What the Year Built
Not "I've been working on this" but "this is how I lead now."
October 13, 2026
Originally published in One More Rep, a weekly newsletter for people managers who want to get better through practice. Subscribe here — it's free.
Week 41. Rep 41. Last week we looked at specific moments in your leadership growth. This week we'll connect them to the bigger picture.
Read
The Moment
You wrote down three answers last week. A moment where you led differently, a pattern that's still showing up, and a capability you're taking into 2027.
Read them back. They're a portrait of who you've become as a leader this year.
That portrait has more in it than you might expect.
The Pattern
Leadership growth is invisible while it's happening. You're in the middle of a hard conversation, a charged moment, a decision under pressure, and you're not thinking about growth. You're just trying to lead well and not screw up the conversation.
The distance of a week, a month, a quarter is what makes it visible. You look back and realize: I handled that differently than I would have. I said something I wouldn't have said in January. I paused before I reacted.
That's the reps working.
Why This Matters
The goal of Q4 isn't to add new skills. It's to consolidate what the year built. To move from "I've been working on this" to "this is how I lead now."
That shift doesn't happen automatically. It happens when you can name what changed specifically enough that it becomes part of how you see yourself as a leader. Identity, not just behavior.
Rep
This Week's Practice
Take your three answers from last week and look for the thread that connects them. What do they tell you, taken together, about who you've become as a leader this year?
Your Rep
Write a paragraph (not a list) that describes the leader you've become this year. Use specific behaviors, not adjectives. "I give feedback before the end of the week instead of sitting on it for a month" instead of "I've become more confident."
What to Notice
Success looks like:
Every sentence in the paragraph describes something observable and passes the Camera Test.
You read it back and it sounds like you, not like a performance review.
Resistance looks like:
Writing in adjectives instead of behaviors.
Making it shorter than it needs to be because naming growth feels uncomfortable.
It's working when:
Someone who knows you well would read it and recognize you in it.
Common Mistakes
Mistake #1: Writing who you want to be instead of who you've become. This isn't a goal statement. It's a portrait. Stay in the past tense: what you did, what changed, what you built.
Mistake #2: Being too modest. This isn't the place to hedge. If you held a standard you would have let slide in January, say so. If you had a conversation you would have avoided six months ago, name it. You did the reps. Let the portrait reflect that.
Reflect
What surprised you about what the year built? Was there something you didn't expect to change that did?
What do you want the leader you're describing to be able to do by this time next year?
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Cristina Stensvaag is co-founder of LeaderReps and creator of One More Rep, a weekly practice-based leadership newsletter for people managers.