A new book by Azhar Syed
When Trusted with More
Why Your 6 Career-Building Metrics Won’t Get You to the Top—and What Will
For senior leaders whose strong record no longer settles the question being asked about them.
Drawing on more than thirty years in senior operating roles and his later work coaching executives, Azhar Syed writes for leaders seeking or newly carrying broader responsibility. The work that built their careers remains valuable. This book helps them see what their strong record establishes, what it leaves open, and what the larger role may require.
Available June 22, 2027
Published by Montgomery Station Press, an imprint of Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
A Different Question
You can deliver strong results, solve difficult problems, and earn the backing of senior people, yet still hear hesitation when a broader role comes up. What you have done matters. The people making the decision must also consider what will happen when the scope and consequences are greater.
Can this leader be trusted with greater risk, broader consequences, and decisions that affect the whole organization?
The book helps readers understand how decision makers may read that record, including where their reading may be right, incomplete or wrong.
The Six Metrics
Six familiar ways leaders create value and come to rely on as proof. They are not the only ones, and they are not types or scores. Each establishes something real. Each also leaves a question open, and the book takes them one at a time.
01
Results
“Look what I have delivered.”
It leaves open: whether those outcomes hold beyond your direct effort and control.
02
Expertise
“Look what I know.”
It leaves open: whether you can stay accountable when the essential expertise belongs to others, and whether your own is applied where the business most needs it.
03
Personal Contribution
“Look what I do.”
It leaves open: what goes right without you visibly carrying it.
04
Judgment
“Look how right I am.”
It leaves open: whether you can decide before certainty, change course when the evidence changes, and leave decisions others can carry.
05
Sponsorship
“Look who backs me.”
It leaves open: whether anyone has seen enough to put their own judgment and standing behind your appointment when it is challenged.
06
Reputation
“Look how I have changed.”
It leaves open: whether the people deciding saw the change and now see you differently.
Holding these questions against a responsibility you want or already carry is the work of the free reflection guide below.
What the Book Helps You See
What each of the six metrics establishes, and what it leaves open about broader responsibility.
How the people deciding a larger role may read the same record differently from you.
What the particular role requires, and what evidence of your readiness may still be missing.
How to distinguish a gap you can address from a barrier in the role, timing or organization.
The aim is to see the decision more clearly and decide what to do next.
Preorder the Book
When Trusted with More will be available June 22, 2027. Published by Montgomery Station Press, an imprint of Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Available now for preorder.
Free Reflection Guide
What Your Record Proves, and What It Doesn’t
Many senior leaders keep producing value even after the people deciding broader roles have started asking a different question. This short guide helps you see what your record establishes, what decision-makers may reasonably infer from it, and where the two readings differ.
In about five minutes, the guide helps you identify the proof you rely on most, what it establishes, what it leaves open, and the one question worth examining first. No score, no total.
Enter your email and I’ll send you the free reflection guide. From time to time, I’ll also share new articles from the book and short videos about situations leaders face. Unsubscribe at any time.
About the Author
Azhar Syed
Azhar Syed is an executive coach and former CEO and CFO. Over more than thirty years in senior roles, including at Tetra Pak, he led businesses and functions across countries and worked with teams, customers and suppliers around the world.
He now coaches senior directors, vice presidents and C-suite executives through Leading Insights. He wrote When Trusted with More after seeing a recurring pattern in his own career and in the leaders he coaches: a strong record continues to create value, while a broader role calls for evidence of something more.