HBR Presents.

I'm Yario 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 who fit 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 so that hopefully they can lead with a little

more ease. 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 is someone will call Sabine to protect her confidentiality.

She has, in her words, reached a high level in her

career doing something she loves through a combination of determination and a bit of luck.

I always wanted to be creative, but I was never encouraged by my family. I was told I'd be a

poor hippie. I didn't have great educational experiences when I was younger. I was, basically, I was told if I wanted to go to school, I had to pay my way.

And the easiest way for me to do that was through sports. So I basically got on like an athletic scholarship.

When I started teaching, I realized finally how I learned. I became addicted to curiosity,

and once I had this feeling, it was like I felt like I had the best gift in the world.

Like, no matter where I met in life, this will always help me kind of break through to whatever's

next. And I think it's the best gift you can give somebody is to help them find a voice.

Sabine has parlayed her work ethic and love of teaching into her current role.

I would say the passion for me is that it's really about creating things from scratch and helping

other people learn how to learn and accelerate their learning. I have to be both externally and

internally efficient and effective. Internally, the people that I serve are essentially the partners,

and my job is to distill their thoughts that are sometimes never been actually externalized.

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