You don't see it, but its running your business (& your life) 🙈
Here’s my thought of the week…
If you don’t unearth what’s hidden inside yourself, you’ll build it into everything you do and create.
This shows up everywhere:
In business.
In conversations.
In relationships.
In culture.
In the systems we swear are “necessary.”
I’ve seen companies adopt systems that seem wildly convoluted — I remember one in particular, I looked at them and wondered, “Who made this so complicated? And what on earth were they thinking?” 🙅🏼♀️
And then I met the leader…
And it all made perfect sense. 🤦🏼♀️
Those systems weren’t built for the business.
They were built to soothe the leader’s internal noise.
The parts of them that craved safety, certainty.
The parts that needed control, validation, or to avoid a fear they couldn’t name.
The systems became armor. 🛡️Comfort.
But here’s the catch:
When systems are built around a leader’s blindspots — instead of their brilliance —they don’t scale. They suffocate.
They create burnout (people running faster and faster to nowhere).
They create bottlenecks (everything stuck behind one person’s fear and full inbox).
They create bureaucracy (endless permission loops to satisfy hidden anxieties).
And let’s be honest:
Some of these systems are so exhausting, even thinking about them burns you out. Amiright?
And the worst part...
This particular executive had such good intentions and they were absolutely brilliant at their craft (marketing). Truly, virtuoso, master, Jedi level brilliance.
But, they grew into this exec level role with a rapidly scaling company and even though they wished to have more time for growth work, didn’t make it a priority.
The problem was that they didn’t realize that their lack of growth—manifesting as their need for control, final sign off, to touch everything—was the problem.
It was the quicksand that kept their people stuck.
They didn’t realize that their company could only ever grow (with healthy metrics) as fast as they grew (out of the internal noise holding them back).
I see it time and time again. It’s an unfortunate reality. But it doesn’t have to be.
A Quick Personal Story
The first psychology book I ever read was Carl Jung. I was just a teenager.
It wasn’t an assignment from school. It was all on my own. It was me finding my way.
It was the beginning of my 🤓 dork era (that still hasn’t ended). And it led to a trip down the Jung rabbit hole… that also hasn’t ended.
Years later, I found myself repeating this everywhere— on stages, in interviews, on retreats that I ran:
“If we don’t unearth what’s hidden inside of ourselves, we will build it into everything we do.”
It fit when speaking on entrepreneurship, culture, legacy, communication, leadership…
I thought it was my quote. Turns out, it had been living in my subconscious the whole time — a paraphrase of Jung’s original wisdom.
Funny how the things that shape us most (positive or negative)… slip right under our conscious radar. Just like the patterns we unknowingly build into our businesses.
I’m lucky that this was a positive example. But in my 14,000+ hours coaching leaders at over 400 companies around the globe, I’ve seen a lot of examples that aren’t quite as useful.
The sad truth (and a new way forward)
Most leaders don’t even realize they’re doing it.
Because no one taught them how to dig deep enough to see it.
That’s why BRAVE® has such successful outcomes.
Not to slap another system on top of the chaos —but to unearth the invisible roots shaping the chaos.
To help leaders see where internal noise is building external noise.
And to teach a language — a framework — for leading with clarity, speed, and power.
When you shift what’s happening inside, you don’t have to force better systems, conversations, cultures or results.
You become the kind of leader who builds them naturally. Because you’re building from calm. From coherence. From courage.
Curious what noise you might be building into your business (or your relationships, systems, family, culture, etc.)?
We’re taking pre-registrations for our first ever BRAVE® Certification. It will begin late this year or early 2026. Want to join us? Raise your hand with a quick reply and I’ll send you some info!!
Let’s start uncovering our blindspots and BRAVE-ing them together.
To the moon!
Elisabeth
P.S. Remember, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - Carl Jung
Funny, isn’t it? The things we don’t even realize are living inside us… until we see how they shape what we build, how we lead, and who we become.
Final thoughts: What is hidden doesn’t stay hidden for long. Good or bad, it ends up running the show. Might as well meet it face-to-face — and lead from there. Right? Who's with me?!