Navigate Your First Year of Leadership with More Confidence

Research-backed guidance informed by 20+ years of leadership development and organizational change work.

Take the Free Year One Quiz™

Takes 3–5 minutes

Choose Your Path

Find the support that fits your current leadership challenge

Research-informed guidance and practical tools for new and newly promoted leaders in their first year.

Used by new leaders navigating increased expectations, visibility, and pressure without clear preparation.

Take the Quiz

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to focus as a new leader.

You’ll get insight into what’s actually driving your stress in your first year of leadership and guidance on where to focus next.

Take the Free Year One Quiz

The Reset

If your weeks are blending into each other

The Friday Reset helps you close the week, reduce mental carryover, and start Monday clearer and calmer.

Start the Friday Reset

1:1 Support

If you want personal guidance start here

Private, focused support to help you clarify expectations, priorities, and next steps in your leadership role.

Work 1:1

Meet Dr. Jessica Diop

Founder, First Year Leader

Early in her career, Jessica was promoted into leadership without clear onboarding or support. She remembers the pressure, the role shift and the quiet second-guessing.

Now, with over 20 years of experience in leadership development and organizational change, she helps first-year leaders build the structure most organizations forget to provide.

Read Jessica's Story

New leader in your first year? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Leadership becomes easier when you build steady weekly habits.

New leader in your first year? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Strong leaders don’t rush, they follow a plan.

New leader in your first year or first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Overthinking is common in the first year of leadership and there’s a reason for it.

New leader in your first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Most new leaders don’t fail from lack of skill, they struggle from pressure.

New leader in your first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

One question will help prevent new leaders from months of confusion.

New leader in your first year or first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on first.

Good leaders listen first. Struggling leaders move too fast.

New leader in your first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Leadership isn’t just work, it’s emotional responsibility.

New leader in your first year or first 90 days? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what to focus on.

Good leadership isn’t about being impressive, it’s about being consistent.

New leader in your first year? Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to learn what matters most.

Leadership comes with responsibility most people don’t expect.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first 90 days as a new leader.

These are the lessons most new leaders wish they knew sooner.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first year as a new leader.

Busy isn’t the same as effective especially in your first year as a new leader.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first 90 days.

Trying to prove yourself too fast is one of the biggest mistakes in your first year as a new leader.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first 90 days.

Leadership isn’t just operational, it’s emotional.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first year as a new leader.

Emotional intelligence mistakes are some of the biggest risks in your first year as a new leader.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first 90 days.

Success in your first 90 days as a new leader isn’t about speed, it’s about clear expectations.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first year of leadership.

Stress in your first year as a new leader usually comes from lack of clear expectations and not a lack of effort.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first 90 days.

A Leadership Love Letter to Past Me . . . in My First Year of Leadership: Part 1 💌

the Leader Who Avoided Hard Conversations

As a new leader I often found myself hesitating to have hard conversations with my team. Over the years, I learned that while those conversations never got easier that having them sooner was better.

Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz™️.

The first move in your first 90 days as a new leader isn’t fixing, it’s getting a clear understanding.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first year of leadership.

The difference between a good leader and a struggling one often shows up in the first 90 days.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to focus on in your first year of leadership.

Promoted from within? Leading your old team is harder than it looks. Familiarity can create blind spots, and many first-time managers struggle because they don’t shift their perspective.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to help you focus in your first year of leadership.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to learn what to help you focus in your first year of leadership.

Doing less at the start as a new leader can lead to better results later.

Take the First Year Leader: Year One Quiz to help you see where to focus in your first year as a new leader.

Doing less at the start can lead to better results later.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to improve your leadership faster.

Fast action feels productive but in leadership, it often backfires.

Take the First Year Leader Quiz to level up your leadership faster. Info in bio.

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@firstyearleader

"Jessica’s guidance and support helped me handle complex situations with more confidence."

-First-year Leader

Get Support in Your Inbox

Join Year One Notes

Practical tools and steady guidance for navigating the role shift no one fully explains.
Trusted by leaders across roles and industries.

First Year Leader

Navigate Your First Year of Leadership with More Confidence

Research-backed guidance informed by 20+ years of leadership development and organizational change work.

Takes 3–5 minutes