By
Matthew Hearfield
September 3, 2025
Updated
September 3, 2025
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In this episode of The STEM Career Coach, Sabina Nawaz joins Donnie Maclary to unpack one of the most overlooked truths in leadership: pressure corrupts, not power. Drawing from her experience coaching CEOs across 20+ countries and leading executive development at Microsoft, Sabina shares how emotional pressure leads to “junk behaviour,” how power amplifies its impact, and how leaders can manage it through courage, micro habits, and blank space.
If you’ve ever struggled with leading under stress, this episode is your toolkit for showing up with clarity, compassion, and strength.
Listen to the full episode below:
Pressure vs. Power
Leadership under pressure can distort behaviour in ways that power alone does not. Sabina Nawaz reframes the classic adage “power corrupts” by arguing that it’s actually pressure that leads leaders to act out of character, snapping at colleagues, making rash decisions, or overlooking the emotional impact of their actions. Power then compounds the problem by shielding leaders from the consequences. This dynamic can create a toxic ripple effect across teams.
Pressure Pitfalls and Power Gaps
Sabina introduces two subtle but dangerous traps: pressure pitfalls and power gaps. Pressure pitfalls arise when leaders act from unmet emotional needs, what she calls “inner hungers” like the desire to be liked, praised, or seen as indispensable. These can lead to micromanagement or over-functioning. Power gaps, on the other hand, distort communication and create blind spots. The higher a leader rises, the more likely they are to rely on a “singular story” or their own assumptions, without challenge.
Adaptive Authenticity
Authenticity is often misunderstood as consistency. Sabina challenges this, arguing that true authenticity is adaptive. Leaders must flex their style to meet the needs of different team members. She shares a story of a team member who disliked public praise, something that would have gone unnoticed without a tailored approach. Her “mapping tool” helps leaders explain their default behaviours and preferences to avoid misinterpretation.
Tools for Growth
To build sustainable leadership habits, Sabina recommends starting really small. Her “yes list” tracks micro habits like doing one push-up or paraphrasing once per day. These tiny actions, when done consistently, build momentum and confidence. She shares her own journey from barely running a mile to completing a marathon by increasing her distance by just 0.1 miles every few weeks.
Career Transitions and Scaling Leadership
The transition from peer to manager is one of the riskiest moments in a leader’s career. Traits like empathy and care, once strengths, can be misinterpreted as favouritism or weakness. Sabina urges new managers to reframe their approach maintaining care while setting clear expectations. To scale leadership, she advises leaders to “shut up” speak last in meetings to allow others to contribute and grow.
Key takeaways
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Leadership falters not because of power, but because pressure distorts behaviour and isolates leaders from its impact.
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Unmet emotional needs and hierarchical blind spots can quietly sabotage leadership effectiveness.
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True authenticity means flexing your leadership style to meet the unique needs of each team member.
- Micro habits tracked daily, like paraphrasing or a single push-up, build long-term leadership resilience.
- New managers must balance empathy with accountability and learn to speak last to empower others.
Article and quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.
