How To Develop A Leadership Mindset That Sticks

Key Takeaways

• The need to have all the answers isolates leaders and erodes trust, while curiosity lightens pressure and opens collaboration.
  
• Self-curiosity is the foundation of sustainable leadership because it exposes blind spots and builds self-awareness.
  
• Asking questions instead of giving answers creates trust and motivates teams to share ideas and take ownership.
  
• Constantly questioning assumptions keeps strategy adaptable and prevents stagnation when conditions shift.
  
• Curiosity practiced daily as a discipline builds resilience, agility, and authentic leadership growth.

‍

Carrying the weight of having every answer isn’t strength. It’s a trap that isolates you and burns you out. You might recognize the pressure: every decision falls on your shoulders, and showing uncertainty feels like failure.

‍

“Carrying the weight of having every answer isn’t strength. It’s a trap that isolates you and burns you out.”

‍

The truth is, this approach is unsustainable. In fact, over half of leaders experienced burnout in the past year, due to the impossible pressure of being the lone problem-solver. Real leadership isn’t about being the infallible expert; it’s about constantly questioning and learning. Curiosity isn’t a soft trait at all — it’s a practical skill that relieves the pressure and sparks fresh momentum in your team. 

The Pressure To Have All The Answers Is A Trap

Leaders often feel they have to know everything, but that mindset quickly becomes a cage. It’s exhausting to be the sole source of every solution, and it isolates you from your team. When every decision must come from the top, your people disengage. They stop offering ideas because they assume you’ll override them anyway. Over time, trust erodes quietly. If you never ask anyone else for input, your team starts believing you don’t trust them.

This “all-knowing” approach also creates a risky strategy. Well-laid plans can crumble as soon as conditions change, because they were built on one person’s viewpoint. Your organization becomes less agile when no one feels safe to challenge the plan. The outcome? Growth stalls, innovation dies out, and you carry the stress alone. The pressure to have all the answers isn’t leadership at its best—it’s a trap that leaves you and your business fragile.

Leadership Growth Starts With Self-Curiosity

Lasting leadership change begins by turning curiosity on yourself. Before expecting anyone else to grow, you need to examine your own habits, assumptions, and reactions with honest questions. This kind of self-curiosity is the foundation for a resilient mindset and stronger growth.

Recognize Your Autopilot Habits

Every leader has a set of autopilot habits, those default reactions and routines you hardly notice. Maybe you always jump to give the answer in meetings or shut down ideas that feel risky. These reflexes often come from a desire to stay in control or appear competent. The first step is simply noticing when you’re running on autopilot instead of actively choosing your response.

Start by pausing at key moments to observe your behavior without judgment. For example, if you catch yourself interrupting a team member with your solution, stop and ask why you felt the need to do that. When you question your own impulses, you begin to understand which habits serve you and which hold you back. Over time, this awareness lets you break unhelpful patterns and lead more intentionally.

Challenge Your Own Assumptions

Being curious with yourself also means questioning the beliefs you take for granted. Many leaders carry deep assumptions, like “I’m the only one who can make the tough calls” or “Mistakes will ruin my credibility.” These assumptions usually go unchallenged and silently drive your decisions. If you don’t question them, they become blind spots that limit your growth.

Practice asking yourself what evidence you have for those beliefs and what might happen if they weren’t true. For instance, if you assume your team can’t handle big decisions, test that belief by letting them take the lead on a project. Often you’ll find that the dire outcomes you imagined never materialize. If you deliberately poke holes in your own certainties, you stay open to new ways of thinking and leading.

Seek Honest Feedback Often

No matter how self-aware you think you are, you have blind spots. That’s why inviting candid feedback from others is a powerful act of self-curiosity. Ask your team or peers how your leadership style is affecting them, what you should start, stop, or continue doing. It might feel uncomfortable to hear criticism, but that discomfort is where real growth happens.

The reality is that although 95% of people believe they’re self-aware, only about 10–15% truly are. You need outside perspectives to see the things you can’t see about yourself. When you regularly seek feedback, you signal to your team that you’re willing to learn and improve. That humility builds respect and gives you actionable insights to become a better leader.

Reflect on Failures and Wins

Self-curiosity turns every success or failure into a chance to learn and improve. Instead of brushing past a mistake or rushing through a win without a second thought, pause to reflect. Ask yourself: What did I assume that turned out wrong? What did I do right that I can repeat? Leaders stuck in the all-knowing mindset often avoid examining failures, but that only ensures they’ll repeat them.

Make it a habit to debrief with yourself after major outcomes. Write down one lesson from a setback and one insight from a success. This routine trains your mind to stay curious rather than defensive when things don’t go as planned. When you treat every experience as data, you continuously refine your approach and stay adaptable.

Lead With Questions, Build Real Trust

As a leader, you might worry that asking your team for input will make you look like you don’t have the answers. In reality, the opposite happens. When you lead with genuine questions, you show your team that you trust their insight, and that makes them trust you in return. It shows in the numbers: only about one in five employees strongly trust their organization’s leadership today, which means there’s huge room to improve by changing how you communicate.

‍

“When you lead with genuine questions, you show your team that you trust their insight, and that makes them trust you in return.”

