How to Challenge Your Boss Without It Feeling Like a Challenge | Nita Patel, VP at Otis
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Release Date: 09/04/2026
Your Odds Change The Moment You Take Action| Sanjay Manandhar
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Most of us check the odds before we try something big. MIT-trained engineer and serial founder Sanjay Manandhar, author of The Why Not Advantage, says that’s the wrong number to look at. A statistic describes the crowd, not you. At 16, Sanjay applied to US schools from Kathmandu. He needed a full scholarship and airfare, and his friends asked if he was nuts. In this conversation, he shares the formula he uses to rewrite his odds, what a Nobel Prize winner’s 40 years of persistence teaches about timing, and why your odds change the moment you take action. In this episode, you’ll learn: ...
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How to Influence Senior Leaders When You Disagree
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
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Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Being kind at work is easy when things are going well. Smiling, saying thank you, listening, remembering birthdays. The real test is what you do when there is a problem, a conflict, or a disagreement. This episode is a self-assessment. Twelve everyday workplace moments that look polite on the surface and cost someone else something real. Escalating to a manager before ever telling the colleague what the problem is. Staying silent in a meeting, then criticizing the decision privately afterward. Calling someone disrespectful instead of naming the behavior. Saying yes when you mean no. Redoing a...
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How to Challenge Your Boss Without It Feeling Like a Challenge | Nita Patel, VP at Otis
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Most people who challenge a superior's decision get it wrong. They oppose. Nita Patel, VP of Engineering at Otis, says the people who have changed her mind did something else: they stayed curious. They asked what happens after step two. They wanted to understand rather than object. By the end of the conversation she is the one asking them what they think, without realizing she was challenged at all. That works because of the larger skill underneath it. Nita calls herself a translator, estimating 30 to 40% of her time goes to it: working out why a meeting matters, what the goal is, and which...
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She Submitted a Conference Paper in Portuguese. She Didn't Speak Portuguese. She Had Three Months to Learn. Software CEO Katherine on Persistence, Pivots, and Never Giving Up
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Two Ways to Fail: Give Up or Die." How Sigma Software CEO Katherine Built a Foreign Office, Completed a Half Ironman, and Learned to Lead on One Rule "There are only two ways to fail: give up or die. And neither is a reasonable option." That is the saying Katherine's team uses to remind themselves who they are. She means it literally. When she was trying to open Sigma Software Group's first Latin American office, she tried recruiting agencies, acquisition targets, universities, and different countries for an entire year. Nothing worked. Then in a brainstorming session, someone mentioned...
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They Called Her a Trouble Candidate for Asking for Equal Work. She Won the Company Award That Quarter. Aditi on Speaking Up Without Apology
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
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She Spent Five Weeks Getting Stonewalled Before Landing One Lunch. By the Time the Hiring Manager Called, Three People Had Already Been Talking About Her. Equifax SVP D'Lovely on Networking That Produces Results
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She Stopped Leading With Her Title and Started Saying "I'm a Technology and Business Diplomat." People Immediately Wanted to Know More. Equifax SVP D'Lovely on Networking, Personal Boards, and Career Infrastructure She was laid off twice. Both times, by the time the hiring manager called her, three or four people at the company had already been talking about her. Not because she got lucky. Because she had spent months having breakfasts, following up on cold contacts, asking questions instead of pitching, and making it easy for people to pass her name along. One of those contacts had been on...
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She Names the Three People Who Changed Her Career and Exactly What Each One Gave Her. Director and Venture Partner Nancy on Building Your Personal Board of Directors
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She credits three people with transforming her career trajectory at AWS and beyond. Tatiana got her into AWS. Wayne sponsored her advancement within it. Dan helped her break into venture capital as a partner at Felicis Ventures. She did not stumble into these relationships. She built them intentionally, maintained them with discipline, and gave back at every stage — even when what she could give seemed small compared to what she was receiving. Nancy was Director and General Manager at AWS Data Protection when this episode was recorded. She has since been promoted to CTO. She is also the...
