Maria was the CEO of a rapidly growing tech startup in the genomics space. She was curious, confident, open to new ideas, and comfortable being challenged by her team—all qualities that had helped her build the company from nothing into a 30-person organization with millions of dollars in venture capital funding and a consumer-facing product about to be released. And yet, even as things seemed to be going exceptionally well, key leaders were starting to leave—and the board brought me, a clinical psychologist-turned-entrepreneur-turned business coach, in to figure out why.

What you sometimes find in situations like these is a leader with a difficult personality—rigid, cold, and just plain unpleasant to work for. Not here. Maria was warm, engaging, and personable. Her team loved talking to her. They just didn’t love working for her. As it turned out, her confidence—a critical quality for an entrepreneur to possess when breaking new ground and coming up against scores of obstacles and critics insisting something couldn’t be done—was playing out in a way that was hurting the business.

“She’s curious until she isn’t,” one high-ranking team member told me. “Everyone else might still have more questions, but she shuts down the conversation and insists we move on. She’s open to discussion right up until the point when she feels like she’s........

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