The invisible mind trap crippling your leadership potential

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THE ART & SCIENCE OF LEADING SELF
The Power of Assessments

My friend, have you ever found yourself absolutely certain about something, only to discover later that your "certainty" was actually a judgment shaped by your experiences and beliefs?

This happens to all of us - even the most emotionally intelligent leaders. The reason? The human tendency to confuse assessments with facts.

Understanding the difference between assessments and facts is one of the most powerful mindset shifts you can make as a leader. It transforms how you lead yourself and others, opening doors to possibilities that remained hidden in your certainty.

What are assessments?

👉🏽 Assessments are judgments, interpretations, and opinions you form about the world. Unlike facts, which can be empirically verified and measured, assessments are shaped by your experiences, beliefs, and biases.¹

Consider this simple example:

✅ Fact: "The quarterly report was submitted at 10:15 AM, fifteen minutes after the deadline."
❌ Assessment: "The team is disrespectful of deadlines."

The first statement can be verified. The second is an interpretation – one that might lead you to actions that damage team relationships rather than improve performance.

Your leadership journey is filled with these moments where assessments masquerade as facts:

• "This employee lacks initiative" (vs. "This employee hasn't demonstrated initiative in the ways I expect")

• "Our company culture is broken" (vs. "Five employees have left the department this quarter")

• "I'm not a strategic thinker" (vs. "I haven't developed my strategic thinking skills yet")

When you mistake assessments for facts, you close the door to learning, growth, innovation, and transformation. You become locked in a reality that may not serve your highest leadership aspirations.

Where Assessments Shape Your Leadership

Your assessments influence every aspect of your leadership:

Self-Leadership 🚀:

• How you interpret your failures and successes

• What you believe about your capabilities

• How you respond to feedback

Team Leadership 🌟:

• Who you identify as "high potential"

• How you evaluate performance

• What behaviors you reward or correct

Strategic Leadership 🔑:

• How you assess market conditions

• What you believe about competitors

• How you interpret organizational challenges

In each domain, confusing assessments with facts creates blind spots that limit your effectiveness.

The Language Connection

Languages often reveal truths about human thinking that remain hidden in our daily awareness. Spanish, for example, has a fascinating way of distinguishing between facts and assessments through its use of the subjunctive mood.

When expressing opinions or value judgments (valoraciones), Spanish requires a shift in verb form that signals "this is subjective":

• Es cierto que el plan es bueno. (It is certain that the plan is good.) - Stated as fact

• Es importante que el plan sea bueno. (It is important that the plan be good.) - Clearly marked as assessment

Imagine if English required you to linguistically mark your assessments! You might say:

• "I think this approach might be ineffective" instead of "This approach is ineffective"

• "I believe she could be struggling with the project" instead of "She's struggling with the project"

This subtle shift creates space for dialogue, curiosity, and possibility – the very foundation of innovative leadership.

Why This Matters for Your Mindset

Remember our equation: M = f(m). Your Mindset work is a function of Mindfulness.

Mindfulness creates the space to observe your assessments rather than being controlled by them. When you develop awareness of your assessments, you gain the power to:

1. Choose which assessments serve your leadership goals

2. Shift from certainty to curiosity

3. Create space for dialogue and innovation

4. Transform limiting beliefs into empowering possibilities

This isn't just philosophical – it's deeply practical. Your assessments shape your emotions, which drive your behaviors, which determine your results.

Want different results? Start by examining your assessments.

FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
Putting It Into Practice

 Your Assessment Awareness Practice:

1. Track Your Certainties: For one day, notice every time you use phrases like "He always..." or "This never..." or "She's just..." or variations thereof. These are clues that you're expressing assessments as facts.

2. Apply the Fact Test: For each assessment, ask: "Can this be empirically verified by multiple observers?" If not, it's likely an assessment.

3. Reframe One Key Assessment: Choose one important assessment that might be constraining you. How might you reframe it to create possibility? For example:

   • From: "I'm not good with numbers"

   • To: "I haven't developed my financial analysis skills yet"

4. Practice Language Shifts: Experiment with using language that acknowledges subjectivity:

   • "From my perspective..."

   • "One way to see this is..."

   • "I'm noticing that I believe..."

Remember, assessments are a natural part of how humans process information.

But effective leadership requires distinguishing them from facts. The goal is to recognize assessments for what they are: subjective interpretations that shape your perceptions, emotions, and decision-making.

Once you can identify your assessments, you can intentionally introduce facts into your thinking process.

This empowers you to engage in more thoughtful, effective leadership.

DEEPENING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Resources for You

🧠 For a practical exploration of assessments in organizations, read Language and the Pursuit of Leadership Excellence by Chalmers Brothers and Vinay Kumar. (Link)

📺 This TED Talk by Julia Galef explores how our "soldier" vs. "scout" mindset shapes our perceptions. (Link) 

🤔 Want to go a bit deeper on assessments? Check out this blog post. (Link)

📝 HBR's article on "The Leader as Coach" examines how shifting from judgment to curiosity transforms leadership. (Link)

🎤 How do you see with new eyes? Check out this insightful talk. (Link)

Misalignment or Alignment? 5 Clues Reveal the Truth:

✅ Decisions Keep Coming Back to You as the CEO
✅ The Same Conversations Keep Happening Without Real Decisions
✅ Your Leadership Team Operates in Silos
✅ Your Best People Seem Frustrated or Disengaged
✅ You Have a Strategy, But Execution Keeps Stalling

Book a call to learn more about The Executive Alignment Playbook 🚀.

Realign your executive 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).

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Until next Sunday,

Shawnette