11/06/2025

Leadership Skills at Work

Slay the monsters with your maverick power

In our lives, we all face monsters. Even if you don't believe in them, they exist. Not under our beds, but under our skins. Inside our minds.

Monsters — as Suzy Burke, Ryan Berman and Rhett Power write in Headamentals: How Leaders Can Crack Negative Self-talk — are the things we tell ourselves we cannot do. We call it negative self-talk. Here are some problems that arise when we get down on ourselves.

• It can be imposter syndrome — the feeling that I don't belong here, and, therefore, I do not fit in.
• It may be self-doubt. I just know I cannot do this job.
• It may also be referred to as "self-handicapping." Itemizing the skills you do not have versus those you possess.

One of the key insights of the book is its recognition that negativity is an inherent part of the human psyche. In many ways, it is what protects us from danger — don't touch a live wire. As such, it can be crippling — preventing us from achieving our goals.

Please select this link to read the complete article from SmartBrief.