Leading through discomfort
Learn more about the Master of Arts in Leadership.
Rishi Sharma isn’t afraid of uncomfortable conversations. He doesn’t think you should be either.
“There is a hesitancy to talk about what you don’t know,” says Sharma, Master of Arts in Leadership '24. “How are we going to learn from each other if we can’t have uncomfortable conversations?”
For Sharma, that started with himself. With more than two decades of experience working with the Government of BC, he was no stranger to leadership roles, but he wanted an academic grounding in his work.
At Royal Roads, his research focused on his own experience with hard conversations. Using what he was learning in the program, he treated those moments as a self-awareness exercise and opportunity to analyze how his own biases, reactions, and behaviours shaped the outcomes of his work.
“First-person research is so valuable because how can we help others if we haven’t done our own research on ourselves?” he says of the work that informed his thesis, A Paradigm Shift To Utilizing Uncomfortable Conversations.
“It helped build my skills and competencies in using uncomfortable conversations to build relationships. It has touched every aspect of my life – professional and personal,” he says. “The moment I finished the program, I knew I would go back to my job in bureaucracy but try to explore opportunities linked to my master’s education and my thesis research to move forward.”
What began as personal research became practical improvements to his leadership style.
And thanks to the MA Leadership experience, the opportunities to share what he learned started to come.
Learning to lead
As Royal Roads University marks the 30th anniversary of its Master of Arts in Leadership program, alumni like Sharma demonstrate how its approach to systems thinking and self-reflection translates into real-world impact.
As the program explored different leadership styles, Sharma saw himself in the descriptions of servant leadership – a style he was once criticized for now seen as a valuable approach to teambuilding and learning.
“It’s listening and allowing others who might be in the hierarchical chain below you to actually lead; to take their ideas and really trust what they are saying,” he says.
Being open to asking questions and admitting what you don’t know yet can make conversations more comfortable. For Sharma, helping create the space for people to do that is all part of solving whatever problem is on the table.
Leaning into discomfort
He has applied his willingness to have uncomfortable conversations in all areas of his life.
Since graduating, he has taken on the role of Director, Corporate Initiatives & Stakeholder Relations with the Government of BC. He also joined the District of Saanich's Accessibility and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and is provincial co-chair with a federal representative of the Canadian Armed Forces Seamless Canada’s subcommittee on spousal employment, which helps Canadian Armed Forces members and their families during relocations.
Opportunities to share his learnings include teaching a workshop through BC Social Care Training and a course through Continuing Education at the University of Victoria. Inspired by his family, he recently co-hosted a self-defence and communication class for his community.
“I started the program not knowing where it was going to take me,” he says. “I didn’t know how great it was going to be. It was life changing.”
Learn more about the Master of Arts in Leadership.