Navigating Power Imbalances with Kate Mason Ph.D., Author of Powerfully Likeable | Live Greatly Podcast with Kristel Bauer
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In this episode of the Live Greatly podcast, hosted by Kristel Bauer, Kristel sits down with Kate Mason, Ph.D., former world champion debater and author of Powerfully Likeable: A Woman’s Guide to Effective Communication, to explore how to show up with confidence, warmth, and influence—especially when you’re navigating power dynamics at work.
You’ll learn why “powerful” and “likable” are not opposites, how to build trust with senior stakeholders without becoming overly deferential, and how small language shifts can change the way others perceive your credibility. Kate also introduces the concept of “imposing syndrome”—a pattern that can quietly undermine your authority—and offers practical ways to communicate with clarity while staying true to your style.
Who this episode is for
Leaders, managers, and emerging leaders who want to strengthen executive presence without feeling inauthentic
Professionals navigating hierarchy, stakeholder management, and power imbalances
Women who feel pressure to choose between being respected and being liked
Anyone who wants to communicate with more impact, influence, and trust
Topics covered
The “two doors” myth: why you don’t have to choose between authority and approachability
How to build trust in high-stakes conversations (without over-explaining)
Practical ways to navigate power imbalances with senior leaders
“Imposing syndrome” vs. imposter syndrome—and why minimizing language costs you credibility
A smarter reframe for “confidence” and “executive presence”
Over-preparing and burnout: finding a sustainable preparation sweet spot
About the Host
Kristel Bauer is a corporate wellness and performance expert, keynote speaker, and TEDx speaker who delivers engaging, science-backed keynotes that drive measurable results for organizations. With a rare combination of clinical medical training and real-world business expertise, Kristel helps leaders and teams improve performance, resilience, well-being, and workplace culture—without burnout.
As an Integrative Medicine Fellow and Physician Assistant with clinical experience in Integrative Psychiatry, Kristel brings medical credibility and evidence-based insight to the stage. She translates cutting-edge research on mindset, behavior change, and peak performance into practical, actionable strategies audiences can immediately apply. Her high-energy keynotes are tailored to support leadership development, team engagement, productivity, and sustainable success—while inspiring audiences to “Live Greatly.”
Kristel is the award-winning author of Work-Life Tango: Finding Happiness, Harmony, and Peak Performance Wherever You Work (John Murray Business, November 19, 2024) and the creator and host of the globally ranked self-improvement podcast Live Greatly. She is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur, was named a Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer, and was recognized as a 2026 Top Impact Speaker by Real Leaders—highlighting her influence at the intersection of leadership, well-being, and business performance.
Kristel’s prior clients include AbbVie, BP, Cognizant Technology, General Mills, Home Depot, Santander Bank, among many more. She has appeared on major media outlets including NBC News Daily, ABC News Live, FOX Weather, ABC 7 Chicago, and WGN Daytime Chicago. Based in the Chicago area and available for engagements worldwide, Kristel Bauer is an ideal keynote speaker for conferences, events and leadership summits seeking a dynamic, medically credible voice on peak performance, happiness, well-being, and leadership in today’s workplace.
Learn more at: https://www.livegreatly.co
Edited Transcript
This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability.
Navigating Power Imbalances with Kate Mason, Ph.D. (Author of Powerfully Likeable)
Live Greatly Podcast — Hosted by Kristel Bauer
Kristel Bauer: It’s time to awaken to your ultimate potential. So you can be powerful and likable together. It’s not this one-way choice that can feel really constricting for a lot of people.
I’m incredibly excited to have Dr. Kate Mason here today. She’s a PhD, former world champion debater, and she’s the author of her upcoming book, Powerfully Likeable: A Woman’s Guide to Effective Communication.
So Kate and I are going to be talking about ways to increase your approachability, tips to build trust, some suggestions to navigate power imbalances, a look into something called imposing syndrome, and lots more. I am so incredibly excited about this episode. Let’s jump into it and welcome Dr. Kate to the show.
