Who decides for you?—A shot of fearless culture #435

Your weekly dose of culture insights and exercises, one topic at a time.

Jul 29, 2026

Who decides for you?

We all think we make our own decisions. We like feeling in charge. After all, that’s what leading is all about.

But the truth is you’re often not. Your beliefs are.

Every time you let an assumption take over, you’re no longer deciding. Instead of evaluating facts, you let your beliefs tell you what to do.

You jump to conclusions. You see a colleague through a distorted lens instead of evaluating their actual behavior.

I’m not judging you. We all fall into this trap. Me too.

Sometimes we don’t even realize it. Other times we can’t. But surfacing our beliefs helps us become more aware, more attentive. I can’t promise your beliefs won’t take over. But I can promise you’ll be better prepared to catch yourself when they do.

Because if you treat someone like they can’t be trusted, they’ll stop trusting you. Treat your team as if they’re not committed enough, and eventually their commitment will drop.

You don’t get the team you have. You get the team you believe you have.

Our beliefs don’t stay in our heads. They show up in our decisions and what we pay attention to.

My invitation for this week: surface your beliefs before they flood your thinking.

Stay fearless, my friend.

Gustavo

This Week’s Article

→ You Get the Team You Believe You Have (it includes an exercise I use with executive teams)

In Case You Missed It

→ Culture Is Not Invisible—It’s Hidden in Plain Sight

Ask Your Team This

What belief about our team might be limiting our potential?

⚠️ Try This: The Real Reason

Pick a moment this week when someone at work annoyed you.

Write down why you think they did it. Your gut answer. Something like “they’re lazy” or “they don’t care.”

Now write a second reason for the same behavior, one that challenges your beliefs about them. "They're lazy" becomes "they're overwhelmed." "They don't care" becomes "they stopped believing anyone would listen."

The gap between those two reasons is your belief taking over.