TSLP Season 4- Lessons from the C-Suite

🎙️ New Episode Alert: Lessons from the C-Suite with Daria Rudnik
What does it truly take to lead at the highest levels of an organization?

In this episode of the Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, I sit down with Daria Rudnik to unpack powerful leadership lessons learned from the C-Suite , where vision, pressure, strategy, and decision-making intersect daily.

This conversation is packed with practical insight for leaders who want to grow their influence, strengthen their decision-making, and lead with greater clarity and confidence.

Learn more about Daria Rudnik:
Website: https://dariarudnik.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariarudnik/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dariarudnikcoaching

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Until next time, stand tall, step bold, and own your transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I know you have the question. And the question is this What really separates leaders who rise to the C suite from those who just plateau? It's not just talent, it's not just timing. It's what they learn, unlearn, and lead through the stakes when the stakes are highest. So today's conversation is gonna pull back the curtain. Come on, let's go ahead and get this conversation started. Today's episode is all about lessons from the C-suite, the kind of leadership insights you don't find in a job description or a strategy deck. But you only learn this and earn it through experience, pressure, and responsibility. I'm super excited about our guest today. I can't wait for you to meet Daria. But before you do, I want to just share a few things with you quickly. Number one, I want to remind you, don't miss one single episode of Vital Conversations here at Transformation Station. Every Monday and Wednesday, you can join us on YouTube and Facebook and LinkedIn and all your favorite podcast platforms. So be sure to tune in and continue to grow with our leadership community. And for all the women leaders out there, I want to remind you April 13 to 16, 2026, we're gonna have our second virtual conference. Listen, there were over 400 of us that registered and attended that first conference that we had in January. Well, guess what? In April, it is time for round two. And this one is Lead Her Shift Adjustment. We're gonna talk about how, as a leader, you don't stop and quit or start over. You just make some simple adjustments to continue moving forward in your journey. So be sure to join us. Well, it's time for us to get started. So let me tell you about Daria. Daria Rednick is a team architect and executive coach who helps overloaded leaders build high trust, self-sufficient teams so that we can get better results with less burnout. She's the award-winning author of Clicking and the co-author of The AI Revolution and the creator of ADRA AI and AI-powered coach for leaders. A former chief people officer and ex-Dela Lite pro, Daria brings over 15 years of global leadership experience to every conversation. And I'm excited about this one that we're about to have. Daria, welcome to Transformation Station. So excited to have you here today.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Well, thanks for having me here, Adrian. I mean, I love listening to your podcast. And now being as a guest as a guest is super exciting. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, listen, this really is a um a very classic, relevant, key conversation that we're having today. And I'm really looking forward to having the conversation because many of the individuals who are in our community are just that C-suite leaders. And so many times we don't have an opportunity to just talk. So what I was thinking about before this session is uh the fact that when you talk about the C-suite, right? The C-suite often looks polished, powerful from the outside. Everybody wants to get there. Um, but sometimes the realities of what it's like on the inside, they're a little bit more complex. So I want to start off by asking you this question What are, from your experience, what are the most common misconceptions people have about what life and leadership looks like in the C-suite?

