Mindset of a High-Performing Leader
Your brain is sabotaging your success. And you don't even know it.
When I worked for Martha Stewart, I commuted 45 minutes to Penn Station and then walked 20 minutes to the office, arming myself against the day ahead.
That armor was protection from disappointment and judgment.
A shield against failure.
A defense against vulnerability.
This was my daily mental prep for survival before I even walked into the office.
I thought this was strategic preparation, but I was just scared.
Here's what nobody tells you: Your brain's default mode is designed to keep you alive, not make you successful.
If you’re leading from your 'monkey' brain, you’re not leading—you’re surviving. And survival mode doesn’t build great careers or businesses, it breeds mediocrity.
Most leaders mistake their decisions from a fear mindset for strategy. I know I did.
Here’s the brutal truth:
Most leaders think they’re being strategic when they’re actually in autopilot—driven by fear, habit, and outdated definitions of success.
True leadership requires declaring war on your own neurology. It demands that you override every instinct that kept your ancestors alive, and keeps you mediocre.
To become an inspired leader with a new way of being, you have to consciously override the part of your brain designed to keep you safe and comfortable.
Success isn’t only about being smart, capable, or experienced.
It’s about your willingness to disrupt yourself daily—to unlearn, to reimagine, and to lead with a mindset designed for expansion, not protection.
“The power that brought you to your current position of prominence may now be preventing you from going beyond your past success and achieving what you want most or desire to accomplish in the future. The source of many failed organizational transformation efforts is that today’s leaders are re-inventing everything but themselves.”
My daily practice keeps me from slipping back into survival mode. I start by answering three simple, effective, and growth-promoting questions in my journal.
Questions that, when answered for your life, your purpose, your business, your impact, or leadership, provide insight, guidance, understanding, and growth.
Here are the questions:
What's working?
What's not working?
What will I do differently going forward?
The answers...
...help calm me
...help me understand the bumps and bruises
...excite me
...create a future plan.
If you want to learn more about this practice and more, listen to Episode 502 of the Build A Better Agency podcast hosted by Drew McClellan. I was thrilled to be his guest. In the episode, titled "The Mindset of A Leader," we talk about transitioning from survival mode to one of imagination. We talk about co-creating extraordinary futures for yourself and your team, and why vulnerability isn't a weakness—it's your competitive advantage.
Building A Better Agency: Mindset of a Leader
Here are five key takeaways:
Shift from Default Mode to Intentional Leadership
Rewire from Survival to Imagination
Co-Create Extraordinary Futures with Your Team
Leverage Vulnerability for Deeper Collaboration
Rethink Job Descriptions and Success Criteria to Accelerate Growth
If you're leading on autopilot, it's time to wake up. Because the biggest risk isn't failure, it's thinking you're leading when you're stuck in the status quo.
📓 Journal Prompts for the Week Ahead
I want to bring more value to Sunday Sunshine readers and will be adding journal prompts to take the work deeper, providing you with more personal insight.
If I knew I couldn’t fail, I would …
What does moving off defense and onto offense look like to me this week?
If living in a breakthrough means creating new beliefs, what new beliefs am I willing to create?
What do I really want that I tell myself I can’t have?
Enjoy your Sunday!
