It is a privilege to be invited alongside someone’s leadership journey. Few articulate that privilege as beautifully as Dr. Zineb Birrou, a university professor, leadership and communications coach, and perpetual student based in Rabat, Morocco. Zineb brings a grounded presence and lived wisdom to her coaching. Her approach reframes alignment and authenticity not as business book buzzwords, but as the integration of mind, heart, and body – the three “data centers” leaders must learn to read.
In this conversation, Zineb shares how trust is built, why leaders must remain constant students, and what it means to listen beneath the surface of our own stories.
SNP: You recognized the privilege of coaching during your SNP onboarding. Tell us about that.
Zineb: The final piece of onboarding is to coach senior SNP leaders. It was nerve-wracking and stressful. But then, after one of the sessions, I had this moment of clarity and the lens shifted: this is such a privilege.
To hold space for someone – to be trusted with their challenges, their emotions, their stories – that’s not something I take lightly. Trust in human relationships often takes a long time to build. But in coaching, something magical can happen, even in a single session.
That’s the privilege: being invited into someone else’s world, to be trusted with their challenges and accomplishments, even briefly and often quickly. To be able to move someone from a very cognitive, goal-oriented objective and find the root of the problem. That’s a profound shift that someone trusts us to facilitate.
SNP: You work with inherently data-driven leaders – whether engineering or finance or marketing – and in coaching, you introduce what may be a new data set for them…
Zineb: Yes, and I often ask leaders to imagine they are researchers. Every emotion, every reaction, every tension in the body is data. You may not enjoy what the data is telling you – it can be uncomfortable! – but it’s rich and meaningful.
And sometimes the “should self” gets mixed in: the expectations, the cultural conditioning, the voices that are not truly ours. Learning to differentiate the true self from the should self is ongoing work. It requires reflection, honesty, and often someone who can mirror back what they’re hearing—like a partner, friend, or coach.
SNP: If everything is data from which a leader can make decisions, where is the data coming from? Or: where are the data centers?
Zineb: Data centers! I like that. There are three: mind, heart, body. It’s a very concrete definition of alignment and authenticity. Each one gives us signals. Each one carries its own truth. When they are working together, that is alignment.
When only one of them leads—often the mind—we lose connection to the others. Authenticity is when the three are listening to each other, informing each other, and helping us respond to the world from our whole self.
SNP: You also spoke about being a constant student. How does that shape your approach to coaching?
Zineb: Coaches are students of life first. If I want someone to reflect deeply, I must also reflect deeply. If I invite someone to listen to their discomfort rather than run from it, I must practice the same.
When something feels difficult, I try not to rush into problem-solving. Instead, I let the experience be what it is, and when the moment is right, I ask myself: “What is the lesson here? What am I meant to learn for the next chapter?” Again, back to that idea of privilege, it’s a privilege to be able to grow and learn and write a next chapter. The true student does so intentionally.
SNP: You described your current chapter with two words: “surrender” and “nesting.” What do those mean for you now?
Zineb: I’m in a very special moment in my life. I’m pregnant, and it has brought me both grounding and profound humility.
So much is outside my control. And that is teaching me how to trust the process, how to have faith in something bigger than what I can manage with my mind alone. Back to that alignment, I have to listen to all of the data: mind, heart, and body. There is a peace in that surrender. A sense of nesting not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.
Zineb brings a rare clarity to modern leadership: trust is not earned through time alone, alignment is not an intellectual exercise, and listening is an archaeological dig into our own data centers.
Her coaching reminds leaders that authenticity is not built, it’s uncovered. We’re honored to have Zineb as part of the SNP faculty, and appreciate the lived wisdom she embodies and shares.
Click here to learn more about coaching with SNP Communications.