Kate, so excited to have you here all the way from Australia. Thank you so much for taking some time with me today.
Kate Mason: Oh, it’s such a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, Kristel.
Kristel Bauer: It is my absolute pleasure. And I am really, really excited to dive into this topic. And I’m so fascinated by this concept. We’re going to be talking about your book, Powerfully Likeable, and can’t wait to dive in.
But for those who are not familiar with your background, Kate, can you give us a look into the backstory and then ultimately what led you down the path to write this book?
Kate Mason: Oh, absolutely. So my background—I spent a long time in corporate communications in-house at big tech companies. But my kind of nerd origin story, if you like, was that I was a world champion debater.
So yeah, I’ve always been particularly interested in the way we show up physically, the way we compose and present material, and how to connect with an audience. That’s always been something that I’ve been fascinated by, and at times kind of bewitched by, right? Like it seems magic when it happens. But sometimes we don’t know how to replicate that again.
So the book today—I’m actually a communications coach with execs. So I work at big companies, helping people communicate with more impact, more influence. And the book has really come out of that, is like, “Here’s the playbook. Here’s what I teach them, and here’s the best way you can do it if that’s interesting to you too.”
Kristel Bauer: Oh, I love that. Now something that you talk about in the book is how do you mesh being warm—being, I guess, likable—with also being perceived as powerful. And I would love to start talking a little bit about that.
Is that something that you’ve seen as a big problem for a lot of individuals? Are you seeing this more in women than men or both?
Kate Mason: For sure. It’s more of an issue in women, although I think men grapple with it as well. The book looks at it from a particularly female lens, because I think the tightropes we walk are particular and I wanted to give them appropriate time.
I think you can think about it, Kristel, like there are two doors, right? We think I’ve got two options only. I can be the powerful Miranda Priestly-like, you know, boss—no friends, lots of authority—or I can be the likable, deferential, people-pleasing person who has fewer boundaries and lots of friends. And we think these must be the only two options, right?
And what I really wanted to do in the book is say, oftentimes it’s by bringing maybe dissonant sounding or different qualities together that we can find a really great mode of leadership for ourselves. So you can be powerful and likable together. It’s not this one-way choice that can feel really constricting for a lot of people.
Kristel Bauer: 100%. Now, when you’re talking with your clients or you’re coaching and you’re giving people insight into how to do this, where do you start with people?
Kate Mason: Everyone is so, so different. And I think that’s one of the things I hold very close in my philosophy is that there is not a cookie cutter listicle, right?
What I do start with everybody is a bit of an audit, right? When do you personally feel like your power is up high, right? When do you feel like, ooh, that went really well, right? I felt some tingles of success, of feeling good in myself. And similarly, when did you feel the opposite? When did you feel like my power was low?
And I really help people interrogate where and what were the conditions those things were happening. Were you prepared, were you underprepared, were you on stage, were you behind the scenes? It’s so different for all of us.
And that’s the starting point. That’s where we say, okay, how do we craft more opportunities for you to be in the powerful or good zone for yourself? And how do we work out some tools to help mitigate the times where you’re not feeling [that way]?
Kristel Bauer: Now, if you’re talking to someone about approachability—people that want others to feel comfortable—do you have any suggestions?
Kate Mason: One is not expecting something from someone else. That’s the part of communication we can’t control, right? How that person shows up, whether they’re angry, tired, hungover, you know, got something going on. That’s all outside of our control.
And so one of the things I say is just getting comfortable with someone showing up in a really different way. And maybe not expecting there to be small talk or smiles or, you know, positive affirmation can be part of it.
That being said, I talk through a lot of different tools where you’re able to maybe more set the conditions that they might show up in the most connected way. So I talk a lot about trust building. How do we build trust such that someone will come to the table a little bit more?
And this is particularly interesting…when you might feel a power imbalance with someone…one of the ways to demonstrate trust or connection with them is to not be as deferential as you may feel, right? …Actually think of them as a peer. They’re just human and they want to be reassured and they want to know the work is in safe hands.