‍

Leading with questions turns one-way directives into two-way dialogues. Instead of issuing orders, ask something like, “What might we be overlooking here?” This invites your team to share ideas and knowledge, making them feel valued. People who feel heard are far more engaged and loyal. Over time, this habit builds a culture where challenges and concerns surface early, and everyone collaborates to solve them because they have real ownership in the answers.

Question Assumptions To Stay Ahead

Nothing sinks a great strategy faster than outdated assumptions. Success can lull leaders into thinking they’ve got it all figured out. Then a new competitor or shift in the market proves them wrong. Many companies have fallen behind because their leaders assumed the old way would keep winning. In contrast, a curious leader constantly asks, “What has changed? What might I be missing?” to avoid blind spots.

Staying ahead means staying curious about the changing world around you. Don’t wait for a crisis to force you to re-examine your approach. Encourage your team to challenge the status quo and surface risks early. You can improve business outcomes by continually questioning your plans and embracing new information. This proactive curiosity keeps your strategy agile and your organization prepared for whatever comes next.

Make Curiosity Your Daily Leadership Discipline

Curiosity isn’t a one-time event; it’s a daily practice for effective leaders. It needs to be woven into your routine until it becomes second nature for you and your team. In many workplaces, curiosity is rare: only about 24% of employees regularly feel curious at work, and nearly 70% say they face barriers to asking questions. That’s why you have to model curiosity every single day. Small, consistent actions show your team that asking questions and learning are the norm, not the exception.

• Start Meetings with Questions: Instead of starting meetings by telling people what to do, begin with an open-ended question. This immediately shows you value your team’s input and invites everyone to share ideas.
  
• Admit When You Don’t Know: Be willing to say, “I don’t have the answer for that yet.” Owning your uncertainty shows humility and invites others to contribute solutions.
  
• Reflect on Each Day’s Lessons: Take a few minutes at the end of each day to ask yourself what you learned or could do differently. Even jotting down a quick insight from the day can reinforce a continuous learning mindset.
  
• Praise Curiosity in Your Team: When someone on your team challenges an idea or asks a bold question, thank them for speaking up. That positive reinforcement signals to everyone that it’s safe to share new ideas.
  
• Question One Assumption Daily: Pick one belief or plan you’re working with and ask, “What if this isn’t true?” This habit keeps your thinking flexible and guards against complacency.

Practicing these habits consistently will turn curiosity from a buzzword into a tangible part of your leadership style. Over time, you’ll notice your team growing more confident in sharing ideas, and you’ll feel less pressure to have all the answers yourself. Ultimately, this daily commitment creates a lighter, more resilient way of leading that can adapt to whatever changes come next.

Common Questions On Developing A Leadership Mindset That Sticks

Shifting to a curiosity-led leadership style can raise practical questions. Leaders often wonder how to get started, how to maintain momentum, and how to involve their teams in this new approach. In this section, we address some of the most common questions with straightforward guidance on developing a leadership mindset that truly lasts.

How do I develop a leadership mindset that lasts?

Developing a lasting leadership mindset starts with changing your perspective on leadership itself. Instead of thinking you need to have all the answers, begin by bringing curiosity into your own work. Ask yourself reflective questions and stay open to learning. This shift isn’t an overnight process—it requires continuous self-questioning, seeking feedback, and adapting as you grow.

What steps can help me build a leadership mindset?

Begin with self-awareness: examine your habits and ask where you might be operating on autopilot. Next, ask for your team’s input on decisions and truly listen to their perspectives. Then make it a routine to reflect on successes and failures for lessons. Taken as a whole, these practices gradually shape a strong leadership mindset over time.

How can I practice curiosity daily as a leader?

You can turn curiosity into a daily habit through small actions. For example, start team meetings with a question instead of a directive. Make a point to say “I don’t know” when you genuinely don’t, and invite your team to find answers together. Set aside a few minutes each day to reflect on what you learned. These simple practices ensure that curiosity is woven into each day.

How can I encourage my team to be more curious and engaged?

The best way to spark your team’s curiosity is to lead by example and create a safe space for questions. Show you value their ideas by asking for their opinions instead of just broadcasting yours. When someone on your team challenges an idea or offers a creative solution, thank them for speaking up. Make it clear that no one will be punished for speaking up. When people see that curiosity is welcomed and celebrated, they become far more engaged in their work.

All of these answers share a common theme: leadership thrives when you replace certainty with curiosity. Adopting this mindset is a continuous journey, not a one-time shift. Stay open to questioning both yourself and others, and you will keep growing as a leader. Over time, a curious approach to leadership becomes second nature. That’s when your mindset truly sticks.

Curious as Hell Empowers Leaders Through Curiosity

That journey of curiosity-led leadership is exactly what Curious as Hell is built around. It’s founded on the belief that questioning yourself, your relationships, and your strategy leads to stronger, more adaptable leadership. It also draws from Tyler Chisholm’s experience and hundreds of candid interviews with business leaders. This approach treats curiosity as a practical skill to be honed every day.

This perspective directly tackles the pressures we’ve discussed. It gives leaders structured ways to practice curiosity within themselves, with their teams, and in their strategic choices. In doing so, it helps relieve the burden of having to have all the answers. The result is a leadership style that feels lighter and is better able to inspire trust and resilience in a changing world.

‍