Leadership Development: Applied Positive Thinking vs Fake Positivity

The biggest changes happen in the smallest moments. As leaders, we know we must articulate and align people around the strategy. Google AI tells me Strategy means ‘a long term plan or framework to achieve goals, align resources and importantly, know what NOT to do.’ Long term views matter, but this post is about the power of Micro Strategies: small reminders of what (or what not) to do in the moment. Do you have any? My daughter came home with this one: -Stop. -Think (breathe and count to 3) -Then Do She’s 7 years old. They are taught this to remind them to treat other people with kindness. I see her using it at home and it really helps! Their school teaches various micro-strategies - for solving maths problems, - to guide their writing and most importantly, how they self-manage and behave towards others. All with easy to remember titles, so when they find themselves struggling they are ‘pre-programmed’ to stop and remember a strategy that can help them. It struck me that when I was at school we were taught the answers, not strategies that guide us to the answers. Maybe that’s why we forget the basics as we get older and busier. We assume we already know. Yet the leadership teams I work with get better results once they agree and use regular and clear reminders of how they should behave with each other I created ACT! as an easy to recall strategy for how to lead others. ASPIRE: Lead with clear vision and priorities COLLABORATE: Create the environment for people to work together with ease and flow THRIVE!: Measure, learn and adapt to achieve value, growth and sustainable success We’ve spent the last 3 months refactoring the ACT! Leadership System and our Let's Flow strategy. Some exciting new offerings are coming very soon, starting with ‘Leaders Who Act!’ (Click the Notification Bell icon at the top right of my profile to get notified whenever I post, or DM me to sign up to the ACT! newsletter.) In the meantime I’m curious to learn from you. Do you have any micro strategies that guide you? If so please share them in the comments to help the rest of us. Why not try Stop, Think, Do next time you’re about to act without kindness? Let me know if it helps!

Monday's Perception of Wisdom (or is it?) Your Brain may not be showing you reality. Harvard Research suggest that up to 95% of what and how your brain processes data, stimulus, and information (either heard or seen) is based on past memory and experience. In the video...Did you see the stream of water coming from a facet, and was there any water in the bottom of the sink? (look again...nope!) Yet, Your Brain processed your history and memory and therefore permitted you to see water that was not really there! The assumptions of "Historical Connect-the-Dots Logic" can greatly mislead a leader at any level, at any given time, in any organization. Andrew Oxley illustrated this well in his post below.... 1. Leaders avoid a difficult conversation because the last one went poorly. 2. Leaders don't delegate because someone failed them in the past. 3. Leaders assume their team can't handle something because they couldn't once before. Your Brain writes a story to protect you by pattern recognition over the past many years, past events, and past memories. The Brain tells your emotions that logic dictates belief or disbelief. After all... water comes from a facet and goes into a sink...or does it? Your Brain has taught you an all too familiar story..."If it is to be, it is up to me!...In Me... I Trust what I Historically Know. The title of some of these Brain stories are... "Micromanagement 101" or "Trust But Not Now" or "Lessons From My Past" or "The Overwhelming Fear of Change and Trusting Others." Read Andrews 5 ways to break the cycle in his post. Remember, The Brains job is Your Survival and Protection with Historical Perspective. The Leaders job is Discernment. The Leaders Job is to Build Stronger Teams to... Build a Healthy Financial Position for the Organization, Assure Organizational Sustainability, Create Growth Opportunities for the Organization, and Genuinely Care for every Person in the Organization. The leaders Job Is to Mentor, Teach, Illustrate, and Prepare their people at every level to Grow, Improve, and Engage. Remember, "No one cares what your know until they first know that you care... about them" While History may repeat itself...Leaders must be sure they have become the Catalyst for their people to Repeat that which is Good, and Replace that which was not...with Good, Better, and Ultimately Best on the journey going forward. Leaders must open the doors for the opportunities and possibilities of their people. Failure is not final...but "giving up" or "not being wiling or given the opportunity to try" ...may well be! "Failure is always the better teacher if we will but pause and learn from that teaching moment" Albert Einstein Thanks To Andrew Oxley for his Thoughtful and Insightful Reminders #ThoughtThinkers4You

