Leadership Lounge: How to Create and Maintain Impact as an Emerging Leader

The way you lead has a distinct and long-term impact on your direct reports, your peers, and your organization more broadly. You can inspire or demotivate. Rally or divide. And long after quarterly results are forgotten, that emotional residue often remains. At senior levels, this becomes more pronounced—and more complex. Your words carry disproportionate weight. A passing comment can redirect weeks of work. Silence can be interpreted as disapproval. A question can either open up debate or shut it down entirely.

So, how do you create a positive impact that lasts?

It isn’t defined by one bold decision or defining moment. It lives in the ripple effects your leadership generates over time. In whether people grow under you. In whether performance strengthens when you step back. In whether your presence builds clarity and confidence—or caution. Impact isn’t what you intend. It’s what others consistently experience. Which means lasting impact requires intention, reflection, and the discipline to continually recalibrate how you show up.

About the authors

Emma Combe is the host of Leadership Lounge and leads RRA’s UK Board Practice. She excels at identifying board chairs, CEOs, and executive and non-executive directors for listed, private equity, and family-owned enterprises.
Shannon Knott is a member of RRA’s Leadership Consulting Practice and specializes in the transition and development of senior leaders.
Erin-Marie Collins is a leadership advisor who specializes in the assessment and development of senior leaders.