Page 102 - Fearless Leadership

Chapter

4

Victim Mentality and

Playing Small

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world
is also a confession of their character.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)

o you play big and give everything you have at all times? Do you face
Dchallenging situations head-on and confront the real issue? When we
ask this of leaders, the majority reply, “Absolutely. That’s the only way I
play—full-out or not at all.”
Fearless leadership begins when you choose to play big—without lim-
its to what is possible—despite difficult or challenging circumstances.
When you play big, your behavior is consistent with your values and
beliefs; you throw your hat in the ring and fully engage.
However, even with your zest and commitment, you will fall into auto-
matic behaviors that keep you playing small. In this chapter, we add
another automatic behavior—victim mentality—and how it contributes
to resignation, shrinking the game, and building silos. This is pivotal in
understanding why internal groups struggle and engage in warfare against
each other. It brings together the need to be right, blind spots, and vic-
tim mentality in a way that illuminates the problem and introduces its
solution.
We also discuss the imperative need to move beyond denial so new
thinking and behavior can occur. Then we examine the importance of per-

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