Expand Your Leadership Capacity: Understanding Reactive Tendencies with Farah Hussain
As a founder, how you lead under pressure can make or break your team’s performance. In this interactive session, Farah Hussain — former PayPal operator and now a certified executive coach to founders and their teams — will explore how fear and anxiety can unconsciously drive reactive leadership behaviors that derail progress and damage relationships.
Drawing on her experience at PayPal through its IPO and coaching founders from pre-seed through Series D, Farah will unpack what reactive tendencies are, how to recognize them in yourself and your team, and why addressing them is critical for building resilient, high-performing organizations.
You’ll walk away with practical frameworks and tools to help you shift from reactive to creative leadership — leading from purpose, not pressure — and creating the conditions for trust, clarity, and sustainable growth within your startup.
This event is hosted by the fnWomen's Leadership Committee, whose mission is to empower and elevate women entrepreneurs. Together, we're building a community rooted in support, collaboration, and shared success.
Facilitated by:
Amy T. Wister, Chair of the fnWomen's Leadership Committee
Heather Rhyker, fnAustin Chapter Membership Chair
About the Speaker:
Farah Hussain was a former fintech operator and current certified executive coach to founders and their teams. Farah was at PayPal through its IPO, and grew the business globally through its Consumer, SMB, Enterprise, and Channel Partner audiences. She's coached early and growth stage start-ups spanning pre-seed through Series D, guiding executives to expand their leadership capacity to include competencies that span the people and the systems parts of building great businesses. She's been featured in Forbes, has spoken at Money 20/20 and Startup Boston Week, and has given talks at other communities and accelerators. She has three prominent coaching certifications and additional training in positive intelligence and organization and relationship-systems coaching.
Guests Are Welcome!
Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.
All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.
Confidentiality Policy:
All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.