#67 You Won't Notice You've Become the Boss You Hate | Leadership Under Pressure | Sabina Nawaz

Guest Introduction

I'm joined by Sabina Nawaz, CEO Coach, Keynote speaker, Author, Board member at Nawaz Consulting LLC. She spent fourteen years at Microsoft running executive development for over 11,000 managers before becoming an executive coach to CEOs and leaders across the globe.

Episode Summary

Her book argues it's not power that corrupts leaders, it's pressure. This episode shows how the exact strengths that built your company can quietly turn you into the manager your team fears, and how to catch it before it costs you your best people.

Key Points

- 🔥 Why the strengths that got you funded are exactly what makes you a bad manager

- 💡 The real reason "how'd I do?" is the worst question a founder can ask

- 🎯 Why over 95% of "teams" aren't actually teams at all

- 🚀 The two-word response that instantly kills defensiveness when receiving feedback

- 🧭 The four "sole provider" traps quietly burning out high performers

- 🪞 Her own worst moment as a boss, and what it revealed about power

- ⏸️ Why "Blank Space" (doing absolutely nothing) might be the highest-leverage move a leader can make

Important Links

- You can reach Sabina Nawaz at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinanawaz

- Vishesh, your host at https://vishesh.space

- Checkout Nawaz Consulting LLC at https://sabinanawaz.com

- Hands hurt while you use the keyboard or mouse? https://tryneo.dev

## Chapters

0:00 - Introduction

0:35 - Why getting promoted is more dangerous than a bad hire

2:07 - From Microsoft software teams to coaching 11,000 managers

4:25 - Blank space: building a habit of doing nothing

7:44 - The hardest 30 seconds of the day: breaking the phone-check habit

9:57 - The strengths that get you promoted and the ones that get you fired

10:53 - It's not power that corrupts, it's pressure

12:52 - How founders can actually get honest feedback

15:45 - The two words that stop you sounding defensive

16:48 - Why 95% of "teams" aren't really teams

20:22 - The two questions that build real trust on a team

21:40 - Why founders should be the third person to speak

23:50 - If you say you're self-aware, you're not

25:15 - When pressure makes you a better leader

26:24 - The sole provider trap: four ways high performers burn out

29:28 - The delegation dial, not a switch

32:04 - Doing nothing as the highest-leverage move for a startup

34:08 - Replace "yeah, but" with "yes, and"

35:33 - The single pattern that predicts whether a leader wrecks their team

37:37 - Her own "boss from hell" moment with a colleague named Zach

40:19 - Where to find Sabina and her book