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Well, it's a great question, and uh I'll tell you, it's not it's anything but polished. There's nothing polished about being in a C suite, there's a lot of uh like dynamics because it's a kind of a tight group usually. Like people sometimes they have to fight for resources, sometimes they have to prove themselves, sometimes they have to kind of solve challenging, complex problems and that they have no idea how to solve what everyone is expects like expecting them to do that. So, what I find people kind of moving from senior level leadership to executive level leadership, moving to Ciswit is the kind of thing that people will do things when they're tall, as if like I have this authority and power now, like anything needs to go smoothly, and it's it's never like that. You still you still need to prove yourself as a leader, you still need to earn that trust. Um, it happens so like when people look at you and expect you to okay, I mean, go and do your thing, prove us that you are a really uh a leader, a syswit leader, a lot of decision making it kind of goes up on top and stays there. And I mean, there is no one you can delegate it to, like the CEO cannot make financial decisions for everything that's happening in your financial organization or marketing decisions or RD decisions, tech decisions. So basically, if if you something is broken within the decision-making authority decision-making framework in your functional unit, all the unstalled decisions come to you. And that's a lot, I'm telling you that these that's a lot of uh decisions you need to make. So it's it's pretty complex and overwhelming to be up there.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I love this. You know, when you started talking about that first misconception, I said, yes, I have myself, you know, thought that. And I know that many leaders have struggled with that, right? That misconception that because now I am that CEO, that C, you know, because I am that chief operating officer, people are gonna respect my leadership. They're gonna file. I say do, they go. No, and you you hit on something key, they still have to trust you. You still have to earn the trust of your people. They could have known you for years, but now you're in a new position. You still have to earn their trust. And to every leader that's listening and watching right now, you know, here on Transformation Station, we like to take a few moments to just kind of pause and soak it in. And I want to ask you to go ahead and put in the chat what are some misconceptions for executive level leadership or leadership where you're at? What are some misconceptions that you have had to journey through? And you know, the second part was, and what and and and and how is this impacting you? And so, so everybody watching, what are some misconceptions you've had to journey through and how has that or is that impacting your leadership? So I want to ask you this question next, Daria. How does decision making change at the executive level? You sort of touch on it a little bit, but take us deeper. How does decision making change at the executive level and what separates strong executives from the overwhelmed ones?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Well, then I love the question because again, as I mentioned, this decision overwhelmed is is huge. And every everything when things are not going well, when things are not structured and there is no clear roles, or there is some kind of gaps in authority and decision making, it all comes up to the senior senior executive level that need to decide. And I I want to tell you a story, and it's a story about a new CEO who just recently joined the company and he replaced an experienced CEO. So he did have the he had a lot of struggles of uh gaining people's trust and kind of showing that he is an authority in that space. So um, and since people were kind of used to the old CEO, they had trust with him, they liked him, they didn't always listen and hear what this person was saying. So the and this new CEO, he he decided, okay, I'll be making all the decisions by myself. Because people don't want to listen to me, I'll be making all the decisions. Well, he was okay, first overwhelmed. Second, the board was not happy because uh those not all the decisions were good. Some of the decisions were uh kind of not really good because he didn't ask the product managers, he didn't ask the like the sales executives, he made them by by himself because he thought that's how he's gonna prove it. So things started to change only when uh we got together as a team and I helped them have this conversation between this new CEO and this team. Okay, what are your expectations? What are the roles in this on this team? What do you want to achieve together? What's your overall big goal for for you as a team and for the organization? And once they started to have that conversation, they started to build this trust. And when they clarified the roles, it was clear that those are decisions for the uh uh uh chief product officer, and those decisions are for the chief commercial officer and not for the CEO. So that really helped move organization forward, create a sales strategy, start getting new clients and new leads. And but before that, it was just a mess.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

You know, you you you touched on something, you know, when we talk about strong executives and overwhelmed executives, so I think about that word overwhelmed, right? When it starts to leadership, you're going to have challenges. I try to remind myself all the time like that that's a part of the territory, right? You are in a position for leadership because you have proven that over time you have gained skill sets to weather the storm. So to think that now you're in that C-suite, that there's not going to be challenges or hard times. No, that's not the case. But what keeps us from being overwhelmed, you know, is a couple of things. And one of the things that I love that you talked about was this, and it's in different words, but strong executives make few, fewer, higher impact decisions, and they resist urgency without alignment. You know, and you talk, you talked about not making decisions alone. Talk about that executive who said, I'm gonna make all the decisions. Listen, I've learned over the years there's there's a phrase that says, There's no IN team. Even if you are the leader, you're still leading a team, whether it's two, three, or a hundred, right? There's no IN team. And strong executives realize it's it's not your job to make all the high impact decisions for everybody and then just hand out what's gonna happen. No. And, you know, I think about leaders that I respect, Zaria. They're the ones that I see, even if on the inside they're quaking with fear outwardly, they give me kind of like a psychological safety by remaining calm as we're working through it, right? They resist the they resist being urgent without alignment. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

