Badass Leaders Podcast: Leadership, Career Growth, and Company Culture

Too Nice to Lead? The People-Pleaser Trap | Russell Harvey | S2 E10

Russell Harvey · March 19, 2026

Executive Coach · Leadershipin

Interview with Russell Harvey

Too Nice to Lead? The People-Pleaser Trap | Russell Harvey | S2 E10

Podcast: Badass Leaders Podcast: Leadership, Career Growth, and Company Culture

March 19, 2026 · 52 min

Listen to Russell Harvey on Badass Leaders Podcast: Leadership, Career Growth, and Company Culture.

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Too Nice to Lead? The People-Pleaser Trap | Russell Harvey | S2 E10

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Badass Leaders Podcast: Leadership, Career Growth, and Company Culture

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Key topicsProfessional Development & CoachingWith 10,000+ hours of experience, Russell champions coaching as a powerful tool for leadership growth. He demystifies the process, showing how coaching boosts confidence, clarity, and results, and how leaders can embed coaching into everyday team development. Off the Record — What Leaders Admit in Coaching and Never Say in the BoardroomRussell Harvey has coached leaders to board level for over 6,000 hours, and the same admissions come up in private: they are guessing, they are tired, and they can say neither out loud. Most organisations treat that silence as strength and reward the executive who never wavers, which is how confident-looking teams commit to decisions nobody in the room believes in. Drawing on 18 years with organisations from the NHS to Novartis and Kerry Group, he describes what changes when a leader finally gets one place to think honestly: how they pressure-test a decision before announcing it, and how they pass that same permission down to their own team. Listeners leave able to hear what their leadership group is not saying, and knowing what to do once they hear it.One Conversation a Week — The Coaching a Manager Can Run in Twenty MinutesRussell Harvey has coached leaders to board level for more than 6,000 hours, and he can usually tell within a month whether a manager is holding one honest conversation a week with their team or none at all. Managers get promoted for having answers, so when a problem arrives they solve it, the person leaves relieved, and nothing in the team gets any stronger. Drawing on over 10,000 hours of facilitation across organisations including the NHS, Novartis and Kerry Group, he sets out what that twenty-minute conversation contains, what order to ask it in, and the point at which most managers quietly drop it. He is blunt about the limit: it does nothing if the manager has already decided the answer and is only asking to be polite. Listeners leave with a conversation they can run before their next team meeting, and a way to tell whether it changed anything.View all topics →

About Russell Harvey

Leadership, Resilience, and Growth Coach

100,000+ People positively affected6,000+ Executive coaching hours£12M+ ROI delivered by RWE npower leadership programme20+ years Learning, leadership and organisational development

Russell Harvey is The Resilience Coach - an executive coach, leadership facilitator and keynote speaker with over 20 years in Learning, Leadership and Organisational Development, and 18 years specialising in resilience and leading in a persistently changing (VUCA) world.

Until August 2025 his Purpose was "to positively affect 100 000 people by the year 2025." This has now been achieved!

His updated purpose is to "Champion organisations to be a force for good" - achieved by equipping every leader and team he works with to spring forward with learning, not just survive disruption, but navigate it well. The measure of that? When someone asks "how are you?" the answer - honestly - is "there's a lot going on, and I'm good."

With over 6,000 hours of executive coaching to board level, he has worked with organisations including AB World Foods, Kerry Group, Novartis AG, the NHS and Cooplands Bakery.

Russell's style is direct, empathetic and practical - he challenges leaders to think differently about what's possible, and equips them with the clarity, confidence and tools to lead themselves and others well, however uncertain the terrain.

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About this episode

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with leadership advisorRussell Harveyto unpack the deeply human side of leadership resilience. Russell shares candid stories from his career about navigating workplace bullying, confronting people-pleasing tendencies, and learning how to assert boundaries without losing empathy.

Together, they explore how strengths-based leadership can help leaders better understand themselves, build more resilient teams, and respond more effectively to pressure.

Russell explains why empathy can sometimes become a liability for leaders, how people-pleasing quietly erodes authority, and what it takes to shift from surviving leadership stress to leading with confidence and clarity.

The conversation also dives into practical frameworks like strengths-based leadership and tools such as StrengthsFinder and Working Genius, offering leaders concrete ways to understand how they show up under pressure.

Learn More About Russell Harvey:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theresiliencecoach/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russelltheresiliencecoach/Website:https://www.theresiliencecoach.co.uk/Mentioned in this Episode:

StrengthsFinder / CliftonStrengths: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx Working Genius: https://www.workinggenius.com/ Strengthscope – Strengths-based leadership development tool

The AGN Group

Produced by: The AGN Group

Host: Angela Gill Nelms

Producer: Katie Hart

Tagline: Be Brave. Be Badass.

Websites: www.theagngroup.com and www.AngelaGillNelms.com

At The AGN Group, we believe every individual, team, and company can unlock their inner badass, one brave step at a time. www.TheAGNGroup.com.

Social Media Channels:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badassleaderspodcast/

Twitter: https://x.com/BALeadersPod

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@baleaderspod

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/badass-leaders-podcast2

Want to be a Podcast Guest?

If you are interested in being a guest on the podcast, email brave@angelagillnelms.com.

The discussion also tackles questions…

How do you deal with workplace bullying as a leader?Why do people-pleasing tendencies hurt leadership effectiveness?Can empathy become a weakness in leadership?How do resilient leaders respond to pressure and conflict?What does strengths-based leadership actually look like in practice?How can leaders use tools like StrengthsFinder or Working Genius to understand their leadership style?How do you assert boundaries at work without damaging relationships?What are the early warning signs of leadership burnout or emotional strain?How can leaders turn difficult career experiences into growth?

Themes:

Leadership resiliencePeople-pleasing in leadershipWorkplace bullying and difficult professional dynamicsStrengths-based leadershipEmotional intelligence and empathyAssertiveness and boundary-settingSelf-awareness in leadership developmentLeadership growth through adversityPsychological safety and healthy workplace cultures

Guest: Russell Harvey