The leadership cost of being the one who always “makes it make sense”
There’s a particular kind of leader every organisation quietly depends on
The one who can make it make sense:
The strategy that’s unclear? They translate it
The decision that’s contradictory? They reframe it
The initiative that’s misaligned? They connect it
The message that’s confusing? They rewrite it
The conversation that’s drifting? They anchor it
The team that’s overwhelmed? They simplify it
The leader who’s vague? They clarify it
This is a rare capability, the ability to take complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, and organisational noise and turn it into something coherent, actionable, and meaningful
It’s one of the most valuable forms of leadership in modern organisations. It’s also one of the most costly
When you’re the one who always “makes it make sense,” you become the organisation’s sense making infrastructure. That role quietly reshapes your workload, your emotional labour, your identity, and your trajectory
Let’s unpack why this happens, why it’s so common amongst high performing product and transformation leaders, and what it takes to lead without becoming the organisation’s default translator of dysfunction
The pattern: you turn chaos into clarity
You don’t wait for perfect information. You don’t wait for alignment. You don’t wait for someone else to explain it. You step in
You take the messy, the unclear, the contradictory, and the half-baked ideas, and you make them coherent
You do this instinctively because:
You see the pattern behind the noise
You see the structure behind the chaos
You see the intention behind the confusion
You see the risk behind the silence
You see the opportunity behind the misalignment
You don’t just understand complexity, you thrive in it
And because you can do this, the organisation quietly starts to rely on you to do it
Every. Single. Time
Why product and transformation leaders become the sense makers
Your role sits in the organisation terrain where clarity goes to die. You’re navigating:
Strategies written at altitude but executed in reality
Decisions made quickly but implemented slowly
Leaders who want speed without trade offs
Teams who want clarity without contradiction
Stakeholders who want progress without alignment
Systems that weren’t designed to work together
Priorities that shift faster than communication does
This environment produces confusion. Constantly. And because you can translate complexity into clarity, the organisation unconsciously positions you as the person who:
Connects the dots
Reframes the problem
Clarifies the intent
Simplifies the message
Aligns the stakeholders
Bridges the gaps
Makes the work make sense
This is leadership, but it’s also labour. And labour, when unshared, becomes a cost
The emotional cost: you carry the weight of organisational confusion
When you’re the one who always makes it make sense, you start to carry things that don’t belong to you. You carry:
The frustration of teams who feel lost
The anxiety of leaders who can’t articulate their thinking
The tension between functions that don’t align
The ambiguity of decisions that weren’t fully thought through
The emotional fallout of unclear expectations
The pressure to translate what shouldn’t need translation
You become the emotional buffer between:
What leaders say and what teams hear
What teams need and what leaders provide
What the strategy intends and what the organisation understands
This is invisible work. It’s unmeasured. It’s unacknowledge. And it’s heavy
You’re not just clarifying information. You’re holding the emotional load of everyone who’s confused, overwhelmed, or misaligned
The identity cost: you become the translator, not the trailblazer
When you consistently make things make sense, people start to describe you in ways that sound like praise, but subtly narrow your leadership identity. You hear things like:
“You’re great at simplifying complexity”
“You’re the one who can explain this clearly”
“You’re the person who connects everything”
“You’re the one who can make this land”
“You’re the translator”
These are compliments. But they’re also constraints. They position you as the person who interprets the strategy, not the person who defines it
You become the interpreter of other people’s thinking, not the architect of your own
Your leadership becomes defined by what you clarify, not what you create. And that limits your perceived range
The opportunity cost: you lose time, altitude, and strategic visibility
When you’re busy making everything make sense, you lose access to:
Strategic thinking time
High impact opportunities
Enterprise level conversations
Work that stretches your range
Visibility with senior leaders
Space to shape the future instead of translating the present
You’re contributing at a high level, but not being positioned at a high level because your time is consumed by the organisation’s confusion
You’re solving problems you didn’t create. You’re clarifying decisions you didn’t make. You’re translating messages you didn’t write. And that keeps you from the work you’re actually meant to lead
How high impact leaders stop being the default sense maker
They stop translating what shouldn’t need translation
You don’t rescue unclear communication. You say:
“This needs to be clarified at the source”
“We need alignment before we communicate this”
“This message isn’t ready for translation”
You return responsibility to where it belongs
They elevate the conversation instead of cleaning it up
Instead of simplifying the noise, you reframe the system. You say:
“Here’s the pattern behind the confusion”
“Here’s the structural issue we’re not naming”
“Here’s the decision architecture we need”
You lead from altitude, not absorption
They create shared ownership of clarity
You ask:
“What are you trying to say?”
“What’s the real intent here?”
“What outcomes are we optimising for?”
You facilitate clarity, you don’t manufacture it
They protect their strategic bandwidth
You set boundaries like:
“I can help shape the message, but I won’t rewrite it”
“I’ll support once the decision is clear”
“This needs alignment before it needs translation”
You preserve your altitude
They reposition themselves as a strategist, not a translator
You shift from:
Interpreter to architect
Clarifier to shaper
Translator to strategist
Connector to orchestrator
This is the identity shift that unlocks your next level
If you’re the one who always makes it make sense, you’re not over functioning. You’re over relied upon
This moment isn’t a flaw. It’s a signal. A sign that:
Your system awareness is advanced
Your leadership instincts are strong
You’re ready to lead with more altitude, not more translation
You don’t need to stop making things make sense. You just need to stop being the only one who does it
If you want to lead with clarity, influence, and strategic range without becoming the organisation’s default translator, then let’s work on this together. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want your people to learn about people and politics