Sometimes the biggest leadership failures come from the best intentions. In this article, I unpack two powerful stories, one real, one fictional, where leaders tried to help, but ended up doing harm by skipping the most important step: listening. Whether you're leading a team or launching a new initiative, these stories reveal why influence without empathy quickly becomes imposition, and how trust is built not by having the answers, but by asking the right questions first.

When change hits hard and the path ahead is uncertain, the one thing your team needs isn’t a perfect plan—it’s your steady presence. In this post, I share a behind-the-scenes moment from one of the most chaotic transitions of my career as a senior advisor, and how calm leadership—not control—created clarity in the storm. Because when the map disappears, your presence becomes the compass.