Your brain isn't showing you reality. It's showing you what feels safe. Harvard research shows up to 95% of what your brain processes is based on past memory  not what's actually happening right now. Which means most of what you "see" as a leader is a story your mind already wrote. I see this constantly with CEOs. ✔️ They avoid a difficult conversation because the last one went poorly. ✔️ They don't delegate because someone failed them before. ✔️ They assume their team "can't handle it" because they couldn't once. None of this is truth. It's pattern recognition. After 30 years coaching leaders, here's what I've learned: Your brain's job is survival. Your job as a leader is discernment. The CEO who won't promote their VP because "they're not ready" Often it's not the VP who's not ready. It's the CEO replaying a past mistake. The leader who micromanages every decision Not because the team is incompetent. Because their brain predicts failure if they let go. The executive who won't try a new strategy Not because it won't work. Because their brain remembers the last time they took a risk. These aren't facts. They're patterns your brain has looped so many times it assumes they're reality. And unless you interrupt them, they'll keep running the show. Here's how to break the cycle: ✅ Pause before reacting - Ask: "Is this fact or memory?" ✅ Separate past from present - This team isn't the last one ✅ Collect new evidence - Let your brain see you win differently ✅ Challenge the prediction - What else could this mean? ✅ Create new experiences - New inputs = new patterns If you don't disrupt the pattern, the pattern will disrupt your growth. Predictable feels safe. But predictable ≠ CEO Freedom. Question the story. That's where real leadership begins. ♻️ Repost to share with another leader. 🔔 Follow me Andrew Oxley for more leadership insights.

This is an excellent summary of what the future of leadership needs in order to face increasingly uncertain times combined with record levels of burnout among staff #leadership #wellbeing #thriving

How do we lead well when everything around us seems to be shifting? Leaders today are navigating a level of uncertainty and pace of change that feels unprecedented. Under pressure, it’s easy to slip into survival mode. And yet many of us feel a deeper desire to lead differently — to retain our humanity and values in how we show up at work. I’ve faced this myself. When things get intense, I can double down on execution and just focus on getting things done. But I’ve learned that when I disconnect from my humanity — from my sense of purpose, passion, and aliveness — I’m no longer bringing my best self to my work or to the people around me. And I suspect many leaders feel this tension too. In the age of AI, knowledge and technical expertise alone are no longer sufficient sources of leadership value. Today’s leaders must also develop the ability to stay grounded internally, build trust, belonging and safety in relationships, and create systems where people and performance can thrive together. This requires leading from a deeper sense of who we are and what we care about. In other words, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. In my latest article, I introduce a model of human-centric leadership that helps leaders navigate uncertainty by cultivating three interconnected capacities: 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲), 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲). I'm curious - how would you describe human-centric leadership? Does this model resonate? What might be missing? Read the article in my “Art of Aliveness” Substack newsletter (link in the comment below - and feel free to subscribe if the ideas resonate with you!)

I have seen too many men succeed with only one of these skills, and women denegrated as "not leadership material" because they genuinely demonstrate all 3. I'm tired of men in leadership positions who have little or no inner capacity and actively destroy and the relational fabric that women in their organizations are busy building.

Most leaders don’t lack effort. They lack perspective. Blind spots aren’t flaws. They’re patterns you’ve normalized. The way you communicate under stress. The tone you default to. The assumptions you make. The feedback you unintentionally discourage. You can’t improve what you can’t see. Here is today’s prompt. Use it exactly as written: "Act as a leadership self-awareness coach. Your task is to help me identify leadership blind spots. The context is that blind spots limit effectiveness. Format output as awareness observations. Ask me any clarifying questions. Let me know what you are certain of, and what you are not certain of, but why you think it will work." Run this through AI. Answer honestly. Notice: Where might you be overestimating clarity? Where might you be under-communicating expectations? Where might you be unintentionally creating hesitation in others? This isn’t about criticism. It’s about calibration. Small awareness adjustments compound. Try this today. #GrowthFormula #BusinessGrowth #SmallBusinessOwners

