Every leader faces moments of frustration, an employee who won’t take ownership, a team that can’t solve problems without you, a colleague who keeps making the same mistakes. But what if the way you’re responding to those moments is actually making them worse?
In this webinar, Mitch Warner reveals the self-deception cycle at the heart of leadership dysfunction: a pattern where leaders — with the best of intentions —unknowingly invite the very behaviors they want to stop. Through real-world case studies from healthcare leaders and a former SWAT sergeant, you’ll see exactly how this trap works and, more importantly, how to break free from it.
You’ll walk away with a new understanding of how your self-image shapes your leadership effectiveness, plus two immediately actionable tools you can use with your team starting today.
Key Concepts
1. The Self-Deception Cycle
How leaders see problematic employee behavior through a distorted lens — and why that distortion limits them to a false choice between coming down hard or ignoring the problem entirely.
2. Inward Mindset Styles
The three self-justifying images leaders carry — better-than, worse-than, and need-to-be-seen-as — and the specific emotions that signal when each style is active.
3. Focus on Facts
A practical tool for separating objective observations from box-driven judgments so you can address performanceissues without triggering defensiveness.
4. The Influence Pyramid
A framework for structuring your leadership influence from the ground up — relationships and curiosity first, correction only after the foundation is built.
