I wrote this piece because I’ve seen too many leaders — myself included — mistake resistance for rebellion, when it’s actually intelligence trying to find a voice. Over the years, working across technology, sports, and entertainment, I’ve realized that most “pushback” isn’t about ego or fear of change. It’s about translation. The people closest to the work often see risks that leaders can’t, but those risks get lost in the language gap between strategy and execution.

This topic mattered to me because it reframes what leadership really is — not about certainty, but about curiosity and clarity. When we treat resistance as data instead of defiance, we uncover the blind spots that save companies from failure. Writing this was a reminder that empathy and translation aren’t soft skills; they’re survival skills for anyone leading through change.

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