Leaders driving ambitious change - whether integrating an acquired company, pivoting to a subscription-based revenue model, or overhauling a supply chain - frequently stumble into self-made traps of thinking. These aren't just poor decisions - they're deeply ingrained assumptions and rationalisations that feel justified in the moment but quietly sabotage the very transformation they aim to lead.
Even in well-resourced, expertly timed initiatives, these leadership missteps are often the root cause of stalled progress, declining morale, and failed outcomes. They're seductive, familiar, and dangerous. And unless leaders actively challenge them, these mental traps become the silent killers of growth.
Here are five of the most insidious rationalisations, and how I, as a coach, counsel a leader to respond.
1. The Myth of the Mandate: Repeating Yesterday’s Wins
Justification: “I’ve done this before, and I was brought in to do it again.”
Reality: Past victories yield insight, not a rigid blueprint.
A leader may believe that a strategy, campaign or turnaround that worked previously automatically applies in a new context. For example: a corporate marketer saved a skincare brand with a particular campaign, then joined a tech company and attempted to copy the same formula - only to falter because the environment, customers and competitive dynamics were entirely different.
High Growth coaching wisdom: Treat your mandate as an invitation, not a decree. Enter your new role like an anthropologist: walk the halls, ask questions, listen deeply. Instead of asking “What worked last time?” ask “What does this context demand?” Extract lessons from your past - how you built trust, navigated resistance - but resist imposing yesterday’s recipe. That’s how you leverage your experience into present credibility and high‑growth momentum.
2. Excessive Tolerance: Making Change Optional
Justification: “I’m sure they’ll come around; we just need to give them time.”
Reality: Some people never intend to buy in.
When leaders wear down, they often default to compromise: deadlines slip, underperformers are excused, resistance quietly festers. Employees learn quickly that change is optional. The result? Accountability erodes, resentment builds among those doing the work, and even committed staff ask: “Why bother if others aren’t held to it?”
High Growth coaching wisdom: Sends clear, early signals: Dashboards track both progress and regressions. If someone’s behaviour contradicts the new direction, they’re called out. Yes - it feels harder. Yes - you may lose popularity. But credibility demands consistency. Empathy doesn’t mean tolerating dysfunction - it means demanding urgency and integrity.
3. Settling for Dysfunction: Accepting the Wrong Norms
Justification: “It is what it is; with time people will come around.”
Reality: Without sustained pressure, dysfunction becomes the new normal.
One COO I worked with accepted entrenched dysfunction - meetings that felt pointless, feedback that triggered overreaction, culture that defended resistance. Instead of disrupting it, he absorbed it. The result: He became the very thing he was recruited to replace.
High Growth coaching wisdom: Stay differentiated. High growth actively identify unhealthy patterns—why do water cooler chats carry more energy than the meeting itself? They encode what should be true (optimism, accountability, healthy debate) and measure progress accordingly. Even incremental wins matter. Transformation demands you behave differently than the culture you inherit.
4. Dismissing the Devil You Know: Protecting the Wrong People
Justification: “She may not be perfect—but I can’t afford to lose her now.”
Reality: The devil you know is still the devil.
Few decisions are harder than removing a long‑serving manager. But keeping people who resist the new vision corrodes everything: it demoralises others, distracts the leader, signals that standards are optional. Worse: it defines the status quo.
High Growth coaching wisdom: Remove the blockers. Leadership transitions aren’t just organisational - they’re symbolic. Leaving someone in a role they cannot succeed in isn’t compassion - it’s cruelty. It sets up failure and sends the message that alignment doesn’t matter. Tough decision? Yes. But better the acute pain of removal than the chronic pain of toleration.
5. Reporting Enmeshment: Confusing Emulation with Growth
Justification: “We’ve been a great team for years—she’s ready to succeed me.”
Reality: Long‑term reporting lines often breed co‑dependence, not development.
Mentoring is critical - but when a high‑potential stays too long in one manager’s shadow, they risk becoming a replica, not an original. I’ve seen organisations elevate successors who looked and sounded just like their predecessor - only to discover that more of the same isn’t what transformation demands.
High Growth coaching wisdom: Encourage mobility: Move talent early and often. Shift high‑potentials into unfamiliar business units, rival functions, or international roles. Spread exposure. The more diverse the assignment, the stronger - and more authentic - the leader becomes. Emulation is admirable; growth demands evolution.