There’s a moment that perhaps we all recognize: your stomach tightens, your face flushes, and suddenly, you’re in that old story again. Maybe it’s the story that says you’re not ready. Maybe it’s the one that says you should have known better. Or the one that says if you don’t prove your worth right now, you might lose your seat at the table.
These are what I call “fixed mindset fogs”—moments where old conditioning takes the wheel. Moments where fear edges out curiosity, and performance feels more important than growth.
I’d also bet that if you’re a nonprofit leader or changemaker, you know this terrain well. The weight of doing mission-driven work can trigger all kinds of beliefs about what you should be able to handle, how smart you should be, or how perfect your leadership needs to look. However, the truth is that nobody is immune to the pull of a fixed mindset.
In my upcoming book, Organizing for Impact, I explore the work of Dr. Carol Dweck, who introduced the idea that we all carry a mix of fixed and growth mindsets. The trick isn’t to eliminate the fixed mindset (good luck with that), but to recognize when it shows up, and then make a conscious choice not to follow its lead. That recognition often comes in the form of a trigger.
To identify what triggers our fixed mindset, Dweck asks us to reflect on the events or situations that lead us to a place of judgment instead of growth and development. Another way to look at it is to consider the things that cause us to armor up instead of opening up. What puts you on the defensive? Causes you to retract inward? The answers will likely point to your triggers.
I’ve seen it in executive meetings where someone cuts off feedback with, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years.” I’ve felt it in myself, too, when, for instance, I might not have spoken up for fear of sounding naive. Those moments are tiny forks in the road. Do I protect my ego, or invite a learning moment? Do I stay stuck, or move toward growth?
These choices aren’t always obvious or easy. But they matter, especially in leadership, where your mindset doesn’t just shape your own experience but also how your team responds to failure, feedback, and one another. For leaders seeking to create people-positive, impact-oriented organizations, these are the moments that ripple outward, influencing how safe it feels to grow, to question, and to try again.
If you’re doing mission-driven work, and carrying the responsibility of holding others through chaos, keeping a team aligned, or simply making it to the next funding cycle with your values intact, it’s not a matter of if you’ll be triggered. It’s when.
Sometimes the trigger is burnout. Sometimes it’s the slow grind of trying to do the right thing when the path is murky. Sometimes it’s just that one moment—an offhand comment, a misstep in a meeting, a glance that feels like judgment—and suddenly, you’re in the fog again. Doubting. Bracing. Reacting.
In those moments, you don’t need a grand plan. You just need a way to reconnect with yourself, notice the pattern, pause before the reflex, and choose something different.
That’s what I had in mind when I recently created Leading Through Uncertainty, a short, simple resource with a few grounding practices for leaders who feel the weight of the work pressing in. It’s not a roadmap, and it’s not a cure, but it might be the thing that helps you take a breath, steady yourself, and make a more intentional next move. That one small choice is often the first step out of the fog.
The real heart of leadership isn’t about being unshakable. That’s what the fixed-mindset version of the story might say. It’s, instead, about being able to notice when you’re shaken, and choosing how you respond. So the next time you feel the fog rolling in, take a breath, notice the trigger, and know that you have a choice. If you’re looking for a bit of light to guide you in those foggy moments, you can download Leading Through Uncertainty here. It’s free, and just might be the quiet support you need to pause, reset, and move toward growth
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