Martin Dubin is a clinical psychologist, serial entrepreneur, business coach, and adviser to C-suite executives and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. He has founded several companies, including a multimillion-dollar health-care company where he also served as CEO. He is the author of Blindspotting: How to See What’s Holding You Back as a Leader (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

Whenever I ask leaders, “What’s getting in the way of you moving forward?” the most common answer I hear is, “Myself.” In this episode, Marty and I explore what’s likely holding you back and how you can take the first steps to get traction.

• Many leaders don’t recognize the need for change and succumb to an identity blindspot.
• You don’t have to change your identity, but there’s a mismatch between role and identity, that’s a major problem.
• Shifting your identity is not changing who you are. Identities help us to sort through people and situations so we know who we are in relation to them.
• An identity that many have worked before can get in the way today. Common ones are: imposter, independent thinker, rule follower, unworthy, entitled, rebel, and peacemaker.
• Look back through your calendar over the past three months and determine how well your activities match up with the identity your role demands.
• Embody the new identity you are aiming to shift to, even if you’re not yet feeling it.

• Blindspotting: How to See What’s Holding You Back as a Leader by Marty Dubin (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

• Six Questions Every Leader Should Ask Themselves, with Margaret Andrews (episode 750)
• How to See What Others Miss, with Kirstin Ferguson (episode 758)
• Show Up Better, Faster, with Claude Silver (episode 762)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Elizabeth Lotardo is a consultant, writer, and online instructor who helps organizations drive emotional engagement. Elizabeth writes for Harvard Business Review, is a Top Voice on LinkedIn, and the author of Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have. She’s also the author of the Harvard Business Review article, Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them.

Jumping in to solve problems feels like we’re doing important work. The issue is that leaders need to be enabling work – both for scale and to grow the skills of others. In this conversation, Elizabeth and I detailed how to get out of the trap of solving your team’s problems for them.

• Jumping in to solve a problem feels good in the moment for both parties, but creates long-term obstacles.
• The other extreme, asking people to only come with solutions, often shuts down learning for both parties.
• Shifting a habit of solving your team’s problems will feel awkward at first – both for your team and you.
• Rather than solving the problem for them, help remove the obstacle.
• Support doesn’t just have to come from the manager. Often, looking at the situation together will help surface what kind of support would actually help.
• We often assume that people are coming to us for answers. Sometimes, they just need to be heard.

Five questions that will help your team step up:

1. What have you tried?
2. What–or who–is getting in the way of tackling this?
3. What support do you need?
4. What would you do if you were in my seat?
5. Is there anything else I should know?

• Stop Solving Your Team’s Problems for Them by Elizabeth Lotardo
• Leading Yourself: Find More Joy, Meaning, and Opportunities in the Job You Already Have by Elizabeth Lotardo (Amazon, Bookshop)*

• The Way to Stop Rescuing People From Their Problems, with Michael Bungay Stanier (episode 284)
• Where Senior Leaders Can Better Support Middle Managers, with Emily Field (episode 650)
• The Key Norm of a High-Performing Team, with Vanessa Druskat (episode 753)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Colonel Eileen M. Collins, USAF (retired), earned a place in history as the first American woman to pilot, and later to command, a space mission. She flew on the space shuttle four times, twice as commander – including the 2005 “return to flight” mission after the tragic Columbia accident. She is the subject of the documentary movie Spacewoman and author of the book Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

We all have times in our careers where all eyes are on us. In this conversation, Eileen and I explore the critical moments of her career and how she stayed grounded while soaring among the stars.

• Until we are tested, we don’t know what we are capable of.
• Nerves creep in at times for all of us. When they do, it’s helpful to think about representing your role instead of representing yourself.
• When decisions become difficult, always come back to, “What’s the mission?”
• Train for the skill, not for the task.
• During high-stakes times, remember your family and personal life. They will help you stay grounded.

• Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission by Eileen Collins (Amazon, Bookshop)*
• Spacewoman documentary, featuring Eileen Collins

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

• How to Lead and Retain High Performers, with Ruth Gotian (episode 567)
• The Way to Handle Q&A, with Matt Abrahams (episode 681)
• How to Start the Top Job, with Scott Keller (episode 752)

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.