continuing his nomadic existence or confronting the Centre that created him. Despite having mastered countless professions and identities, he realizes that his greatest strength isn't his chameleon-like adaptability, but rather the authentic core he maintained through every transformation. It wasn't his genius that ultimately defined his success, but his unwavering commitment to his principles across each new beginning.

Your career journey mirrors this truth. In today's landscape of perpetual transition, the temptation is to view each role as a temporary performance — a brief stint where you play the part expected of you before moving on to the next stage. The pretender approaches each new beginning as a disconnected episode, frantically adapting to whatever seems expedient in the moment. They leave behind a trail of unfinished initiatives, confused teams, and unfulfilled potential.

The Pretender, however, recognizes that while environments change, your core doesn't have to. By understanding the actual job to be done, managing your inputs deliberately, and setting a consistent tone, you build a through-line that connects each chapter of your career. This isn't just about “succeeding” in individual roles — it's about crafting a coherent professional narrative where each transition builds upon the last. If you don’t stand for something, you will stand for nothing. This consistency doesn't mean rigidity — it means having a clear center of gravity that informs how you adapt to new circumstances.

Like Jarod, your superpower isn't just your ability to adapt, but your capacity to bring your authentic self to each adaptation. In a world that increasingly treats professionals as interchangeable parts, this authenticity becomes your competitive advantage. The most successful leaders I've observed don't just survive transitions—they thrive through them by carrying forward the lessons, relationships, and principles that define their unique value.

So as you navigate your next beginning, remember: you're not just playing a role. You're adding another chapter to a story that's uniquely yours. The true art isn't in becoming someone new with each transition, but in bringing your best self to each new challenge. That's how you transform from feeling like a pretender to becoming The Pretender—the master of new beginnings who leaves each organization better than you found it, one authentic transition at a time.