What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why most leaders unintentionally ask shutdown questions

The difference between feasibility-based thinking and possibility-based thinking

How hidden assumptions shape strategic direction

Why constraints are often beliefs, not facts

The power of the question: “What would have to be true?”

How to evaluate whether a constraint is fixed or moveable

Practical question reframes for hiring, investment, time, and scaling

Why the most strategic leaders challenge invisible boundaries

Key Concepts Covered:

Shutdown questions vs. strategic questions

Hidden assumptions in leadership decision-making

Exploring space within constraints

Challenging default thinking patterns

Small tests vs. all-or-nothing decisions

The mindset shift from limitation to leverage

Practical Questions to Apply Immediately:

Is this a fact or an assumption?

What would have to be true for this to work?

Who is already doing this successfully?

What’s the smallest version we could test?

What are we doing that no longer deserves our time?

Resource Mentioned:
The Executive Edition of Think First: Build a Team That Thinks Like Leaders includes the full question framework for surfacing hidden assumptions and expanding strategic thinking.

Think First

Main Theme:
The toxic trait no one talks about in leadership is unexamined strength.

Key Insights:

Leadership doesn’t usually fail because something is missing. It fails when something is overused.

Strengths become toxic when they are:

Out of proportion

Out of context

Out of awareness

Many “toxic” leadership behaviors are rooted in good intentions.

Control is often a strategy for stability, not a flaw in character.

Psychologists call this the “shadow side” of strengths.

Common Strength-to-Shadow Shifts:

Decisive → Controlling

Reliable → Over-functioning

Visionary → Detached

Detail-oriented → Perfectionistic

Supportive → People-pleasing

How This Shows Up on Teams:

Fewer ideas are shared

Decisions move upward instead of outward

Initiative declines

Innovation slows

People comply instead of contribute

Powerful Reflection Questions:

Where do decisions slow down without me?

Where do people defer instead of decide?

Where do I feel tension when outcomes aren’t in my hands?

What feedback do I tend to reinterpret instead of explore?

Leadership Maturity Progression:

Early leadership: Competence

Mid-stage leadership: Execution

Advanced leadership: Self-regulation

Core Question to Carry Forward:

What trait of mine is shaping the conditions I’m responding to?

Allison Dunn’s upcoming book:
Think First: Build a Team That Thinks Like Leaders

Reserve your copy at:
deliberatedirections.com/thinkfirst

Think First

Why “what got you here” can quietly limit your next stage of leadership

How strengths form, get rewarded, and become invisible defaults

The concept of Autopilot Excellence and why success makes it dangerous

How changing context exposes outdated leadership patterns

Real examples of strengths turning into constraints:

Decisiveness creating instability

Detail orientation causing analysis paralysis

Relationship focus avoiding necessary conflict

Strategic thinking drifting into abstraction

Operational excellence becoming micromanagement

The three hidden costs leaders pay:

The Blind Spot Tax

The Pattern Lock

The Scaling Ceiling

How to use the feeling of your strength as a signal to pause and choose

Why awareness, not personality change, unlocks scalable leadership

A practical reframing for decisive, strategic, relational, and operational leaders

Introduction to the Think First framework for interrupting default patterns

Think First