LEADERSHIP IMPACT, AMPLIFIED
November 4, 2026 · Evelina Rog, PhD, PCC
One comment in a recent leadership assessment stayed with me. A colleague described an executive they could disagree with one day and still feel comfortable having coffee with the next.
The executive was willing to take a position and make a difficult call. What stood out to the colleague was that they could challenge the executive in return. They could disagree directly and come back to the work the next day without having to wonder where they stood with each other.
When leaders tell me they value candour, I’m curious about what they’re willing to say when the stakes are high. I’m equally curious about what happens when they’re on the receiving end. Can they stay open and curious when someone questions a decision they’ve worked hard to get right? What does their response teach others about how honest they can be the next time?
What people experience when a leader does this well
The Leadership Circle calls this capacity Courageous Authenticity. I think of it as a leader’s willingness to bring an important issue into the open when others are reluctant to raise it, in service of a relationship, the team or the work they’re responsible for. Sometimes that means taking an unpopular stand. Sometimes it means naming a tension in the room, telling a colleague how something affected you, or acknowledging that you helped create the problem you’re asking the team to address. It takes courage to say those things and humility to hear how others see them.
I recently reviewed feedback about several leaders whose colleagues experienced them as particularly strong in this area. They didn’t all sound alike. Colleagues described one who could steady a tense conversation, hear competing perspectives and still be clear about the direction they believed the organization needed to take. Another was known for raising the issue people had been working around and giving feedback that was clear enough to act on. People also described the support that followed. They knew what was expected, and they knew the leader would help them work on it.
What interested me most was what people felt able to do in these leaders’ presence. They could ask a hard question, offer a different view or acknowledge they were struggling. They had seen how the leader responded to disagreement, and they had a sense of how they would be treated afterwards.
The moment after you’ve made your point
Imagine you’re leading a discussion about a rollout. You’ve heard the arguments for delaying it and explained why you think the date should hold. Then a colleague says, “I don’t think you understand what you’re asking our teams to absorb.”
You know how much work has gone into this decision. You may hear the comment as a suggestion that you haven’t listened or that you don’t understand the work. You could explain again why the date matters. You could thank them for raising it and move on. Or you could ask, “What are you seeing that I’ve underestimated?” and give them time to answer.
You may hear something that changes the plan. You may still decide to hold the date and realize the teams need support you hadn’t accounted for. You may discover that the people who made the commitment and the people who have to deliver it have very different views of what the work requires. If you decide to hold the date, you can still tell the team what you heard and what you’ll do differently because of it.
The rest of the room is paying attention. If you ask for a different view and interrupt the first person who offers one, someone else may decide to keep their concern to themselves. If you let your colleague finish and explain what their challenge helped you see, others learn that there’s a reason to tell you what they know.
The courage to own your part
A leader might be comfortable saying, “I think we’re avoiding the real issue.” It can take a different kind of courage to add, “I’ve raised my concerns with two people outside this room, and I haven’t raised them here.”
The same applies when you’ve invited candour and then made it hard for people to give it. “I asked for your input after I’d effectively made up my mind. I can see why that felt like a formality.” If the decision is still open, tell people where their input could change it. If the commitment has been made, say what they can still influence. The acknowledgement carries more weight when people can see what you’ll do differently.
Sometimes you only realize afterwards that you shut down the conversation. You can go back to the colleague and say, “When you raised your concern about the rollout, I jumped in to defend the date. I’d like to hear the rest of what you were trying to tell me.” That includes being willing to hear what it was like for them to raise the concern with you in the first place.
If it happened in front of the team, consider what the rest of the team saw. Your colleague may have heard you acknowledge it in private. Everyone else saw you interrupt. The next time you’re together, you can reopen the issue and give people a chance to see you handle it differently.
How I coach leaders to develop courageous authenticity
A leader I was coaching was wrestling with whether to give feedback to a colleague she respected, and who held far more power. She’d heard him speak about work they both cared deeply about. She was fuming inside. His message, as she heard it, risked alienating the very people whose support they needed. She could see what was at stake for the work, and she knew that raising it could strain a relationship she valued.
As we talked, she began to put words to what was underneath the frustration. She was disappointed because she knew how well he could connect with an audience. She was worried because people who felt blamed might stop listening, even if they agreed with what he was trying to achieve. There was something she wanted him to see that he might never hear from the people in that room.
That changed the conversation we were preparing for. She could tell him plainly how his message had landed for her and why she thought it mattered. She could also be honest about why she was willing to risk an uncomfortable exchange. She cared about him and wanted the work to succeed. And she could make room for the possibility that he’d seen something she hadn’t.
I think that’s one of the harder things we ask of executives. By the time they raise a concern, they’ve often spent a great deal of time thinking it through. They may be right about what’s at stake. Can they be clear enough that the other person understands the concern, and open enough to hear something that changes their own view? That’s the kind of candour I want leaders to be able to offer and receive.
As we talked, I asked her to weigh the discomfort of one honest conversation against what could happen if no one had it. Giving the feedback might make things awkward between them in the moment. Staying silent carried risks of its own. A colleague she respected might keep delivering a message that was costing him credibility, and the people they needed to engage might quietly pull away from work that had taken years to build. The discomfort was hers to face. The consequences of leaving it unsaid could reach well beyond the two of them.
What changes for the team
On an executive team, people often hold different pieces of the same problem. One person knows why the commitment was made. Another understands the operational risk. A third has heard from the people who have to carry it out. A team has a better chance of seeing the whole picture when people can challenge one another while there’s still time to do something with what they learn.
That’s why the comment about coffee stayed with me. The colleague could be honest today and still feel welcome tomorrow. Think about what your team might tell you sooner if more people trusted that would be true for them.
A Question to Take With You
Think about the last time someone challenged you on an issue that mattered. What did your response teach them about whether to be that candid with you again?
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