So if you go in and you’re like, “Oh, well, it could be A or it could be B, but maybe also C, what do you think?” …But if you go in and say, “My strong recommendation is A, here’s why—I’d love to hear what you think.” Right? Straight away, they’re like, “Oh, thank goodness. Someone’s here who’s…safe hands carrying this.”
Kristel Bauer: So you’re helping them see you more as capable. On that note, are there certain things you regularly see that someone is doing that can take away from showing up in that powerful way?
Kate Mason: A category of them that I talk about a lot, I call not imposter syndrome, but imposing syndrome. It’s the idea that when we go to make an ask…we feel this great sense of imposition, like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want to make a fuss. I don’t want to be difficult. I don’t want to be burdensome.”
So we do things like we minimize, we say, “This will only take two secs,” or “Can I just pop by your desk?” …Teeny tiny. Don’t mind me. I’m not even here. And what that says to somebody else is, “Oh, that idea mustn’t be important.”
Oftentimes it’s about saying, “Hey, Kristel, I’d love to talk to you about this thing. I’ve put some time in for us next week. Let me know if it works for you.” Right? Suddenly you’re asking the same thing, but instead of like, “Can I grab two seconds?” it automatically sounds more legitimate.
Kristel Bauer: …It’s a big mindset shift around that…
Kate Mason: …The standard to which we hold ourselves, I think, is like more than perfect, right? “I won’t do it until I’m more than perfect.” …What if I’m 80% great? That’s still an excellent meeting, right?
Kristel Bauer: …On the flip side, what thoughts, suggestions would you have for someone who wants to be, let’s say more likable…?
Kate Mason: …One of the ways is if you are naturally more transactional…you may be…more efficient…action mode…I certainly don’t think you need to change that…But one of the ways that you could defang that fear…is to kind of call it out and say, “Guys, I am a straight shooter…sometimes I’m going to be abrupt”…And that’s just my style…
…Sometimes just calling it out…I would say, “Look, I’m Australian. We call a spade a spade, like bear with me.” …And then everyone was like, “Oh yeah, she’s Australian. That’s how she works.”
Kristel Bauer: …It clears the air…
Kate Mason: …One of the things that I kind of find myself coming back to…is this idea of confidence or executive presence…when you say to somebody, “You need to work on your confidence,” to me, it’s a supremely unhelpful thing to say…
So for my money, I’m like, please forget when anyone tells you to be confident…because what it does is in the moment makes you actually less connected in that conversation…
And the best thing you can do is think, “How can I be useful? How can I be my most useful? Am I most connected with this person?” …That’s the best way, ironically, to demonstrate confidence…
So kill your confidence, forget about that. And you’ll actually find where your real power or energy is coming from.
Kristel Bauer: Wow…We can overthink things so much…
Kate Mason: …The other one is preparation…most women I work with…over-prepare to the point of unsustainability…Think about holding a lighter preparation framework…Where is the line for myself? And can I be a little more flexible on that?
Kristel Bauer: …For my keynote talks…I found what I now feel like this is the right amount, but it took me a while…
Kate Mason: …It will take time…it’s not something you’re going to know immediately…
Kristel Bauer: Final question…knowing what you know now, what advice, if any, would you have given to yourself from 10 years ago?
Kate Mason: …I think I probably would have said, just keep…keep on going. Keep doing what you’re doing…a lot of the best things I’ve learned have been through mistakes…through trying and having to experiment and reposition…that’s painful for sure, but also I wouldn’t take back any of those learnings…
Kristel Bauer: …Thank you so much for taking time with me today…
Kate Mason: Thanks so much for having me, Kristel. This was a blast.
Kristel Bauer: Thank you so much for spending time with me today…If you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate you leaving a review about what you loved about this episode. Leaving reviews helps the show gain visibility…Thank you so much for your support, and until next time, this is Kristel Bauer with Live Greatly, inspiring you to awaken your ultimate potential.
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