The most undervalued leadership skill isn’t strategy or vision.
It’s learning to reframe your own challenges. When things break, finger-pointing comes easy. But real impact starts with a mental shift—one that’s uncomfortable at first.
I caught myself blaming the team. Too slow. Lacking product sense. Not motivated. Easy to say. But instead, I forced the mirror up.
If progress drags, I ask where I failed to clear a bottleneck. If product sense is missing, I ask if I’ve given enough access to real users and their pain. If someone drifts, I check if I’ve shown how their work shapes outcomes.
So I started reframing the issues:
Instead of: “They’re too slow.”
I asked: “Where did I fail to remove a bottleneck?”
Instead of: “They lack product sense.”
I asked: “Did I fail to connect them with the user’s actual problem?”
Instead of: “They seem unmotivated.”
I asked: “Have I failed to show them how their work matters?”
It’s painful. But every time I take responsibility, the teams move faster, product thinking sharpens, motivation climbs. The team isn’t the problem. I am (as their leader). And leading from that place—owning the root issues, not just the surface symptoms—makes everything better.