1044: Becoming the Boss that Everyone Wants to Work For with Sabina Nawaz
Mar 27, 2025
auto_awesome
Sabina Nawaz, an elite executive coach with experience in advising Fortune 500 companies, dives into the challenges of leadership. She discusses the perils of promotion and the importance of asking for genuine feedback. Power dynamics in leadership are explored, highlighting how leaders can become deaf to dissent. Nawaz emphasizes the value of 'doing nothing' for creativity and introduces micro-habits that support personal growth. Listeners gain insights into transforming pressure into productivity while fostering supportive workplace environments.
Effective feedback relies on asking specific questions to elicit candid and constructive responses from team members, enhancing leadership understanding.
Leaders must recognize how pressure can distort their management style, shifting from supportive to domineering behavior, which can harm team dynamics.
Deep dives
Quality of Questions Shapes Feedback
The feedback individuals receive is closely tied to the quality of the questions they ask. Simply asking for feedback often leads to vague or overly positive responses, as employees may fear providing honest criticism to their superiors. To elicit meaningful feedback, asking specific questions is vital; for example, gauging performance on a defined scale can yield more useful insights. This approach helps leaders understand their effectiveness and areas for improvement, making the process of obtaining feedback more constructive.
The Impact of Pressure on Leadership Behavior
Pressure can dangerously alter a leader's behavior, often resulting in unintentional negative actions. The narrative highlights a personal experience wherein increased responsibilities led to a significant shift in management style, where caring leadership was replaced by a short-tempered demeanor due to overwhelming stress. This illustrates how successful individuals can transition from supportive to domineering under pressure, which they may not even recognize. Awareness of these behavioral changes is crucial, as many leaders may inadvertently cultivate a toxic environment.
Navigating the Risks of Promotion
Promotion often represents a critical shift in a person's career and can be the riskiest phase of a professional journey. Strengths that aided ascent can be perceived negatively in a leadership context, transforming traits like attention to detail into perceptions of micromanagement. As positions rise, the lens through which others view a leader may distort, amplifying criticism and diminishing the positive aspects of their approach. Acknowledging this new perception helps leaders adapt their behavior and maintain effectiveness.
Cultivating a 'Shut Up Muscle' for Effective Leadership
There is significant value in exercising restraint as a leader, referred to as developing a 'shut up muscle.' Leaders can enhance team dynamics by allowing others to contribute ideas and observations before interjecting their own. Practical strategies include being the last to speak in discussions and using techniques like muting oneself during video calls to pause and reflect before responding. By fostering an environment where team members feel empowered to share, a leader not only gathers diverse input but also promotes a healthier organizational culture.
Sabina Nawaz is an elite executive coach who advises C-level executives and teams at Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions around the world. During her fourteen-year tenure at Microsoft, she went from managing software development teams to leading the company’s executive development and succession planning efforts for over 11,000 managers and nearly a thousand executives. She is the author of YOU’RE THE BOSS: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need).