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A Junior Employee Publicly Questioned Whether She Was Being Overpaid. She Stood Up and Said: "I Believe I Am Appropriately Compensated." Dr. Monique, CIO at Cal State Chico, on Advocacy, Bias, and Leading With Confidence
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She came to the United States from Cameroon almost 30 years ago with a master's degree in education, almost no exposure to computers, and a goal to pursue a doctorate. Her two sisters, both already in IT careers, redirected her. She thought she could never succeed in the field. She became an IT help desk worker. Then a network administrator. Then an IT manager. Then a director. Then a CIO. Then a COO in Spain. Then a Chief Technology and Innovation Officer. Then a Vice President and CIO at a California State University. Her PhD — the original goal from 1995 — she completed in 2019....
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Before Accepting the Offer, She Asked to Meet Her Manager's Manager. It Could Have Cost Her the Role. Coverys CITO Saadia on Courage, Bias, and Bold Career Moves
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Her Peer Kept Misattributing Statements to Her Team. She Let It Slide Once. The Second Time She Confronted Her Directly. She had a verbal offer within four days. They were eager. Before she accepted, she called HR and said: "Before I accept, I want to speak with my manager's manager." That request could have cost her the role entirely. She had already weighed it: if they say no, that tells me everything I need to know about this culture. If they say yes, I make a more informed decision. Within 24 hours, the executive cleared his calendar during a conference lunch and took a 30-minute call. He...
info_outlineMost people who challenge a superior's decision get it wrong. They oppose. Nita Patel, VP of Engineering at Otis, says the people who have changed her mind did something else: they stayed curious. They asked what happens after step two. They wanted to understand rather than object. By the end of the conversation she is the one asking them what they think, without realizing she was challenged at all.
That works because of the larger skill underneath it. Nita calls herself a translator, estimating 30 to 40% of her time goes to it: working out why a meeting matters, what the goal is, and which pieces of information will get someone there. The translation changes depending on whom you're speaking to. What she presents to a CEO is different from what she presents to the team building it or to a cross-functional peer.
She splits translation in two. Translating an idea to stakeholders means finding the intent and explaining it separately to each group that has to buy-in. Translating an idea into action means breaking the problem down and moving forward before the full plan is in place. She used both to launch the first IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference, arguing that sometimes you take the leap and build the wings on the way down.
She also names the Toastmasters feedback that changed her most: that she assumes too much and jumps straight to the answer. And she explains why technical leaders labeled direct or difficult are usually being read as too focused on the detail.
If you have ever had a good idea die on the way up, this episode is about the trip.
00:00 Meet Nita Patel, VP of Engineering at Otis
01:17 What Chess Teaches About Anticipating the Other Side
02:11 Know the Rules So the Unexpected Move Does Not Derail You
02:58 How to Make a Fair Call When the Rulebook Runs Out
03:56 Where Confidence Comes From in a Gray-Area Decision
04:35 Rules, Experience, Fallbacks: The Three Sources of Confidence
06:15 When Following the Process Costs You the Objective
07:30 Why the Analytically Best Move Is Not Always the Right One
09:02 How to Translate an Idea So Each Stakeholder Cares
10:25 Breaking a Big Idea Down So Others Can Act on It
10:47 Pitch Before It Is Perfect: Build the Wings on the Way Down
13:09 Hold the Why, Stay Flexible on the How
14:03 How to Challenge Your Boss Without It Feeling Like a Challenge
16:39 The Questions That Actually Change a Leader's Mind
19:39 Why "Too Direct" Usually Means "Too Detailed"
22:13 Find the Real Problem Before You Solve the Wrong One
25:56 The Feedback That Changed How She Briefs Executives
30:57 Why 30 to 40% of a VP's Week Goes to Translation
32:13 Nita's Closing Advice: Everyone Has Influence to Use