Credit & article source:
Soraya Espejo
Mindtraps: the silent brake on brilliant leaders.
Ever wondered why even the most experienced leaders get stuck? It’s rarely because they lack skill or care.
It’s because the same instincts that made them successful can quietly hold them back when things get more complex.
Jennifer Garvey Berger refers to these hidden pitfalls as “Leadership Mindtraps.” Once you see them, you can’t unsee them.
Here are five traps we all fall into at some point:
- Simple Stories
Turning messy reality into a neat narrative - Rightness
Needing to be right instead of curious - Agreement
Avoiding conflict for the sake of harmony - Control
Gripping tighter instead of sharing power - Ego
Centering ourselves when perspective is needed most
The Simple Stories trap shows up all the time in organizations. It’s that very human urge to shrink complexity into something repeatable: “People here resist change.”
It sounds true. It feels safe. But it hides what’s really possible.
Look closer, and you’ll see some people embrace change—others struggle. When you let go of the tidy story, you find better strategies… and unexpected allies.
These mindtraps aren’t flaws. They’re survival strategies that once helped us. But they keep us smaller than we need to be.
Leading in complexity means unlearning as much as learning. It means loosening our grip, asking better questions, and stepping into the messy middle—where real creativity lives.
Which mind trap do you catch yourself falling into most often?
