HBR Presents

I'm Muriel Wilkins and this is Coaching Real Leaders part of the HBR Presents Network.

I'm a longtime executive coach who works with highly successful leaders is coaching real leaders part of the HBR Presents Network.

I'm a longtime executive coach who works with highly successful leaders who've hit a bump in the road.

My job is to help them get over that bump by clarifying their goals and figuring out a way to reach them.

I typically work with clients over the course of several months, but on this show, we have a one-time coaching meeting, focusing on a specific leadership challenge they're facing.

Today's guest who will call Daniela to protect her confidentiality manages a sizable team

at a large company. She worked hard to climb the ladder from being an administrative assistant to a leadership position,

and while she feels she's a good people manager, she's concerned that she falls short

when it comes to interacting with other senior leaders, especially in meetings.

It's got to do with some confidence issues.

I'm very aware these days of my communications shortfalls, like the way that I come across, especially in meetings. Sometimes I fail to influence others the way that I wish I could influence them.

Danielle has overcome many obstacles to make it to her current role.

Now she wants to make sure the way she comes across in these situations doesn't hold her back

from further career progression.

It's something that might be holding me back.

The reason why I want to overcome that is because I want to continue to be taken

seriously by my peers and superiors to a point where if an opportunity opens up for a higher level,

I want to be considered a real contender for it. I guess there's some things in my communication style that don't accurately reflect

like the strong leader that I am on the inside. And so that's kind of what I'm trying to

overcome. So I start the conversation by learning more about her career journey so far.

So it was definitely a challenging journey.

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