Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavalito.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five ninety five. This episode is going to
Speaker 2: flip you out. Your brain is lying to you, not occasionally,
Speaker 2: not on bad days, regularly, and if you're a leader,
Speaker 2: that lie shows up in your decisions, your reactions, your confidence,
Speaker 2: and the stories you tell yourself about your team. Here's
Speaker 2: the problem. The brain is not built to tell the truth.
Speaker 2: It's built to keep you comfortable and alive. That distinction
Speaker 2: matters more than most leaders realize. Your brain it's reality.
Speaker 2: It fills in gaps, It protects your ego. It avoids discomfort.
Speaker 2: It rewrites events so you feel right instead of accurate.
Speaker 2: That might help you survive, but it can quietly wreck
Speaker 2: your leadership. Think about the last time you were frustrated
Speaker 2: with someone at work. Your brain probably gave you a
Speaker 2: clean story. They do not care. They are lazy, they're difficult,
Speaker 2: they're out to get me. Those stories feel solid, they
Speaker 2: feel logical, they feel obvious. They are also usually incomplete.
Speaker 2: The brain hates uncertainty when it does not have full information,
Speaker 2: It invents clarity. That invention feels like truth, but it
Speaker 2: is often assumption dressed up as confidence. And here's where
Speaker 2: leaders get into trouble with this. We make decisions based
Speaker 2: on the story, not the facts. We respond emotionally to
Speaker 2: a narrative that feels real, not evidence that is verified.
Speaker 2: We label people instead of investigating situations. Your brain will
Speaker 2: always choose the story that makes you feel safest, smartest,
Speaker 2: or justified. That is the lie. Another favorite lie your
Speaker 2: brain tells leaders is this one. If something feels uncomfortable,
Speaker 2: it must be wrong, and that is dangerous. Growth feels uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Hard conversations feel uncomfortable. Admitting you miss something feels uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Owning a bad call feels uncomfortable. So the brain whispers
Speaker 2: a shortcut, avoid it, delay it, rationalize it. Leaders who
Speaker 2: listen to that voice become excellent explainers in poor owners.
Speaker 2: They explain why it happened. They explain why now is
Speaker 2: not the right time. They explain why someone else shares
Speaker 2: the blame. Meanwhile, trust quietly leaks out of the room,
Speaker 2: and there's another lie. Leaders fall for all the time.
Speaker 2: If I feel confident, I must be correct. Confidence is emotional,
Speaker 2: not factual. Some of the worst leadership decisions are made
Speaker 2: at peak confidence, when the brain has silenced doubt and curiosity,
Speaker 2: when leaders stop asking questions because the answer feels obvious.
Speaker 2: This is why smart leaders still make dumb mistakes. The
Speaker 2: brain rewards certainty, not accuracy. So here's the shift. Great
Speaker 2: leaders learn to pause long enough to question their own thinking.
Speaker 2: They slow down before reacting. They ask what might I
Speaker 2: be missing? They ask what evidence do I actually have?
Speaker 2: They ask am I responding to facts or feelings? That
Speaker 2: pause is a leadership skill. It takes discipline to challenge
Speaker 2: your own narrative, especially when emotions are high, especially when
Speaker 2: you're tired, especially when you are under pressure. But that
Speaker 2: pause is where better decisions live. Your brain will also
Speaker 2: lie to you about time. It will tell you that
Speaker 2: you do not have time to deal with this today.
Speaker 2: It will tell you that this can wait until next week.
Speaker 2: It will tell you that one small issue is not
Speaker 2: worth addressing. That lie creates leadership debt. Small issues ignored
Speaker 2: do not stay. Small. Unclear expectations multiply. Minor frustrations harden
Speaker 2: into resentment later leaders act shocked when a situation explodes
Speaker 2: that was quietly growing for months. Your brain prefers term
Speaker 2: comfort over long term clarity. Leadership requires the opposite. So
Speaker 2: let me give you something practical here. The next time
Speaker 2: you feel a strong reaction as a leader frustration, confidence, certainty, irritation,
Speaker 2: do not act immediately. Do this instead, name the feeling,
Speaker 2: Name the story your brain is telling. Ask what facts
Speaker 2: you can verify right now. That simple reset interrupts the lie.
Speaker 2: You're not trying to silence your brain. You're trying to
Speaker 2: lead it. And this is where red key moments show up,
Speaker 2: high consequence situations where your internal story will drive external outcomes.
Speaker 2: Leaders who recognize those moments and slow themselves down create trust, stability,
Speaker 2: and credibility. Leaders who do not end up chasing problems
Speaker 2: they help create. Your brain is a powerful tool. It
Speaker 2: is also a biased narrator. The best leaders know this.
Speaker 2: They build habits that challenge their own thinking. They invite feedback.
Speaker 2: They stay curious longer than their ego wants them to.
Speaker 2: Leadership is not about being right, It is about being responsible.
Speaker 2: So the next time you feel absolutely certain, pause, The
Speaker 2: next time a story feels obvious, question it the next
Speaker 2: time your brain pushes for comfort, choose clarity. Your leadership
Speaker 2: gets stronger the moment you stop believing every thought you have.
Speaker 2: And if you enjoyed today's episode, head over to Paul
Speaker 2: Fallavalito dot com. I have a lot of free leadership
Speaker 2: resources you can download and start using today. And be
Speaker 2: sure and check out my YouTube channel. Link is in
Speaker 2: the description of the show and also on my website.
Speaker 2: This has been the seven in at Leadership podcast and
Speaker 2: I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.