If They Shine, You Shine

Kamala Harris, reflecting on her early days as Vice President, wrote:
“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed… None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well.”

That line captures a pattern I’ve seen across industries. Leaders invite younger colleagues into the room—fresh energy, sharper skills, new perspectives. They call it collaboration.

But when that talent delivers, the dynamic shifts. Clarity, competence, or courage show up, and suddenly the “invitation” curdles into rivalry. The person meant to validate a leader’s judgment gets recast as a rival. What follows is predictable: withdrawal, sabotage, self-preservation over stewardship.

Determining what's next: Finding the beauty in reluctance

Transformation and learning occur when our need to move forward overcomes our reluctance. These moments bring us from one state to another rather. In birth and death we have little choice or control over our circumstances and the change is abrupt. Then, there are those transitions and challenges where we have a great deal of choice and control. It might not seem like it at the time. Becoming a first-time manager, starting a pilgrimage, embarking on a new career, working our way through the ranks—these are all examples of change we invite into our lives, where we can manage our reactivity. Yet, when navigating our lives with uncertainty, our next step feels unbelievably foreign.