Power Doesn't Corrupt Leaders — Pressure Does [Encore]
Brown Ambition
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hey BA fam, it’s Mandi. Today I’m bringing you a Brown Ambition Rewind that feels so on‑time for where a lot of us are in our careers right now.
This conversation is with executive coach and author Sabina Nawaz, whose book You’re the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be and Others Need is all about helping high‑achieving leaders avoid the traps that come with success.
We talk about why promotions are actually the riskiest moments in your career, how pressure — not power — can corrupt even the best bosses, and what it really looks like to be the kind of manager your team needs without losing your values or your identity as a woman of color.
If you’ve been feeling stretched, misunderstood, or like you’re constantly in a pressure cooker, this one will hit. Let’s get into ‘How to Be the Kind of Boss Your Team Needs’ with Sabina Nawaz.”Follow Sabina Nawaz!
- Website: https://sabinanawaz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabinacoaching/?hl=en
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.4 | I think that authenticity can sometimes be an excuse for not growing and not changing. |
| 0:10.5 | I think most people, when they talk about authenticity, they're talking about their values. |
| 0:14.1 | How do you keep your values intact while continue to grow and rediscover and reimagine yourself? |
| 0:24.5 | Hey. to grow and rediscover and reimagine yourself. Hey, BA fam, I am so happy to introduce you to my guest today, Sabina Noaz. |
| 0:29.9 | She is an executive coach, has worked at some incredible companies like Microsoft, like Google. |
| 0:36.7 | Not that brand names matter, okay, but it's nice. |
| 0:40.4 | It's nice to know that someone's come from some elite institutions. But Sabina has written a book. |
| 0:46.0 | And you know what? My five-year-old son loves this book. I've had it around the house while I've |
| 0:50.1 | been reading it. And he's like, you're the boss. Like he's just learning how to read. These are some sight words for him. I was like, yeah, baby, know how to say the word boss. But the book is you're the boss, become the manager you want to be and others need. Sabina, welcome to Brown Ambition. Well, thank you so much, Mandy. And I cannot help but notice since you mentioned visuals. |
| 1:12.5 | You're in red. I'm in yellow. Are we not a little ketchup and mustard moment? This is like a match made in heaven. We really are. |
| 1:22.2 | Who knew? There's a reason that those colors are so ingrained, you know, in the culture. So yeah, beautiful. So talk to me about your path from corporate because I actually have a similar path. I left corporate in 2021 and I became a career coach. You, I don't know when you left corporate, but I have loved, that transition was unexpected, but also really fun for me. |
| 1:48.4 | But I'm curious, what was your path like? |
| 1:50.4 | Did you always know you wanted to step away from that traditional, like, corporate role and then help executives be better at their jobs? |
| 1:58.0 | Oh, gosh, no. |
| 1:59.2 | My undergraduate and graduate degrees are in computer science and electronics |
| 2:04.0 | and computer systems engineering. |
| 2:05.9 | And I started my career at Microsoft in software engineering. |
| 2:09.6 | Oh, okay. |
| 2:10.6 | Yeah, so I did that and I managed teams and worked on products like Windows and MSN and |
| 2:16.5 | Internet Explorer and a bunch of version |
... |
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