That's true, that's so true. And again, uh there was a sort of narrative of being a heroic leader, a leader who saves it all, who needs to have all the answers, who need to support the team. I mean, you don't have to be that person, it's impossible because the world is so complex and it's changing so fast, no single individual can solve it all. So, like trust, build the team that you can trust and have relationships with your team so that you don't have to pretend. You can you can get together and say, Hey, we don't have an answer to this question, let's figure it out together. Hey, we don't know what's gonna be next. Well, let's prepare for the unknown. And kind of having that team and building that team that will support you as a leader is the first and most important thing you need to do because otherwise you'll just break.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yeah, we see that all the time, right? And so, you know, listeners and viewers, we have a best practice for you here. Best practice, create decision filters. High-performing executives use decision filters. You heard Diria talk about asking questions, a short set of questions that guide every major choice. And you know, I found over the years, Daria, that when as a leader I stop to ask questions, I get more clarity. Sometimes we think we know what's really going on and we don't, right? But when you ask questions, you really get an opportunity to really know what it is that you need to focus on. What is priority? So I want to ask you this question. What advice do you have? Okay, for those introverted professionals, right? The quieter ones, who at the same time want to increase their influence and visibility without becoming someone that they're not?

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Oh, I love that question. I knew that it is it is troubling for some leaders who want to be seen, who want to create an impact. And it's not just because they want to be seen and kind of okay, here I am. I they want to create impact and they know that without this visibility, they cannot really do something meaningful. Well, the the biggest misconception here is that we kind of assume that all the visibility happens during meetings. So what people do, they kind of try to be the loudest person in the room and and say something during the meeting so that they are heard. But like the real work and the real connection happens in between. So especially that works perfectly for introverts. So if when you got an invitation for a meeting, reach out to the organizer and say, Hey, like what kind of impact do you want from me? What can I bring to the conversation over there? Uh, how can I prepare better for? Or here are some ideas that I want to share during the meeting. What do you think of them? You can also reach out to some of the decision makers that will be present at this meeting and then kind of brainstorm and share some of your ideas with them. Why is it important? Because, first of all, you know that what you're going to share is valuable. So you don't share any kind of BS at the at the meeting. The second, those people are prepared to hear your story. They they they they expect you to say something and they will support you because you started with them and they supported your ideas, and they help you shape it, so they'll support you during the meeting. Then during the meeting, you can share that. And let's say you didn't have a chance to do that. There's always a follow-up. There was a meeting, you have some additional information, you have some ideas, you have some questions. Reach out to those people, ask those questions, give them some information and support, keep this conversation and going and those relationships developing. So it doesn't have to be packed into like one-hour conversation when everyone was trying to say something, like spread it around. You have the whole, I mean, work day or work weeks to do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

