How to Break Free from Limiting Beliefs and Evolve Your Leadership Mindset

Reflection and change are essential parts of personal and professional growth, but knowing where to start can feel overwhelming.

In this episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast, we speak with Bonnie Wan, author of The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living, to explore how leaders can navigate uncertainty, lead with authenticity, and embrace bold action.

Drawing from her 30-year career as a brand strategist turned life and leadership strategist, Bonnie shares insights and activities to help leaders develop a powerful leadership mindset. She guides them in crafting their own Life Brief—a framework for intentional, value-driven decision-making. Bonnie also discusses the power of permission and choice, overcoming limiting beliefs, and building a creative mindset.

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A Tool For Clarifying Your Leadership Ambitions: The Life Brief

The Power of Choice in Leadership

Ask the Right Questions to Unlock Leadership Clarity

Eulogy Prompt: Imagine Your Legacy

How to Identify Limiting Beliefs

An Exercise for Reframing Your Leadership Mindset

Why Creativity is Key to Leadership Success

How To Build A Creative Mindset

How to Start Taking Action Toward Growth

A Tool For Clarifying Your Leadership Ambitions: The Life Brief

As a brand strategist, Bonnie helps companies clarify their essence and ambitions through a creative brief—a one-page distillation of why they exist and what they aim to achieve. The creative brief is returned to again and again over the course of a project to ensure the team’s actions align to their vision. A Life Brief applies this same process to individuals, helping us clarify what matters most and take intentional action.

To create your own Life Brief, start by identifying a key focus area, such as leadership, relationships, or personal growth. The process is about understanding your deepest values and aligning them with the boldest goals you have. With clarity in mind, you’ll be empowered to take courageous action toward your aspirations.

“It’s about distilling our truth and aligning it with our boldest ambitions,” she explains. "Clarity is the key to courage and our compass in the storm."

"Don’t hand over your authority to anyone else. You are wiser and more capable than you believe."
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

The Power of Choice in Leadership

Effective leadership requires the courage to make intentional, value-based decisions—even in uncertain times. Leaders who can do so are better equipped to inspire confidence and resilience within their teams.

“Choice is the most profound power we have,” Bonnie says. Choice is not only a tool for decision-making but also a source of personal agency. “Even when we can’t control a situation, we can choose our attitude, perspective, and actions.”

“We’ve often been conditioned to believe our choices are limited. Expanding our sense of choice allows us to live creatively and courageously.”
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

Ask the Right Questions to Unlock Leadership Clarity

“As a strategist, questions are my best friend,” Bonnie says of the ability of the right question to cut through the noise and unlock clarity.

Start your Life Brief with this penetrating question:

What do you want that you haven’t allowed yourself to admit?

Strip away external expectations – what your company wants, what your family expects – and explore your deepest truths.

Eulogy Prompt: Imagine Your Legacy

One of Bonnie’s favorite exercises for gaining clarity about your values is writing your eulogy. Imagining how you want to be remembered helps cut through the noise of daily distractions and focus on what truly matters. If your eulogy feels too heavy, envision your retirement party.

Try this exercise: Close your eyes if you’re comfortable. Who’s there? What kind of setting is it? Now imagine the speeches and toasts. What’s being said? What traits or qualities do they celebrate? How do people describe your impact on them? This is your leadership legacy.

Bonnie recalled a client who discovered, through this exercise, that his pursuit of fame and professional accolades had distracted him from what he valued most: deepening relationships with his family.

“When we start at the end, we see our lives through a lens of impact and legacy,” Bonnie explained. This perspective helps leaders align their actions with their core values.

"Reflecting on what you want at the end of your life reveals what truly matters to you right now."
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

How to Identify Limiting Beliefs

“We're all walking around with stories in our head about ourselves, the people we love, and how the world works,” Bonnie shared. “We have stories about power, money, relationships, and love. Limiting stories or beliefs are the ones that hold us back and keep us playing small.”

Limiting beliefs often stem from societal expectations, cultural norms, or personal experiences. These internalized narratives—such as “Leaders must have all the answers”—can prevent us from going after what we truly want.

To identify limiting beliefs, Bonnie says to reflect on moments of doubt or resistance. These often begin with phrases like I can’t, I’m not, or They won’t. Examples of limiting beliefs include:

“I’m not good enough to lead”
“Leaders must always have the answers”
“Failure means I’m not cut out for this role”

This practice helps us gain awareness of our limiting beliefs and direct attention to them. You'll start to notice the patterns you have around a limiting belief and all the ways it affects how you show up as a leader.

