Leadership runs in seasons
Going from order taker to impact maker is not a destination you reach once. It is a continuous cycle. Every time the business moves into a new season, the work starts again.
You will be both. The question is which one right now.
Everyone talks about going from order taker to impact maker as if it is a line you cross once and never come back from. It is not. You have been both. You will be both again.
The question is not which one you are permanently. It is which one you are showing up as in this season, and whether that matches what the business needs from you right now.
When your archetype matches what the business stage demands, you show up as an Impact Maker. When it does not, you slide into Order Taker mode, often without noticing. Not because your skills have declined. Not because you are working any less hard. But because the business moved into a new season and your leadership balance did not move with it.
This is not a character flaw. It is a calibration problem. And calibration is something you can fix, if you are willing to be honest about where you are.
When the archetype matches, everything shifts
The difference between showing up as an Impact Maker or an Order Taker in the same role is often just one thing: whether your archetype matches what the business stage actually demands.
Impact Maker
Your LIT balance is right for the moment. You are leading where leadership is needed, innovating where new thinking is required, and staying technical where depth matters.
The CEO sees a strategic partner. Your team sees a leader with direction. The board sees someone who understands the game they are playing. You are moving the business forward.
Decisions get made. Momentum builds. People follow because you are in the right mode for the season.
Order Taker
You are working hard but it is not landing. Decisions feel like they are happening without you. The CEO stops bringing you into strategy conversations. Your team is looking for direction you are not providing.
You are not failing. You are in the wrong mode for the season. A Shepherd CTO in a hypergrowth moment. A Founder CTO in a governance-heavy environment. The effort is real. The mismatch is the problem.
The season shifted. Your archetype did not shift with it.
The cycle you keep coming back to
This is not a one-time fix. It is a discipline. Four steps you return to every time the season shifts, and it will.
Assess
Which archetype are you currently operating as? Which archetype does the business stage actually demand right now? Use the 7 CTO Archetypes to name both honestly. The gap between them is your starting point.
Be Honest
Have the conversation, with yourself first, then with others who can see you clearly. Is your LIT balance (Leader, Innovator, Technologist) matched to the archetype the business stage needs? Most leaders already know the answer. Fewer are willing to say it out loud.
Make the Shift
Deliberately adjust your LIT balance toward the archetype the moment demands. More Leader. More Innovator. Less Technologist. The work that matters most is almost always the work you have been avoiding longest.
Show Up
Execute with the right LIT balance for the archetype this season demands. Lead. Deliver. Build. Measure how it lands. And when the season shifts again, and it will, come back to step one.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."Ecclesiastes 3:1
The methodology is how you run the cycle
Each part of the Become CTO methodology plays a specific role in the assess, shift, and show up cycle. They work together. They are meant to be returned to.
7 CTO Archetypes
Use the 7 Archetypes to name which archetype you are currently operating as, and which one your business stage demands. The gap between those two answers is the only starting point that matters.
Explore the 7 Archetypes →The LIT Framework
Use the LIT Framework to understand your current Leader, Innovator, Technologist balance, and what balance the archetype you need to become actually requires. The distance between those two is your development gap.
Explore the LIT Framework →The 7 Moves
Use the 7 Moves to build capability in the LIT pillars you need to strengthen. Master Yourself, Build Systems, Grow Others. These are how the shift actually happens, not by reading about it, but by applying it.
Explore the 7 Moves →4Ps & 32 Learning Areas
Use the 4Ps to ensure you are developing across People, Process, Product, and Profit, not just the technical domain you are most comfortable in. Showing up as an Impact Maker means demonstrating capability across all four.
Explore the 4Ps →Always measuring. Always learning. Always changing.
The leaders who consistently show up as Impact Makers are not the ones who got it right once. They are the ones who kept coming back to the cycle. They measure themselves honestly. They seek feedback from people who will tell them the truth. They treat their own development with the same rigour they apply to their technology function.
The methodology is not something you read once and apply forever. It is something you return to because the business keeps moving, the demands keep shifting, and the archetype that made you an Impact Maker last year may be the thing making you an Order Taker today.
The season you are in right now will end. The question is whether you will arrive at the next one as the leader it demands, or whether you will spend the first half of it catching up.
That answer depends entirely on whether you are willing to keep doing the work of honest assessment. Not just once. Every season.