349. The Leadership Truth You're Not Ready To Hear

Every person has a limited range of truths they are capable of accepting at any given moment. Maybe it's time to pry open your Overton Window.

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Imagine you’re in a room in the dead of winter in the village of Overton.

It’s a brittle 0 degrees outside.
Inside, it’s 90 degrees, because the heater is stuck on “Hell Mode” and the repair guy is on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale.

You crack open a window in the hopes of finding that sweet spot between frostbite and rotisserie chicken.

Open the window too much and you freeze.
Open it too little and you’ll probably evaporate.
There’s a slim range where the temperature turns tolerable.

That’s not really the Overton Window, but it’s a damn good analogy.

It’s going to explain a lot about your leadership behavior, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

The Real Overton Window

Joseph Overton worked at a think tank in Michigan. He studied how public policy concepts move from “unthinkable” ideas to “acceptable”, without actually changing the policy idea.

Unfortunately, Joseph tragically died in a plane crash when he was 43 years old and never finished his work. His colleagues did it for him. They finalized his concept and ended up naming it the Overton Window, in Joseph’s honor. Cause that’s what solid bros do.

Here’s what it means…

The Overton Window defines the range of political ideas that a culture is willing to consider at any given moment in time.

Ideas inside the window are politically acceptable to society. Ideas outside the window are too radical to be accepted.

The important thing about the Overton Window, is that the range of acceptable ideas can - and will - change. We see it all the time.

As an example, US society in the 1800s was not ready to accept the idea of a racially integrated culture. But that Overton Window shifted and over a century later desegregation became a politically permissible platform to discuss.

The concept didn’t change, people’s acceptance of it did.

And this is where it starts getting interesting.

The Founder’s Overton Window

The same pattern that governs society’s acceptance of the truth, also governs business leaders.

Every person has a limited range of truths they are capable of accepting at any given moment.

I’m a leadership coach and a 3x entrepreneur. Because of my experience, I’m often called in to help founder-led companies navigate the complex dynamics of growth.

Oftentimes what the founder and their team think is the problem, isn’t actually the problem. It’s just a symptom.

My job is to quickly root out the real problem. And it usually starts and ends with the CEO.

But it’s a delicate dance.

Like the temperature dilemma we discussed at the top, if I open the window too wide and reveal too much truth too fast, the founder will freeze. They shut down and I’ve lost them.

But if I barely open it, they stay overheated with ego and never expand their self-awareness.

My job is to find the range of what they currently can handle… and then slowly expand it. This has to be done carefully, intentionally, and with precision.

That’s the dilemma of the Founder’s Overton Window.

The dilemma is that the founders window is usually so narrow that they don’t want to acknowledge the root cause of the company’s problems.
In most cases, the root cause is them.
So they are invested in keeping the window as closed as possible.

I help them shift that window so they eventually acknowledge and accept the truths.

But this isn’t just about founders. It’s also about you.

The Leader’s Overton Window

Leaders love feedback.
In theory.

They hate feedback in practice. The Leader’s Overton Window explains why:

People can only process the truths they are emotionally ready to hear.
Anything outside that window feels like an attack, even if it’s accurate.

Leaders and their team cultures don’t change because you tell the truth. Leaders and their team cultures change when you expand the window enough that the truth becomes tolerable.

Why the Overton Window is Important To Your Career

There are two ways the Overton Window impacts your career and, dare I say, your life.

1. The window of the people you lead

Your job is to create enough psychological safety that your people can open their own window wider — far enough to receive honest feedback, direction, accountability, and support.

Great leadership isn’t forcing truths down people’s throats. It’s about widening windows so they are ready to hear it.

2. Your own Overton Window

And then there’s you.
Your beliefs.
Your habits.
Your “I’m right because I’ve always done it this way” logic.

Your perception of yourself is limited to the size of your own window. If you want to grow, you have to widen your window.

You have to be open to constructive feedback and the truth that you may not always be right.

It’s not always easy opening that Overton Window, but it’s worth it. You will see a world you never knew existed before.

You see, the window metaphor isn’t about comfort — it’s about unlocking the possibility inside you. It’s about confronting the things that are stopping you from living the life you want to live.

When you widen your window, you don’t just let in new ideas - you create new versions of yourself.

The kind who leads better.
Listens better.
Lives better.

You can’t grow with the window barely cracked.
You can’t lead with the window nailed shut.
And you sure as hell can’t build a great company culture when everyone’s windows are painted close.

So crack your window open a little wider this week.
Ask for feedback.
Actually listen to it.
Let it land.

I guarantee you’ll see things you never thought could be seen before.

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll discover that the temperature outside isn’t as unbearable as you once thought.

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