Ksenia KushnarevšŖšø
Country Manager at Groupon
About Ksenia Kushnarev
Country Manager at Groupon
In 2020 I became a team lead.
I kept closing deals myself, redoing my team's work, controlling everything. It felt like the job. It was actually the trap. Six months later we were all exhausted - me from carrying it, my team from waiting. I knew I had to shift. I didn't know how.
Today I'm Country Manager for Groupon Germany. I own the P&L and lead ~40 people. Every skill that actually matters in this job, I learned the slow, expensive way. Nobody should have to.
If you were promoted recently, tell me if any of this sounds familiar :
ā Your calendar is full, but the work that matters isn't moving. ā You gave "clear instructions" and got back something completely different. ā Your former peer is underperforming and you keep postponing that conversation. ā You tell everyone to delegate more. Then you quietly redo the work at night.
None of this means you're a bad manager. It means nobody taught you the actual job. Going from "I closed it" to "my team closed it" isn't a promotion - it's a career change wearing the costume of one. This is exactly where I coach.
I'm an ICF-certified coach, and I'm not a former leader, I still walk into performance reviews, hiring decisions, and hard conversations every week. So when you bring me a situation, I'm not reaching for a framework. I'm often living the same one. Together we build clarity: what your role actually asks of you, which habits to unlearn, and how to lead former peers without pretending to be someone you're not.
If your promotion feels harder than it should - that's normal. It's also the best moment to get support.
Message me. The first conversation is about your situation, not a pitch.