Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Nadine Moussa, Associate Learning Facilitator
How could you describe your career path in few words?
My career started traditional straight from university joining the corporate world. Loyal to one company where I worked in Egypt and Kenya. High paced initially changing my role or category every 2-3 years.
On so many levels, my career is a reflection of my life journey. In my early years, I was driven my products, performance, innovation, profits and my career in marketing and business development was challenging, competitive, fulfilling, and quick-paced. Later in my career, what motivated me changed, however, I stayed inside my comfort zone. The restructure forced the change and pushed me into my learning zone. I left corporate after 16 years. I became more driven by connections, relationships, people, and possibilities. Consequently. I decided to shift my career completely into training, coaching, mentoring, speaking and writing. All my different hats serve my purpose in life to inspire people to reach their potential.
One thing that has been a constant in my career is my persistence, curiosity and thirst for learning, always raising the bar, seeking to continuously improve and eager for feedback. My style has evolved from directive to coaching and guiding, my goal changed from being in the spotlight to being behind the scenes.
What was your most challenging experience and has it changed your mindset?
My most challenging experience was the restructure. It was a tough period, where I needed to review my priorities and make bold decisions. I could have stayed in my comfort zone, earning a good income at something I do not like this would have taken a toll on my health for sure. I decided to move on especially as I was in the burnout zone. It was more difficult at the time. I fell into depression for a few months. My wake-up call was losing my dear friend to cancer. I starting seeing things as they are, I was losing my job not my life. I had equated my corporate role to my life which was the biggest deception. You are not your role. You are so much bigger than a role and I fell to the trap of identifying myself with my role. I let go of corporate and started to explore new possibilities.
Waking up, I started to see the silver lining and entertain my advantages. I invested in my personal development with interesting trainings in many topics. My focus shifted to inner work, knowing myself on a deeper level, investing in my relationships which were overstrained by my previous corporate life.
Success is what you define presently and that definition changes as you grow and move in your journey.
What would you have done differently earlier in your career?
Investing in relationships for sure, when I was young, it was never my priority. This is what matters the most in life as Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Balancing is paramount to learn in life, between profits, performance and people and possibilities. Focusing on one alone will not get you far, balancing between them will get you far and will assist in keeping you ahead in life and business. Find the time in your busy schedule to nurture relationships that matter to you. You may even need to schedule them in your calendar to ensure your commitment. Seek mentoring from people you look up to, that could be within your organization or outside.
While giving feedback is a gift, train your eyes and your mouth to praise more than you criticize, for one criticism present two praises.
Based on your experience, what’s the key success factor for a female leader / manager?
There are many success factors. I believe the key factor for successful leadership is empathy and this applies to both genders, it is scientifically proven that leaders with greater empathy lead better teams and reach better results.
Female leaders are at an advantage as we are naturally more empathetic, though there are exceptions. This empathy brings back the human part of business, reminding us, all that we are all human beings not just human doings or machines. Employees who feel psychological safety will bring their whole selves to work, ultimately performing better. Empathy is a key contributing factor to this necessary safety hence trust. Trust is the building block of any high performing team.
During COVID, the countries who best succeeded in dealing with the pandemic had female heads of state. Females are slowly changing the narrative. Empathy wins at the workplace.