And you know, I'm thinking as you're talking, in order to do that as the leader, you have to make yourself accessible, accessible to your people, right? Doesn't mean that they, you know, can just walk in your office at any point, but there should be touch points. I like what you're saying, touch points throughout the day where the people know they'll have an opportunity to share an idea, pass a word, get to know you in a different way, right? You you kind of show that human factor so that you can build that relationship. The other thing that I got from what you were talking about just now is stop trying to be indispensable, start becoming scalable, right? You know, there's a leadership principle that says executive leadership is less about being essential, it's all about me. Everybody needs me in order for this to run, and more about building something that works without you. You know, Daria, I recently had a situation where I had to uh go away from my office for a couple of days. We had some critical things that were going on, and I had a decision that I realized when I the days when the next day started and I wasn't there, I had a decision that I was gonna make. Was I going to be emailing and calling my people? Are you doing this? Or was I going to step back and give them an opportunity to put into practice all the things that we had already trained on that that they knew how to do? And I had a mentor that said, the way you know you're leading is when your people are able to carry on and you're not there. So true. Yeah. To every leader that's listening and watching right now, again, I invite you. You know, here we like to take out our notes and and make notes and take. I want to invite you to remember what Daria has been sewing into us. You are the leader, you are the leader, but you don't have to be in control of everything, right? And so we invite you to just let this be a hmm moment and pause and and do some reflection. So, Daria, from your experience, right? What is the biggest leadership lesson you learned once you entered the C-suite that you wish that you had understood earlier in your career?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Uh, well, I don't know if it's even possible to be able to understand it early, because some things you just learn through experience. But hopefully that'll help you when you join some new space for your life be kind to yourself. Because when I joined the Syswit, I I was the only woman in the room, and you were all like man, like RD and tech and finance, everyone. And I was kind of wondering, okay, what what kind of how should I present myself? Do I want to be kind of more soft or do I want to be more assertive? Do I want to be more loud? Do I want to be more quiet? Like, what is my style? How would they see me and accept me uh best? And it happened that I just need to follow my style. I just need to know my style of communication. And when I figure out what my style is, and my style is like having one-to-one conversations again, rather than being in the route trying to overshadow those people, but building this trust and relationships outside of boardrooms and having those conversations, asking questions rather than giving solutions straight away. That really is what helped me. So if you if you if you're making a move, understand your style and try to use the best of it. Don't try to be someone you're not. I know it sounds kind of obvious, but that was my personal experience.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. So I'm gonna repeat it again. Daria's reminding us, don't be somebody that you're not. And you know, I know for myself, sometimes there is this temptation, right? Either you're looking around you, you're seeing your peers, right, and feeling some unspoken or spoken pressure to quote unquote measure up or be on the same part with them, right? And many times we end up losing ourselves because the job becomes our identity, right? But to every leader that's listening and watching right now, Daria is reminding us like, be true to you, to that own self, be true. That gives you authenticity in your leadership. So, Diarya, you've been the only woman in the C-suite, right? This is Women's History Month. We're gonna have this conversation. We're talking to the ladies right now. You've been the only woman in the C-suite. What advice do you have for women stepping into leadership in male-dominant spaces?

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Well, things have changed because it was kind of a long time ago. Things have changed since that time, and I see more and more women uh in executive positions in tech firms and stuff. But what helped me the most is I knew that I'm in a good company. I knew that like we had a very strong culture, and I knew those people have good intentions, and sometimes they were saying things they shouldn't be saying, kind of you can say biased, but but it's not because they're bad people, it's because the environment was like that at that time, and the environment is changing, but some people are catching up, some people are not, and they want to be good, they want to be supportive, but sometimes they're just showing it in a in a different way that you probably don't want them to do that. But be for me, it was helpful to be kind and accept that they have good intentions, um and I think it's helpful to look uh from the perspective that people have good intentions, they want to help you and support you. Sometimes they make mistakes. We all make mistakes, kind of be forgiving uh first, but not judgmental first. That was that that's what helped me.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I love that. So to every woman that's out there, you're leading in a male dominant space, kind, be forgiving and non judgmental. You know, I agree with that 1000%. So, how would you recommend for leaders to balance strategic vision with the realities of execution and Culture and people management. How can we how can top leaders balance all of this?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Well, that's a great question. And that's when again I talk about building strong teams. Because again, when it comes to execution, it comes to your team mostly. When it comes to strategic thinking, again, you can balance it, you can be strategic, but you can also be strategic with your team. So kind of sharing this responsibility with a team is becoming more and more important now because, again, the problems you're solving are so like so complex that no one can solve it on their own. So sharing it with your team, it multiplies the results uh like I don't know, 10 times. Um so how to do that? Well, I advise every team have a team charter. It's like a team constitution where you define roles, your team norms, and decision-making authority. So how you make decisions, what's like every team member's role on the team, uh, who's responsible for what, and and that creates some clarity. You know who's responsible for the execution of certain projects or uh processes, you know when to have strategic conversation, you know who's making decisions on what. And when you have clarity, there is like less friction and more uh more execution and more fulfilled and thriving at the workplace. Yeah, I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

I love that 1000%. Team that's watching, all of our leaders are here. We want to give you a best practice that you can focus on from what Daria is saying. Regularly connect strategy, culture, and execution in the same conversation, right? Don't make it seem like they're all separate things, but find a way to connect, weave, and flow so that the team sees that this is the foundation that we're all just operating on. Fantastic. So I'm gonna ask you this question: how can leaders design team rituals and meetings that actually energize people instead of draining them?