“When we change our stories, we change our lives.”
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

An Exercise for Reframing Your Leadership Mindset

Bonnie encouraged leaders to challenge limiting beliefs by naming them and reframing them into expansive possibilities. For example, instead of “Leaders need to be perfect,” consider: “Leaders inspire by embracing vulnerability.” As Bonnie puts it, “When we change our stories, we change our lives.”

Try this simple yet powerful exercise:

1. Identify a limiting belief: Write down a thought or story that has been holding you back.
2. Reframe it: Rewrite the belief five different ways, exploring alternative perspectives and possibilities.
3. Take action: Reflect on how a new mindset can influence your leadership decisions.

Why Creativity is Key to Leadership Success

Creativity isn’t just for artists—it’s a mindset and a muscle. “Creative people see challenges as opportunities or problems to solve,” Bonnie said. Leaders who cultivate creativity are able to approach problems with curiosity, navigate uncertainty, and inspire their teams to innovate. They are excited and invigorated by the chance to solve meaningful problems, which in turn gives them the stamina to push through when things get tough.

“We are in a world that is changing so fast,” Bonnie says of the need for creativity now more than ever. “All the traditional pathways and playbooks have evaporated. There is so much unpredictability and ambiguity.”

“Creativity is misunderstood. It’s not a skillset. It's not something you either have or you don't. Creativity is a mindset and a muscle. We need to exercise that muscle to strengthen it.”
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

How To Build A Creative Mindset

To build your creative muscle, Bonnie recommends experimenting with “tiny daily firsts”—small actions that stretch you beyond your comfort zone. Take a different route to work, hand over a meeting to someone else, or listen deeply instead of rushing to solutions. These seemingly small shifts can unlock new perspectives and possibilities, enabling leaders to approach challenges with fresh eyes.

“The enemy of creativity is our rational, practical, realistic selves,” Bonnie says of how often we dismiss promising ideas because we can’t yet see how to make them real. She compares it to the battle between our inner creator and inner producer. The producer is responsible for executing an idea, but the creator needs room to flourish before the producer comes in.

“When we are living creatively, we allow the juices of creative ideas to grip us and propel us forward before we kill them or throw water on them because our inner producer can't yet see how to make it happen.”
Bonnie Wan—Author of The Life Brief

How to Start Taking Action Toward Leadership Growth

Reflection is essential, but action transforms ideas into impact. Start with one bold step that aligns with your values. Bonnie encourages leaders to focus on progress rather than perfection: “Play to your minimum edge.” What’s the smallest thing you can do to take action on your goals? Make it so small it's inexcusable to skip it.

“What feels safe can be dangerous,” Bonnie warned. “What scares you becomes safe because you exercise the muscles to take leaps and stretch yourself to edges that you never thought were possible.”

Leadership is an ongoing journey of reflection, creativity, and action. By embracing choice, reframing limiting beliefs, and cultivating creativity, leaders can navigate uncertainty with confidence and clarity.

If you can, take some time to reflect on Bonnie’s provocation:

What would it look like to give yourself permission to be completely honest about what you want?

Key Takeaways:

Action Drives Leadership Growth: Start with small, intentional steps that align with your values.
Embrace Your Choices: Expanding your sense of choice enhances resilience and leadership clarity.
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone: Take bold, small risks to challenge yourself and grow.
Reframe Limiting Beliefs: Shift from “I can’t” to “How can I?” to unlock new leadership possibilities.
Leadership is a Journey: Consistent reflection and action will help you navigate uncertainty with confidence.

Ready to Evolve Your Leadership Mindset and Lead Change with Confidence?

Take the next step in your leadership journey with IDEO U’s Accelerated Change Leadership Certificate Program. You’ll learn a human-centered approach to leading others through change and creating impactful, lasting change. Sign up today to gain the skills and confidence you need to lead with purpose—and shape the future of your organization.

This summary was synthesized with the assistance of generative AI.

About the Speaker

Bonnie Wan
Bestselling Author of The Life Brief

Bonnie is creator and author of The Life Brief, a simple yet profound action-driving practice that helps people navigate life’s big decisions with clarity, creativity, and courage. The Life Brief applies the art and science of brand strategy to how we live our lives.

As a 30-year career Brand Strategist turned Life & Leadership Strategist, Bonnie not only helps some of the world’s most iconic companies innovate from a place of purpose, but also guides everyday people to live with greater intention and imagination. Bonnie is a Partner and Head of Brand Strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, one of Fast Company’s 2021 Most Innovative Companies In The World. She has been named AdAge’s Chief Strategy Officer of the Year and one of 100 Women to KNOW in America.