After receiving a full-time job offer to become a vice president for a rapidly expanding auto group, Jordan eagerly accepted. The company was quickly acquiring dealerships, and Jordan believed that she’d be able to work closely with the C-suite on strategic development. The CEO promised Jordan autonomy to shape and implement the corporate direction, which she saw as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Jordan and her family jumped in with both feet — her husband quit his job and they moved cross-country with their infant daughter so that Jordan could start her new position. Yet just one year later, Jordan’s starry-eyed hopes had dissolved into disappointment. She resigned, and she and her family moved back to their original home. As her executive coach, Jordan shared with me that contrary to what she had expected, the CEO was almost entirely uninvolved and had no vision of what her role could be. “He thought he was giving me high autonomy, but I felt abandoned and uninvolved,” she said.