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Oh, that's meetings are huge, huge. If you can change something on your team to make it work better, change the way you hold your meetings. So we all know the rule: no agenda, no meeting. No one follows this rule. Why uh, I guess because it takes some time to think about it and prepare. But what's important is okay, uh, yes, agenda is very important, but it's not just about what do you want to talk about, but it's also what energy do you want people to bring to this conversation. And I've seen situations when you, for example, you've had a lot of conversations, you're like coming up with some solution or decision making, and you're at the stage, then okay, it's time to make a decision. And then someone says, Hey, how about this? And it moves conversation towards a separate direction. So sometimes you have a meeting for brainstorming and kind of ideation, and you need people who can do that, who can bring ideas without criticizing them. Sometimes you need to find the solution and make a decision, and you don't need people to brainstorm at that moment, but they don't know that unless you tell them so.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Sometimes you need to be like very, very critical and kind of audit everything is you're doing, and again, tell people what kind of energy they need to bring to this conversation so that if you focus on the right process and you can reach the right outcomes.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Fantastic. So everybody listening and watching, all of our leaders, I want to ask you. We want to ask you what team rituals and meetings, what team rituals do you have that allow your people to be energized instead of drains? Share with us right now in the chat. So as we turn the corner on this conversation here, I want to ask you this final question. For the aspiring executive that's listening or watching today, Daria, what is one mindset shift or best practice that this aspiring executive can adopt immediately to prepare for C-suite leadership? Come on, tell us, tell us.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Okay, well, as I mentioned before, I I truly believe that I believe that the the era of heroic leadership is gone. Now it's time for empowered teams. And I hear a lot of leaders asking me, okay, how should I have a team meeting? How how often do I should I have my one-to-ones? Uh, like how what's the best way to interact with my team? So, what I'm telling you, and what you can do now, today, tomorrow, this week, go to your team and tell and ask them, how do you want us to work together? What is the best practices you want us to to have as a team? And and and start with that. Start by asking them questions, how you want to work together? What's the great team looks like for you, all of you together as a team?

SPEAKER_01 27:47

I love that. I love that. 1000%. Very simple, very practical, very doable. All right. Well, Daria, listen, this has been an amazing conversation that I believe we just barely scratched the surface. I'm going to invite everybody right now. You need to go back and you need to watch this on the replay, take notes and share in the comment section what's resonating with you because we want to grow. And Daria, for those who want to engage with you to find out about your resources, your book, talk to us. What's the best ways to be able to tap into the resources that you have?

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Well, again, thanks for the conversation and questions. So the things I was talking about, the decision-making process, team rituals, team charter, and everything that you can do with your team. It's all here in this book clicking that's available on Amazon and like most uh book retailers. But obviously, you can reach out to me going to my website, daddyritten.com, where you can find downloadable materials for again assessing your team, making your team a brilliant, successful team, and reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm very open to connections.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Absolutely. You see the link here on the screen. It's also all of her links are also in the description box. You know, community, we like to support our guests. So I'm inviting everybody to go check out Daria, the resources that she has, buy the book. Also, contact her and let her know that you saw or that you heard this episode. Let her know what resonated with you. Daria, thank you so much for joining us. It has been wonderful to have you here on Transformation Station.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Well, thank you, Edwin. It was a great conversation. Uh, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Absolutely. Thank you. All right, well, listen, what an amazing and powerful conversation. Because this conversation reminded us that executive leadership is not just about authority, it's about awareness, responsibility, and restraint. And the lessons from the C-suite aren't only for those with the title, they're for any leader navigating complexity, influence, and high stakes. Now, I want to invite you to reflect on this episode and ask yourself this question: What leadership lesson am I currently being taught by the level of responsibility that I'm currently carrying right now? Ask yourself that question after you ask it. Ponder, reflect, and write your honest answer down so that you can continue to have the keys that you need to know what adjustments need to be made and so that you can move forward. Don't forget to subscribe to Transformation Station. Join us every Monday and Wednesday. And then don't be selfish. Please go ahead and share this goodness with another leader in your community. All right. Well, until next time, stay grounded, lead with alignment, and keep on transforming.