Sihame El Kaouakibi

speaker

330 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard Dec 2024 last heard May 2025

Sihame El Kaouakibi’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

No recordings in the last 12 months.Older appearances are listed below; set an alert to hear about the next one.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble · #363 Sihame El Kaouakibi: Burnout, Bankruptcy, and the Beauty of Reinvention—Part One · 11 May 2025 podcast

And then the biggest lesson, of course, from a governance point of view, if you have companies or mandates, just quit before entering politics to avoid them being used against you. And the most beautiful lesson, I think, you are elected by the people. Okay. So even though they can maybe damage your reputation with misinformation and political campaigns, adversity, they cannot take your seat. Okay.

It's the people chose you. Don't ever forget that and try to show up, be courageous. But if the environment is too toxic. Is it worth it? If you're quite isolated, especially as people who stand for change, sometimes it's not worth it.

You still need to prioritize yourself, self-care, and certainly if you have a family you're accountable for, you need to put yourself in them first, because otherwise you cannot fight for the people. That's just the thing, and sometimes I think it's about timing. For me, it wasn't the right timing. I made an ego-driven decision and it was a messiah complex. And, of course, belief.

I had everything, like potential and talent, to do something, to drive change. Otherwise, there was no focus on keeping from political opponents. So that I know. But it was too soon, too early, without a foundation, a community standing next to me, beside me, standing for this bigger project. And that's okay. It's a hard lesson learned. It's And my motivation was legit.

And yeah, all the rest is trying to keep driving change as an advocate for change, as an entrepreneur, as an impact consultant. That's actually what I do better. So that's my position now.

Beautiful. Yeah, I can relate. I can relate. The environment is everything. If you feel you're surviving instead of thriving, you need to quit. You need to leave. Because a lot of women that I guide now, some of them really start, they're really these beautiful, amazing women, high positions.

And they're still sometimes like in this environment with these political games, toxic leadership, and they stay. I'm like, okay, what's the plan? And the strange thing is that they cling, they're just holding this situation, holding... It's holding them back. They're just stuck. And sometimes it's better to accept the rejection than feeling stuck, I think.

So if the environment, the toxic environment feels like a rejection, maybe it's better. Rejection can be redirection and it's sometimes better to just leave. And I think the most liberating decision can be to move on. And like you said, you need to find your tribe, you need to find your environment so you can try. But it's confronting, right? Being rejected. Why is someone toxic?

It's like, for example, for women. Of course, more and more women go into leadership positions. They're needed, okay? And feminine leadership is actually based on empathy, emotional intelligence, also inclusivity. And... I know that, and I was one of them, that it's no longer true that women need to like mimic masculine or male leaders. No.

I think we should embrace our strength, lead with our authentic selves. And I think we can relate. I don't know if you experienced it, but I've experienced so many times called being irritated or too emotional after just being me in stating my points in a meeting with a lot of passion. But it does affect you as a woman, as a person, as a human. You lose your genuine, vulnerable self because of it.

And so I think when the moment you have to choose and you have to... be someone that you're not. Yeah, you lose your authenticity and that's so important in a leading position that you actually not only leading position for everyone to be able to lean into your authenticity and that's not possible in a toxic work environment.

Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble · #220 Sihame El Kaouakibi: How to Fail Spectacularly—Then Win Even Bigger – Part Two · 7 Mar 2025 podcast

it's holding them back they're just stuck and sometimes it's better to accept the rejection than feeling stuck i think so if the environment the toxic environment feels like a rejection maybe it's better rejection can be redirection and it's sometimes better to just leave and i think the most liberating decision can be to move on

And like you said, you need to find your tribe, you need to find your environment so you can try. But it's confronting, right? Being rejected. Why is someone toxic? It's like, for example, for women. Of course, more and more women go into leadership positions. They're needed, okay? And feminine leadership is actually based on empathy, emotional intelligence, also inclusivity. And...

I know that, and I was one of them, that it's no longer true that women need to mimic masculine or male leaders. No. I think we should embrace our strengths, lead with our authentic selves. And I think we can relate. I don't know if you experienced it, but I've experienced so many times being irritated or too emotional after just being me in stating my points in a meeting with a lot of fashion.

But it does affect you as a woman, as a person, as a human. You lose your genuine, vulnerable self because of it. And so I think when the moment you have to choose and you have to be someone that you're not, yeah, you deserve authenticity. And that's so important in a leading position that you actually not only leading position for everyone to be able to lean into your authenticity.

And that's not possible in a toxic work environment.

Yeah, Women Leaders, Help Forming Women. The reason I created Women Leaders OS was exactly what I needed at many points in my life. Like I already shared, going from doing very well to hitting rock bottom, it just leads you to a healing journey that guides you back to your true self. And you just realize that the path I realized that the path I was on was nothing like what I used to love.

It was actually far from what I believed in. And I just care too much about achieving things and what others thought of me and leading you as a high-performing woman juggling multiple responsibilities. Well, you do feel overwhelmed and you start questioning your path. When I was doing this, I started several programs, investing my time in studies, etc. Therapy, coaching.

Showing 101–120 of 330 · page 6 of 17