HBR IdeaCast – Episode Summary

Title: What’s Holding You Back from Being a Great Leader?
Date: October 28, 2025
Host(s): Alison Beard (B), Adi Ignatius (A)
Guest: Muriel Wilkins (D), Executive Coach, Host of Coaching Real Leaders, HBR contributor

Episode Overview

This episode explores the concept of “hidden blockers”—the underlying beliefs that quietly prevent leaders from reaching their full potential, despite external success or strong credentials. Muriel Wilkins, an executive coach and leadership expert, outlines how these blockers operate, the most common patterns she encounters, and her evidence-based process for identifying and reframing them to promote personal and organizational growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Are Hidden Blockers?

• Definition: Hidden blockers are deeply ingrained beliefs or narratives that drive unproductive behaviors in leaders, often without their conscious awareness.
• Impact: While these beliefs may have contributed to past success, they become maladaptive as responsibilities grow.
• Quote:

  “Hidden blockers are beliefs that you hold. And what is a belief? A belief is a narrative that you tell yourself. ...The reason why they are hidden is because while they may have helped you in the past, they have become so habitual that you're not even aware that they're still operating...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [03:08]

2. How Do Hidden Blockers Reveal Themselves?

• Leaders may notice a gap between desired outcomes and reality, e.g., stagnating career, poor team performance, or personal frustration.
• Cues can be external (feedback, performance issues) or internal (burnout, unease, malaise).
• Quote:

  “If you're feeling frustration, if you're feeling burned out, if you're feeling some unease... that is also something you should be listening to. Behind that might be a belief... a hidden blocker, as I call them, that is getting in your way.”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [03:37]

3. The Common Types of Hidden Blockers

Through coaching 300+ leaders over two decades, Wilkins identified seven common hidden blockers ([07:35]):

1. I need to be involved
2. I need it done now
3. I know I'm right
4. I can’t make a mistake
5. If I can do it, so can you
6. I can’t say no
7. I don’t belong here

The episode focuses on several of these:

a. "I Need It Done Now"

• Creates a culture of urgency lacking prioritization; fuels burnout and toxic productivity.
• Quote:

  “The only person who feels like they're benefiting from it is the leader itself who holds that belief because they think that they are being productive. But in actuality, what's happening is toxic productivity...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [08:13]

b. "If I Can Do It, So Can You"

• Ignores differences in background, skills, and starting points—counterproductive to developing people.
• Quote:

  “All of these beliefs come from a good place. The intent is good. ...but the assumption there is that what the person is bringing to the table is exactly what you bring to the table, which runs completely counter to developing people 101...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [09:53]

c. "I Can't Make a Mistake"

• Stifles innovation and risk-taking; fuels paralysis, indecision, lack of delegation.
• Quote:

  “The I can't make a mistake belief really gets in the way of being able to move forward... We become concerned about making decisions, ...it can lead to changing courses too often, instead of trying to follow through...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [11:43]

4. Why Change If You Can Succeed With Blockers?

• Blockers can still allow for promotions, but limit leaders’ long-term impact and satisfaction.
• Impetus for change usually comes from external consequences (e.g., feedback, team frustration) or internal discomfort.
• Quote:

  “The change doesn’t happen just from lying around and saying, oh, maybe today I’ll exact some change... You might not be responsible for the whole thing, but you certainly are responsible for one part of it...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [13:06]

Breaking Through: Muriel Wilkins’ 3-Step Process

Step 1: Uncover

• Notice dissonance between your desires and outcomes.
• Reflect on unhelpful recurring behaviors and emotional cues.
• Quote:

  “You’ve got to take a beat and ask yourself, what is happening right now? ...Let me reverse engineer it. What are the behaviors or actions I'm taking that are leading to the current outcomes? And then...what is the mindset that is driving that type of action and behavior?” — Muriel Wilkins (D), [14:22]

