Content Warning: Discussion of depression and suicide ideation

Owen Fitzpatrick has studied propaganda where it does its worst work. North Korea. Afghanistan. Rwanda. Iran. More than 100 countries in all. And after all of it, he landed on an uncomfortable conclusion: the most effective propagandist in your life isn't a government, a company, or an algorithm. It's the voice in your own head.

But this episode of The Disruption Lab isn't really about propaganda. It's about why intelligent people hold onto things that aren't true, and why handing someone better facts almost never changes their mind. If good information were enough, every strategy you've ever rolled out would have landed on the first try. So what actually moves a belief?

Owen, psychologist, speaker, and author of Inner Propaganda: Leading Hearts and Minds Through Turbulent Times, joins me to unpack the three forces that make a belief stick: Feels Right, Fits In, and Makes Sense. We get into belief leadership during disruption, what a leader does when people don't trust the strategy or the person delivering it, and the thin line between shaping beliefs and manipulating people. Whether you lead an organization, sit on a team, or you're simply tired of arguing with someone who won't budge, there's something here for you.

It also gets personal. Owen shares the story he was telling himself at fourteen and the single question that interrupted it. That moment reframes everything that follows.

You'll leave able to spot the narrative that's quietly keeping you stuck, and with one question worth asking the next time disruption knocks you sideways. The war is in your head. Go win it.

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Learn more about Owen at

Website - owenfitzpatrick.com

Latest book - https://innerpropaganda.com/

Patrick Leddin PhD

Website - https://patrickleddin.com

Speaking - https://patrickleddin.com/speaking/

Newsletter - https://patrickleddin.kit.com/disrupt

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