The Power of trust: Leen Kawas on Cultivating Trust in Uncertain Times — Galore

In today’s sophisticated business landscape, organizations are increasingly prioritizing authenticity and transparency. Talented female leaders often embody these positive attributes. Biotechnology expert Leen Kawas explains how female leaders can integrate these values into a trust-focused work culture, especially during uncertain times.

Leen Kawas’ Authenticity and Transparency Focus

Biotechnology leader Leen Kawas is Propel Bio Partners’ Managing General Partner . This Los Angeles venture capital business supports start-up and early-stage biotechs requiring financial, operations, and technical assistance. Leen Kawas encourages female and minority candidates while accepting pitches from all founders.

Before her current role, Leen Kawas served as Athira’s Chief Executive Officer (or CEO). While there, she managed multiple drug development cycles. Leen Kawas also directed the issuance of Athira’s initial public offering (or IPO) in September 2020. In both leadership roles, she prioritized authenticity and transparency.

How Business Uncertainty Can Impact Companies

Business owners routinely manage varied functions that collectively facilitate their company’s continued operations. These versatile entrepreneurs also engage with multiple internal and external partners. Every entrepreneur seeks to make decisions based on detailed knowledge of relevant variables.

However, the fluid business landscape brings uncertainty on several fronts. Economic and/or market conditions can affect demand for a company’s products. Technological advancements could make the business’ existing offerings obsolete.

Supply chain problems can disrupt the flow of materials needed to fabricate the company’s products. In certain industries, businesses might find it difficult to comply with new government regulations.

5 Impacts of Business Uncertainty

Business uncertainty can disrupt a company’s operations in one or more ways. Leen Kawas details five impacts that can affect businesses in any industry.

Delayed Decision Process

When leaders lack all relevant information, they may postpone a decision until they have a clearer grasp of the situation. Unfortunately, opportunities may slip through their fingers in the meantime.

Lower Profit Margins

If companies lack relevant operations data, they may find it harder to forecast product demand. Expense management may also be more difficult. Together, these developments can contribute to lower company profit margins.

Reduced Customer Loyalty

Business-savvy customers may sense that the company is uncertain about its competitive position. This messaging can lead to reduced customer loyalty, potentially translating into decreased revenues.

Decreased Capital Investment

Companies facing uncertainty often minimize expenses to maximize cash on hand. Therefore, the business will likely decrease its capital expenditures plus research and development initiatives.

Fluctuating Stock Price

Business uncertainty can often cause market conditions to fluctuate. In turn, the company’s stock price can see substantial swings. This can cause investor concern and impact the business’ ability to obtain capital.

Female Leaders Can Thrive During Uncertainty

Navigating business uncertainty while pursuing growth is a significant challenge. Fortunately, female leaders are ideally equipped with the attributes to excel on both fronts. Here, Leen Kawas highlights five ways women are reshaping the leadership paradigm.

Enhanced Self-Awareness

A female leader realizes that acknowledging her own strengths, weaknesses, and other attributes must come first. Once she accomplishes that, she can better understand her team members’ needs.

High Emotional Intelligence

Female leaders frequently possess high emotional intelligence. They understand and value others’ feelings and often recognize non-verbal cues. By empathizing with their team members, the female leader cultivates a supportive workplace where all women can thrive.

Clear, Effective Communication

Women often prioritize honest, straightforward communication. Focusing on team empowerment, female leaders encourage feedback and respond positively to team members’ comments. This helps motivate team members to work toward company goals while prioritizing professional growth.

Emphasis on Collaboration

Many female leaders encourage a collaborative workplace ─ not a highly competitive environment. A collaborative approach promotes innovation and facilitates easier problem solutions. Women also gravitate to networking, creating cooperative groups designed to benefit everyone involved.

Contagious Personal Resilience

Female leaders often have an uncanny capacity for resilience. These women have likely navigated daunting professional and personal challenges. They often consider setbacks minor inconveniences rather than huge show-stopping events. These leaders help inspire their team members to keep moving forward.

The Importance of Cultivating Team Members’ Trust

Leen Kawas says companies that focus on cultivating team members’ trust reap multiple benefits. First, the business’ employees demonstrate enhanced dedication to the firm’s vision, mission, and goals. This translates into increased employee engagement, higher productivity, and (frequently) a better bottom line.

Equally importantly, employees in trust-focused organizations feel comfortable expressing their opinions and taking risks. More effective communication and collaboration promote innovation and optimal outcomes. These team members also tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and may enjoy an improved work-life balance.

Building Trust: 2 Key Components

Female leaders seeking to cultivate team members’ trust should integrate authenticity and transparency into their efforts. Leen Kawas explains each component’s role in cultivating a trust-based work culture.

Authentic Leadership

Authentic leadership is far removed from a top-down leadership style. This traditional leadership structure integrates formal management directives with expected employee compliance. Some company leaders may demonstrate limited regard for employees’ well-being.

Authentic leaders believe the company’s success depends on its employees’ personal and professional well-being. Toward that end, an authentic leader helps cultivate a positive workplace culture. Finally, the authentic leader integrates their professional and personal attributes into a single persona. They maintain their core values while adapting to the changing business landscape.

A Conundrum Brings a Breakthrough

Women in leadership roles may believe their real-life persona doesn’t mirror their “professional leader” role. This can understandably cause the female leader to think she is being inauthentic in the workplace. To resolve this issue, the leader should rely on her core values. These internal guidelines inform her leadership strategies and help her maintain her authenticity.

Next, Leen Kawas says the leader should share these values and motivations with team members. This helps them better understand the leader and promotes increased trust. By “clearing the air,” the female leader can help improve team morale, promote productive collaborations, and facilitate creative problem-solving and innovation.

Leader Transparency

Leaders in every industry rely on company employees to accomplish predetermined objectives. Transparent female leaders provide team members with relevant information about key goals and decision determinants. Together, this information helps encourage team members’ trust in the leader and the organization.

Leen Kawas notes that female leaders with a strong moral and ethical compass can help inspire team members’ trust and confidence. These leaders should also ensure that they fulfill pre-made commitments to the company and their team.

Authentic, Transparent Leadership is Key

Despite the challenges surrounding uncertainty, talented female leaders can guide their team members toward goal accomplishment and professional growth. Leen Kawas emphasizes that authentic, transparent leadership can help inspire team members’ trust and help facilitate enduring success.

Originally published at https://galoremag.com on January 7, 2025.