Leaders: Your self-talk could be hurting your team. Here's how to change it

"Leaders aren't failing because they don't have a strategy or skill. They are stuck because of their internal battles-their self-talk-not because of the challenges happening with customers or in the market. Headamentals is about directing that inner voice so that it becomes a competitive advantage and helps you build great teams. Once you fix that conversation in your head, you fix how you lead, connect, and perform. Leading others starts with self-leadership."

"Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite-read by Suzy, Rhett, and Ryan-below, or in the Next Big Idea App. We've always had societal-scale worry wars, but we like to refer to the pandemic as Worry War I. Now we are in Worry War II, which confronts the rising cost of food, the emergence of AI, the erosion of empathy at work, and political division."

Leaders are frequently hindered more by internal negative self-talk than by lack of strategy or skill. Negative inner conversations create internal battles that limit decision-making, connection, and team performance. Directing and reframing that inner voice can transform it into a competitive advantage that improves leadership, team building, and execution. Self-leadership is foundational to leading others effectively. Contemporary conditions of widespread societal worry — including the pandemic, rising living costs, accelerating AI, declining workplace empathy, and political division — intensify self-doubt and stress, increasing the urgency of mastering inner conversations to sustain performance and connection.

Read at Fast Company