Valeria Collu is an East London–based leadership coach who helps people navigate the jump into management for the first time. After years in investment banking, private equity, and financial regulation, she trained as a coach "just to become a better manager" and promptly fell in love with it. She ran a coaching business on the side for three years before going all in. She now works with first-time leaders on the identity shifts, boundaries, and strengths that make the difference between thriving and burning out.

When you stop being challenged, that's information, not a sign to stay put.
Valeria left roles the moment the head-scratching stopped. But she doesn't say everyone should quit, she says pause first. Figure out where your thirst for learning is actually coming from, then find the smallest possible way to feed it: propose a role redesign, join a cross-functional project, volunteer for something outside work. The goal is to run little "time experiments" and pay attention to whether you feel more energised, neutral, or drained afterwards. That feedback tells you what to double down on and what to leave behind.

Reframe failure as data, and make the risk feel smaller.
There's still a lot of stigma around things "not going to plan," but Valeria pushes back on this hard. Her take: you're winning either way - either it works and you've found your path, or it doesn't and you've learned something real about yourself. The practical version of this is her "calculated risk" framework: ask yourself if the decision is reversible. If yes, go for it. If no, look at the full picture (financial security, other people who depend on you) and work out what you can actually afford to risk. Most choices, she points out, aren't as irreversible as they feel.

Burnout doesn't announce itself, and by the time it does, it's usually too late.
Valeria talks openly about the moment she couldn't get out of bed. In her own words, she'd been so determined to be dependable that she made herself completely unavailable. Her advice isn't a productivity hack, it's about self-awareness: know your non-negotiables, spot your triggers, and have the courage to actually listen to the signals your body is sending before it makes the choice for you. "No" isn't rejection, she says. It can mean "not now" or "yes, but" and people respect those boundaries a lot more than we expect.

The first-time leader identity crisis is real and almost nobody talks about it.
Getting promoted into management isn't just another rung on the ladder. Valeria's argument: it's a completely different game. Up until that point, your value is tied to what you deliver. Suddenly it's about what your team delivers and how well you coach, delegate, develop, and enable them. That's a genuinely disorienting identity shift, especially if you've built your career being the expert in the room. She also makes the case that career growth doesn't have to mean going upward — lateral growth, gaining breadth, becoming your own "category of one" is just as valid. But organisations need to actually invest in making that transition work, not just promote their best people and leave them to figure it out.

🙏 Special thanks to our podcast producer James McKinven! (get in touch for all your podcast needs, he’s really great!)