The Feedback That Changed the Leader I Became

I used to believe leadership was measured by results.

One 360-degree feedback report taught me otherwise.

It happened during my time at Philips, where I was leading a functional department. By every visible measure, I was succeeding. The business was performing well, my peers respected me, and my leaders trusted me with increasing responsibilities.

Like many ambitious professionals, I had built my career on execution. I believed leadership meant solving problems, making decisions quickly, setting high standards, and consistently delivering results.

It had worked.

Those qualities had taken me from a Management Trainee to leadership roles of increasing responsibility. I genuinely believed I was a good leader.

Then I received my 360-degree feedback.

As I read through the report, one pattern became impossible to ignore.

My peers appreciated my collaboration.

My leaders valued my performance.

But my team experienced me very differently.

I remember putting the report down and sitting in silence. It was one of the most humbling moments of my career.

For the first time, I realised that while I was measuring my leadership by the results I delivered, my team was measuring it by the experience I created.

My immediate instinct was to defend myself.

“I have high standards because I care. I push people because I believe in their potential.”

Those intentions were genuine.

But leadership isn’t defined by our intentions.

It’s defined by how people experience us.

That realisation became the turning point in my leadership journey.

I began asking myself a different question:

What if my intentions were not the same as the impact I was creating?

The answer wasn’t easy.

I realised I had been rewarded throughout my career for being the person with the answers. I was known for solving complex problems, stepping in during difficult situations, and ensuring nothing fell through the cracks.

Those behaviours had made me successful.

But they were no longer making me successful as a leader.

Somewhere along the way, I had mistaken being indispensable for being impactful.

The more problems I solved, the more my team depended on me.

Without intending to, I was limiting the very capability I wanted to build.

That insight forced me to rethink my identity as a leader.

Leadership was no longer about demonstrating how much I knew.

It was about creating the confidence for others to discover what they knew.

That shift didn’t happen overnight.

It required me to unlearn habits that had earned me recognition throughout my career.

I learnt to pause before offering solutions.

I replaced advice with curiosity.

I asked more questions than I answered.

I listened to understand rather than to respond.

Gradually, I noticed something remarkable.

As I spoke less, my team contributed more.

As I stopped solving every problem, others began taking ownership.

As I created space for people to think, they started discovering capabilities they didn’t know they had.

Ironically, the less I needed to be the smartest person in the room, the greater my influence as a leader became.

Years later, when I stepped into the role of Chief Operations Officer, I carried this lesson with me.

Business performance still mattered.

Execution still mattered.

Results still mattered.

But I had learnt that sustainable results are built by leaders who develop people—not by leaders who become the answer to every problem.

Looking back, I now realise that this experience quietly shaped the next chapter of my life.

Many people describe my move into executive coaching as a career transition.

I see it differently.

Coaching wasn’t a departure from leadership.

It was the natural evolution of it.

As an executive coach, I don’t measure my success by the advice I give.

I measure it by the quality of thinking I help leaders unlock.

The most meaningful breakthroughs rarely come from a coach having the right answer.

They come from a leader discovering a new perspective through a powerful question.

Today, when I work with senior leaders across industries, I often see reflections of my younger self—highly capable, deeply committed, and carrying the invisible burden of believing they must always have the answers.

The greatest shift I help them make is the same one I had to make myself.

From solving every problem to developing people who can solve them.

From leading through expertise to leading through curiosity.

From being the hero of the story to creating space for others to become heroes in theirs.

Looking back, I no longer see that 360-degree feedback as criticism.

I see it as one of the greatest gifts of my leadership journey.

It didn’t change my title.

It changed my mindset.

And that mindset transformed every leadership role that followed—from leading a function at Philips, to serving as a Chief Operations Officer, and eventually becoming an Executive Coach.

Today, my definition of leadership is much simpler than it once was.

Leadership is not about having all the answers.

It is about creating the conditions where others find their own.

Because the true measure of leadership isn’t found in the titles we hold or the results we deliver.

It’s found in the experience we create for others—and in the leaders we leave behind.