When Success Stalls

Bottom Line Up Front: When success stalls, it's not the strategy. It's the mindset behind it. It took 20+ years of fueling business transformations.for me to learn a simple truth; our unconscious programming drives us to select the same patterns over and over. One impact? We literally can't see new opportunities because our way we’ve always done it mind programming patterns are running the show. 

When you break the patterns, you break through to even greater success.

I walked into my latest tech client with a familiar feeling. The energy in the building was buzzy—the feeling of smart people working incredibly hard yet somehow not happy about much.

The CEO greeted me with exhaustion masked as enthusiasm. "We just need to execute better," she said. "We know what to do, we just need to do it faster."

I'd heard this before. Many times. We’d see what we were about to discover. My hunch was that it was an entirely different story.

The Patterns We Were Never Taught

When success stalls, we naturally look to the usual suspects—execution issues, market conditions, competitive pressure or product problems.

That's our programming guiding us. We've been trained to see business challenges through these lenses because that's the way we've always done it. Others are too. 

Which opens an advantage for us. When we understand how our minds can create innovation, or hold us in the past.

What if the reality is different? What if our past success—the very experiences that got us here—creates the mental programming that limits our future innovation and success?

The Truth That Changes Everything

During my years studying neuroscience and mind mastery, I discovered something that transformed how I approach businesses.

We all operate from mental patterns—what I call mindware—that our unconscious mind creates based on our experiences. These patterns served us brilliantly. Until they don't.

Think about it. Every success creates a mental model: "This is how I can succeed!" Every victory reinforces our programming: "This is my super sweet spot."

We're not wrong. We are absolutely right—for that moment, that market, that opportunity.

Markets shift. Technologies evolve. Customer needs transform. More often than we know, our brilliant breakout strategies create the very patterns that keep us from seeing the new opportunity and reality in front of us.

Corporate Legends We All Share

Working with hundreds of companies, I've noticed we all develop what I call "corporate legends"—those unquestioned truths about how our business works. See if any of these examples sound familiar:

  • "That's the way we've always done it"

  • "Our customers expect us to..."

  • "We can't succeed without..."

  • "The market isn't ready for..."

  • "We tried that once and..."

These aren't character flaws or weaknesses. They're the natural result of pattern recognition—one of our greatest human strengths. Our minds are meaning-making machines, constantly creating models to help us navigate complexity.

FORGE EDIT THIS LINE ITS ROUGH DONT CHNAGE CONTEXT OR MEANING The challenge comes when those models become the thinking boxes we never question.

What I Learned From Global Clients

Here's the fascinating part: The patterns are remarkably similar across different companies, industries, and leaders. It's not about intelligence or experience—some of the brightest executives I know get caught in these patterns.

We ALL get caught in them.

The Confirmation Bias Trap: We are wired to prove we’re right. So we unconsciously seek data that proves our current approach, decision or belief is right. That software company growing 30% annually? They were so busy celebrating their model that they didn't see the new competitor about to transform their industry. By the time they noticed, market perception had shifted.  Instead of looking for what might be changing that would make them “not so right.” they kept proving what they knew to be true in the moment.  

The Competition Mirror: When we focus too intently on matching competitors, we lose sight of what made us unique. I watched a client allocate 35% of their development budget to matching features because "the competition has it."  When we asked their customer base how many of those features they wanted, the answer was a resounding “none.”   

The Blame Scanner: Our unconscious mind is designed with a primary goal -  keep us safe.  When things stall, our mental programming often defaults to finding what's wrong, scary, threatening. Instead of seeking models and innovation that becomes our next fuel. This isn't a character issue—it's how we're wired. But it keeps humans in defensive postures instead of innovative freedom.

Breaking Free: Simple Shifts, Profound Results

The cool part is pretty simple: The patterns that bind us can be broken. Easily. When you know how to do just that.  

Here’s a hint: It’s not through massive overhauls or months of analysis. I did that too.  Until I learned the far superior approach that is so much simpler.

A few examples? 

Shuffle the Deck: One of my favorite techniques. When we look at the same data the same way, we see the same things. Our unconscious mind expects it to be the same so we see the same. For example, the cost of goods report you look at week after week? You won’t notice changes until they are significant enough for your unconscious mind to realize it needs to recheck the actual data. By then, it may be too late.

When you change how information is presented—new formats, different angles, fresh perspectives— previously invisible patterns become visible. We already do it all the time with powerpoint.  Think about it.  How many times do you change a chart from pie to bar to stack to see which best presents the impact you want  your audience to get from those numbers?  Board pres anyone? 

Now do it for every report and spreadsheet you have, consistently shift the way the data is presented and watch what you discover.  

Prove Yourself Wrong: When you go do research, do you seek information that proves you’re right, or wrong?  We’re wired to prove we’re right -  so we naturally seek supporting information.  

Do this instead. Everytime you do research, ask a customer a question etc - stop seeking validation. Instead, consciously look for evidence that challenges your belief. Actively seek proof you’re wrong. 

The benefits? 

  • If you don’t find any evidence you’re wrong, then there’s a pretty good chance you are on to something. 

  • If you do find evidence you’re wrong -  you have the opportunity to shift, and avoid a lot of wasted time and money. 

  • You also learn  a LOT MORE when you search for what’s not in line with your thinking. Things you can apply to make your idea even better if it’s in the right direction.  Things that you can use to create a new direction if your current is wrong or less than you expected.

BTW, I guide teams to celebrate when someone finds a hole in the strategy. That's not failure—that's discovery and great big progress! 

Model What Works: We are wired to look for the threat, for what’s wrong, in every aspect of our lives. It’s part and parcel of our unconscious mind’s goal to keep us safe. 

Problem is that keeps us stuck in paying attention to whats wrong, broken not successful  which doesn’t fuel our success.  

Yes, you have to identify what’s wrong. But then -  instead of picking it apart in the blame game, tracking every single decision and action to “get to the bottom of it,” STOP.  Is that really productive after a certain point in time?  NO 

Do enough analysis to recognize what isn’t working and then…look for what’s succeeding.  Study just that —both inside and outside of your organization. 

BTW -  don’t just look in your industry and at your competition.  I know, we’ve been taught that’s the thing to do. Yet there are so many rich opportunities for innovation and growth in other industries -  where the programming about market, product, what can and can’t be done etc is oblivious to your tried and true. 

The Breakthrough Moment

In every transformation, there's a moment when the patterns become visible. We suddenly see what was hidden in plain sight. The energy shifts from frustrated effort to excited possibility.

That CEO I mentioned? Three weeks later, she called me laughing. "We were so busy executing our old playbook, we couldn't see the new game emerging. Once we recognized that pattern, everything began to shift."

They didn't change everything. They shifted three key assumptions about their market, adjusted their product strategy, and within six months were back to growth—stronger than before.

The Bottom Line

Success stalls not because we're doing something wrong, but because we're doing yesterday's right thing in today's brave and totally new world. 

The strategies that brought past success now limit our view.

The beautiful truth? We all have these patterns. And we all have the ability to recognize and shift them.

When you're ready to see around the corners that your current patterns hide, when you want to break through to the next level of success, that's when transformation begins.

Because here's what I know after 300+ clients: 

Your next breakthrough is rarely hidden in more effort or better execution. It's waiting just beyond your current pattern of thinking, seeing and believing.

Ready to discover what that might be?