The hidden reading that leaders can’t afford to ignore

THE ART & SCIENCE OF LEADING SELF
The Power of Strong Foundations

My friend, over the last ten issues, we’ve broken down my Mindset framework, using the metaphor of a house, piece by piece. The framework is not complete. But before we continue, I want to revisit where we’ve been and then spend time in one spot you may overlook: the thermostat.

First, a quick review of the “Mindset House”:

✅ Foundation (Mindfulness): Mindset work is a function of mindfulness, M = f(m). Mindfulness is the buzzword du jour, which means it often gets overcomplicated. Remember, Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, without judgment. It’s a practice that helps you create space to reflect and observe. When practiced, it slows your reactivity and gives you the choice to lead with clarity instead of compulsion.

✅ Skeletal Framing (Subject–Object Shift): The framing of the house. It’s the shift from “I am anxious” to “I notice I feel anxious.” That shift matters because it puts you back in charge. You can see the storm instead of being swept inside it.

✅ Flooring (Detachment): The ground you stand on. Detachment doesn’t mean you stop caring. It means loosening the grip. You are not your outcome. You are not your title. You are not your momentary fear. With detachment, you can walk steadily through the house without tripping on the bunched up rugs of attachment.

And here’s where we pause.

Attachment is worth defining again, because if you are not aware of what it is, you may cede a lot of ground to it. Attachment is a state of grasping or clinging to people, objects, outcomes, or ideas. It narrows your vision and pulls you out of alignment.

Inside the house, there’s a framework you can use to identify attachments.

That’s right. They typically show up in the form of three indicators: language, behavior, and feelings.

Language and Behavior 🔑

Language as Thresholds
Your words offer insight into where you’re holding on too tightly.

Phrases like “They should know better” or “This has to work out” represent attachment. This language is like a threshold because if you step one way, you remain stuck. Step another way, and you open the door to possibility.

Your ability to reframe your words shifts the direction you move.

Behavior as Wiring
Think of the wiring in your home. It carries electricity through the walls so the lights stay on and the systems run. Your behavior works the same way. It’s the wiring that carries your internal state outward.

And here’s the truth: people may not know what you’re feeling, but they always notice how you behave.

They acknowledge your words, but they believe what you do.

The Thermostat: What Happens When You Ignore the Reading❗️

Now, let’s talk about the thermostat: your feelings.

Feelings are the language of the body. They’re not random. That knot in your stomach, the tightness in your chest, the heat in your face. These are indicators. They tell you something about what matters, what you fear, or what you value.

But what happens if you ignore them?

At home, when you stop adjusting the thermostat, you eventually find yourself sweating, shivering, or just living in constant discomfort. Your lack of attention to the environmental changes means you often don’t notice the extremes until it’s too late.

In leadership, the cost is even higher.

👤 For you: When you don’t pay attention to your emotional state, stress builds quietly. Eventually, it spills over. You overreact, lash out, or shut down. Or you underreact, pulling back when decisiveness is required. Either way, you’ve lost alignment between your emotions and the results you’re working toward.

👥 For your team: When you ignore your thermostat readings (your feelings), the discomfort doesn’t stay private. It manifests in your behavior (the wiring of the house). People sense the tension in your tone, your timing, your pace. When you’re misaligned, trust erodes. Your team stops sharing ideas as openly. They start waiting to see which version of you will show up.

🏢 For the organization: Over time, ignoring the thermostat changes how work gets done. It impacts the culture. Meetings grow less candid, decisions slow, and execution stalls. Not because people stopped caring, but because you failed to monitor your thermostat — a crucial tool that offers you the constant ability to recalibrate.

Let’s be honest: There’s plenty of messaging out there about “just keeping your head down and powering through.”

But ignoring your feelings doesn’t make you strong. It makes your emotional state vulnerable to the feelings quietly brewing beneath the surface. One minute the thermostat is good and the temperature’s comfortable. The next minute: who knows?

This Is Self-Leadership In Action 🔗

Remember my definition of self-leadership:

Well, the thermostat is how you operationalize this in real time. Your feelings don’t dictate what you do. They offer insight about how you are relating to (interpreting) the situation.

Your feelings are data.

They aren’t the problem. The problem comes when you stop observing them. The choice is yours: check the thermostat and recalibrate, or ignore it and risk personal misalignment, which never stops at you. It ripples through your team and the organization.

👉🏽 When did you last pause to check your thermostat?

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD 📢

EXCELLENCE UNBOUNDED
How I Can Help You

High-performing executive teams don’t happen by chance. They happen by design.

Aligned Senior Leaders Are:

✅ 1.9x more likely to achieve above-average financial performance
✅ 2.5x more likely to have satisfied and engaged employees

Aligned Companies Are:

✅ 58% faster revenue growth
✅ 72% more profitable

Misaligned companies underperform:

❌ 50% lower ROIC
❌ 18% lower EBITDA
❌ 25% loss of revenue
❌ Reduced productivity
❌ Slower strategic execution

Book a call to learn more about The Executive Alignment Playbook 🚀, an immersive, experiential leadership program.

Align your leadership team. Accelerate execution. Drive measurable results.

🎤 Speaking Engagements: My mom can attest to the fact that I LOVE to talk. 😂 Now, I put that talent to work delivering talks on Mindset, Courage, Resilience, & Innovation.

A few past clients include KraftHeinz, Amazon Women @ Payments, PAHEi, & the Panamá Chapter of the International Coaching Federation (I delivered this talk in Spanish).

If you are interested in having me speak at your event, please fill out this form.