The leader’s best strategy for progress: Big move? Bold strategy? Breakthrough play? Perhaps, but you’d hardly notice it. Big, bold things rarely have the longevity to change a leader’s trajectory permanently. The difference maker is something much quieter. A practice to return to consistently, especially on the days when no one is watching. Small habits of grounding. Resetting. A prayer. A meditation. A run. A walk. 5 minutes of gratitude. Habits that create space to think before the day gets noisy. The leaders who sustain momentum don’t rely on bursts of intensity. Motivation rises and falls; calendars get full; competitive power shifts. What keeps leaders steady are small reflective routines. For me, that practice is journaling. A way to slow down, examine decisions, pressure-test assumptions, and notice patterns in how I’m leading. That kind of reflection quietly compounds. Over time, it sharpens my preparation for the day. Powers conversations. Brings opportunities into sharp focus. ☀️ It’s not big. ☀️ It’s sort of brave because all consistency is brave. ☀️ It’s definitely breakthrough. The unexamined day is where drift lives. The examined day is where leaders are made. … If you’d like the journaling prompts I use to stay grounded and focused, DM JOURNAL and I’ll send them your way. Sometimes, it’s the smallest practice (done consistently) that can change everything.

As leaders, are we being too quick to say "that would require a miracle" — simply because we don’t yet understand how it could happen? History suggests we might be. What if “miracle” is just a word we use for outcomes we don’t yet know how to build? As leaders, that distinction matters. Before the airplane flew, it was foolish. Before the internet connected us, it was science fiction. Before heart transplants saved lives, they were unthinkable. Before the light bulb illuminated cities, darkness was simply “reality.” Before every masterpiece was celebrated, it was just someone’s imagination. History is filled with outcomes that were once labeled impossible. After Schuyler was struck by a boulder, we were handed a version of “realistic.” Certain recoveries were not expected. Certain milestones were statistically improbable. If we had accepted that version of reality, many of the moments we now celebrate would still be called miracles. Here’s what I’ve learned: “Impossible” is often just a boundary defined by current understanding. And understanding evolves. The most effective leaders I work with don’t ignore data. They don’t pretend constraints don’t exist. But they refuse to let precedent define possibility. My greatest leap forward as a coach came when I realized something critical: My role was not simply to refine systems leaders already understood. Their breakthroughs occurred far beyond the boundaries of accountability or professional development. The moments that “changed everything” came when I was able to help them expand the edges of their thinking — to identify where the next “impossible” opportunity might be hiding. Because breakthroughs don’t begin with better execution. They begin with expanded imagination. That philosophy sits at the core of my Sovereign Impact Method™ — not just optimizing performance, but enlarging the frame through which a leader defines what is achievable. Before every breakthrough, there is doubt. Before every new normal, there is disbelief. The leaders who shape the future are not waiting for miracles. They are building what others have not yet learned how to measure— or sometimes even see. Ever seen something in your own experience transform from impossible to the new normal?

In my experience working with business leaders, one pattern is very clear: Most leadership interventions fail because they try to change behavior directly. But behavior is only an output. Real change begins much deeper. As highlighted in The Structure of Magic by John Grinder, human behavior is governed by deep internal structures—beliefs, language patterns, and mental representations. These structures drive how leaders: Perceive situations Make decisions Respond under pressure Now combine this with insights from Daniel Kahneman: We operate through two systems: Fast, automatic thinking Slow, deliberate thinking Under pressure, most leaders default to automatic patterns—which are shaped by past conditioning. This is why: Leaders repeat the same behaviors Teams experience the same challenges  Performance plateaus despite capability Here is where neuroscience changes the game. As explained in The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, the brain is neuroplastic—it can rewire itself. Which means:  Limiting beliefs can be unlearned  New empowering beliefs can be installed  New neural pathways can be created And when this happens consistently, it leads to what Charles Duhigg describes in The Power of Habit: New habits that sustain performance Insight: Belief → Thinking Pattern → Behaviour → Habit → Results If you change the belief at the deep structure level, you don’t force behaviour change.