The Promotion

An HR meeting room, Monday morning, Sam's chair empty across the floor

So that was why Sam's desk had been empty. Maya had expected to carry on with the rescued launch, but HR called her upstairs instead: Sam had moved abroad over the weekend, leaving a heavy workload and a team without a lead. Maya stared through the glass at his bare desk. Why had he not said goodbye, and why was HR looking at her?

HR slid Sam's handover note across the table. "It's sudden, I know, but I told them you're the one," he'd written. "The role will take up far more of your evenings than you think." The offer felt like a pressing matter, not a prize. Maya remembered the launch crisis and wondered if being brave once meant she had to be brave again.

A noisy cafe round the corner, lunchtime, with Lena

By lunch her head was spinning. She could carry out a plan well enough, she thought, but managing people twice her age was a thorny issue. Lena listened without interrupting. "You don't have to know everything today," she said. "You just have to be honest about what you need."

Lena: Lena said, "Take it. You'll gain experience you will not find anywhere else, and if a plan fails, you come up with a new one. You always do." Maya looked through the cafe window at people who seemed certain of their days. "What if they hate me?" Lena shrugged. "Then listen before you defend yourself. That is still leadership."

At two, Maya called HR and accepted. Whether she asked for a lighter first month or accepted the full role, she would take over Sam's team and gain experience honestly, not pretend to have it already. She wrote down three questions for her first meeting. Lena promised to back her up when work followed her home. "If it goes badly, you can bounce back," Lena said. The next morning, two senior colleagues walked in together and said they would resign by Friday unless things changed.