I help people navigate the hardest transition in any career: the move from Individual Contributor (IC) to first-time manager. Hi, I am Vinay Agrawal. I remember my own first few months as a manager more vividly than almost anything else in my career — not because they went well, but because of how confidently I got things wrong. I kept doing the work myself because it felt faster. I avoided a difficult conversation for weeks because I didn’t know how to start it. I measured my week by what I had personally produced, not by what my team had achieved — and couldn’t understand why I felt like I was failing despite working harder than ever.
Nobody had told me that the things that made me good at my previous job would not be enough in this one. So, I spent the next 20+ years paying close attention to my own development, and to the same pattern repeating in talented people around me, again and again.
That observation became a question. And the question became a research programme.
A multi-perspective research series
Most conversations about the IC-to-manager transition rely on one viewpoint at a time. I wanted something more complete: what does this transition look like from everyone standing inside it?
Study 1 — The view from above. In January 2026, my first peer-reviewed study was published in the International Journal of Current Science Research and Review (Impact Factor: 8.048). Based on in-depth interviews with 10 senior leaders with a combined 200+ years of experience, it captured what experienced leaders look for, what they see go wrong, and what they wish every new manager already knew.
Study 2 — The view from the team. Interviews with the direct reports of first-time managers — the people best placed to tell us what is actually landing, and what isn’t.
Study 3 — The view from the new manager’s seat. Currently underway: interviews directly with first-time managers, capturing what the transition actually feels like from the inside — the moments of confidence, doubt, and the gap between expectation and reality.
Together, these three perspectives are building a 360-degree, evidence-based picture of one of the most consequential — and least supported — transitions in professional life. I am currently completing a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) at GlobalNxt University, with this body of work as its focus.
Why I focus on this transition
The shift from IC to first-time manager is not a promotion. It’s an identity shift — from being the best player on the field to becoming the person who helps others play their best. That shift is universal. It happens in clinical research, in tech, in finance, in healthcare, in education — anywhere a strong individual contributor is handed a team for the first time.
My research happens to be conducted in clinical research organisations, because that’s the industry I know best. But what emerges from it — about emotional intelligence, delegation, communication, decision-making, and the deep psychological work of “stepping off the pitch” — applies just as much to a new engineering manager, a newly promoted nurse manager, or a first-time team lead in any field.
What I believe
- The transition deserves more than a title change. Most organisations promote on performance and hope leadership follows. It rarely does — not without support.
- One perspective is never the whole picture. That’s why this research deliberately looks at the transition from above, from within, and from below.
- Research should be useful, not just published. Every framework I share is translated from peer-reviewed findings into something you can apply this week.
- This is learnable. Self-awareness, delegation, difficult conversations, decision-making confidence — none of these are fixed traits. They are built, deliberately, with the right support.
What readers are saying
Since launching Leadership Transition Lab, I have heard from readers across industries — not just clinical research — that these articles are putting language to experiences they had struggled to name themselves.
On The Sandwich Effect: Why the Transition to Leadership Feels Like a High-Pressure Squeeze, several readers told me it was the first time they had seen that specific dynamic described clearly — being squeezed between their team’s needs and their manager’s expectations — and that it helped them realise the discomfort wasn’t a personal failing, but a structural part of the role.
Other readers have shared that the framing around the mindset shift from individual contributor to manager helped them understand why something that should have felt like a win — a promotion — instead felt disorienting, and gave them a way to talk about that disorientation with their own managers.
If an article has resonated with you, I would genuinely love to hear about it — these conversations are part of what shapes the research itself.
Is this for you?
This isn’t generic leadership content for seasoned executives, and it isn’t a place for hot takes on corporate strategy. If you are an individual contributor wondering whether you are ready for management, a first-time manager trying to work out if what you are feeling is normal (it usually is), or a senior leader trying to build a better leadership pipeline — you are in exactly the right place.
Start here
The best way to follow this work as it develops is to subscribe to my newsletter, Leadership Transition Lab — research-backed insights, frameworks, and findings from each study as they’re published.
Subscribe to Leadership Transition Lab →
You can also find me on LinkedIn, or join the WhatsApp Community on Leadership Ladder to connect with other managers navigating this transition.
If you are exploring coaching for yourself, or thinking about how this research could support your team or organisation, I would love to hear from you.
Great managers aren’t born. They’re prepared, supported, and developed — deliberately. Let’s do that together.