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Why Do Smart, Capable Leaders So Often Get In Their Own Way?
Muriel M. Wilkins — executive coach, host of the Harvard Business Review podcast Coaching Real Leaders, and author of the brilliant new book Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential — has spent her career helping senior leaders uncover the invisible beliefs that quietly sabotage their effectiveness.
In this episode, Muriel joins me to explore what she calls hidden blockers — seven deeply ingrained mindsets that cause leaders to overcontrol, overwork, or second-guess themselves. These blockers sound deceptively simple — “I need to be involved in every detail,” “I need it done now, no matter what,” “I know I’m right,” and “I don’t belong here” — but they drive some of the most common leadership breakdowns we see today.
Muriel shares how her own leadership struggles early in her career — and one pivotal question from her partner, “Did you ever think maybe the problem is you?” — led her to uncover the truth that changed everything: the biggest obstacles to our leadership rarely come from others; they come from within ourselves.
Together, we dive into:
- Why it’s so hard for leaders to see that we might be the problem
- How the need for control and speed quietly destroys trust and engagement
- Why certainty can masquerade as confidence — and how to lead with curiosity instead
- How even the most accomplished leaders can secretly feel like outsiders, a belief closely tied to impostor syndrome, and what to do about it
- The single underlying fear that fuels all these hidden blockers
If you’ve ever wondered why you keep repeating the same patterns — or why leading sometimes feels harder than it should — this conversation will help you see what’s really been standing in your way.
Muriel’s insights are both deeply human and immediately actionable. You’ll walk away seeing leadership — and yourself — through a whole new lens, with practical tools to unstick the hidden beliefs that have been holding you back.