Step 2: Unpack

• Understand the origins and benefits of your belief.
• Don’t discard the belief immediately; “befriend” it and acknowledge its helpfulness in the past.
• Assess in which situations the belief is (or isn’t) serving you now.
• Quote:

  “The unpacking is, let me understand why this belief is even here. In a way, you're befriending it. ...If you can't understand when it is serving you, you ...have a higher risk of repeating it again in the wrong situations.”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [16:50]

Step 3: Reframe & Practice

• Consciously adopt a more productive belief suitable for present context.
• Develop personalized reframes (examples below).
• Practice noticing the old blocker and applying the new mindset “in the moment.”
• Quote:

  “If I pick up this new belief, if I've reframed it and I've moved from I can't make a mistake to I'm going to do the best we can with the resources that we have, ...what actions align with that?”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [18:47]

Practical Examples of Reframing ([19:56])

• "If I can do it, so can you" → "I will meet you where you are."
  • “[It’s] a different starting line. ...You're just taking a different path to get there.” — Muriel Wilkins (D)
• "I need it done now" → "I need it done now if it’s a priority / if it’s urgent."
  • “There’s a filter... which then turns [the belief] as not universal across every situation.” — Muriel Wilkins (D)
• "I know I’m right" → "I need to guide people to the right answer."
  • Success as a leader is not knowing the answer, but fostering others’ capacity to find it.

    “His job was no longer to just be a subject matter expert. His job was to lead in that organization.”
    — Muriel Wilkins (D), [22:22]

Applying and Sustaining Change

• Start with one blocker at a time.
  Wilkins recommends choosing either the most pressing or the most motivating to address ([24:09]).
• Practice, don’t “work” at it.
  Over time, self-correction becomes more instinctive, and leaders can coach themselves and others ([25:12], [25:44]).
• Coaching others:
  Begin with your own blockers, role model openness, and, when helping team members, ask reflective questions about their beliefs and assumptions instead of imposing feedback ([28:05]).

Organizational Impact

• Shifting culture:
  Overcoming hidden blockers at scale can drive culture change.

  “Organizational culture...is a collective set of beliefs. ...if everyone started to check, what are the beliefs that we're bringing in... that is what would then propel a real culture change in organizations...”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [29:35]

• Collective reframing:
  Teams can collaboratively identify and reassess shared beliefs and misaligned expectations for smoother collaboration and higher performance ([30:56]).

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• “You don't need to get rid of that belief. ...We certainly don't want to get rid of the belief of 'I can't make a mistake.' Because there are certain points in time where we need to hold on to that one.”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [15:27]
• “Underlying this is people mistaken that their beliefs are who they are. All of our beliefs are learned.”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [18:12]
• “If leaders can learn to coach themselves, it increases their ability to coach others, and it then increases their ability to face situations with more ease, which... would certainly make things easier for everyone else as well.”
  — Muriel Wilkins (D), [26:02]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:08] — What are hidden blockers?
• [07:35] — The seven most common hidden blockers
• [08:13], [09:53], [11:43] — Deep dives into specific blockers (“I need it done now,” “If I can do it, so can you,” “I can’t make a mistake”)
• [14:22] — The three-step unblocking process
• [16:50] — Importance of unpacking beliefs
• [18:47] — Reframing in practice
• [19:56] — Practical examples of reframing
• [22:22] — Case study: reframing “I know I’m right”
• [24:09] — Tackling multiple blockers / prioritizing
• [25:44], [26:02] — Self-coaching and leadership development
• [28:05] — Helping teams and direct reports with blockers
• [29:35] — Culture change: organizational and collective beliefs

Tone & Takeaways

The episode is conversational yet expert, encouraging curiosity, self-compassion, and practical action. Listeners are left with a sense that profound leadership growth is possible—not by overhauling “who you are,” but by gently surfacing and reframing the internal stories that subtly shape behavior. Both personal mastery and team/organizational excellence start with examining and updating the beliefs that drive our actions.