Blindspots: How to Grow Beyond Your Leadership Limits

You can be talented, driven, and deeply committed to God and still be blocked by one invisible problem: a leadership blind spot. We start with a simple picture most of us have lived through, changing lanes and missing the car you swear was not there, then connect it to the hidden habits and motivations that can quietly sabotage Christian leadership and business leadership.

We break down what a blind spot actually is, why human beings are poor self-assessors, and why Scripture keeps calling us toward humility and honest self-examination. Then we look at the real cost through biblical leadership examples, especially King Saul’s insecurity masked as control, contrasted with David’s willingness to own correction. Along the way, we connect the dots to modern leadership realities: culture, emotional regulation, trust, and the way unchecked patterns can destabilize teams and limit influence.

You will hear six common leadership blind spots that show up in companies and organizations everywhere: control, approval seeking, pride, busyness, emotional volatility, and spiritual bypassing. We also get practical about why we resist change, how to identify repeated patterns and emotional triggers, and how to build accountability systems like coaching, trusted peers, and clear feedback loops. Finally, we talk about creating an organizational culture where correction is normal, restoration is gentle, and growth becomes a shared expectation rather than a personal crisis.

If you want stronger self-awareness, healthier teams, and leadership that reflects biblical principles, press play and take notes. Subscribe, share this with a leader you care about, and leave a review telling us which blind spot you are committed to naming and correcting.

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Announcements

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host Harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to coming companies. Business words have been coming effective, efficient, and successful and commonly principles. Here's your host, Harold Milby.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Thank you for the kind introduction, Kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. I want to say thanks to all of you who've decided to uh download and listen to this podcast. And we hope that Christian Business Podcast is a is a part of your growth plan this year. We thank you for that. Uh as a Christian business leader or owner, our desire is to see that that you find true godly success by applying these biblical principles, biblical business principles uh to business concepts. That's what we hope uh that will happen, and and we hope that you'll be encouraged, enlightened, and empowered by what you hear each and every week, including today. You know, you are important to God's plan. He desires you to be blessed and successful because he wants you to be more influential to those around you. Now, this week I want to give a big shout out to Parl Western Cape of South Africa for so many downloads. Thank you so much, and thank you for being a part of the CBC community, and thanks to all of you uh who download this podcast on a regular basis. We appreciate you so very much, and we ask that you help us to grow this community by sharing this podcast with four to five uh people and uh by posting a link to this podcast on your Facebook and your LinkedIn pages. Now, don't forget to check out my latest book, Good Boss, Bad Boss, and its companion workbook. It has a workbook that goes with it. It's on Amazon, some other platforms, some bookstores. Uh so you can also find my book and workbook on my business website, uh, which is Harold Milby Trainer.com. And uh on my website, I've got a special bundle price uh for the workbook and the book when you purchase both of them together. So thank you for allowing me that commercial. Now

The Blind Spot That Wrecks Leaders

SPEAKER_01 2:20

let's get into today's uh topic. Uh have you ever driven a car and and then you were right in the midst of changing lanes uh only to hear a horn start blaring at you because somebody was in your blind spot. I mean, you looked, you checked, you thought you were clear, but you weren't. And that's kind of leadership. You know, when you don't what what you don't see about yourself can hurt you just as it can if you're in a vehicle and somebody's in your blind spot and you don't see them. It's just as important. And and as as leaders, we all hit seasons where you know either growth kind of stalls out or you begin to have some relationship strain uh with certain people. Uh maybe you've got teams that begin to maybe disengage a little bit, or you just seem to think, you know, seem to feel like that things are just beginning to plateau, you know. Um and we ask, you know, well, what's wrong? Am I doing everything I know to do? You know, that's the problem. You're doing everything you know to do, but what you don't know about yourself may be the thing that's holding you back.

What A Blind Spot Really Is

SPEAKER_01 3:40

So, first of all, what is a blind spot? Well, a blind spot is is really it's just kind of a behavior or it could be a mindset or an attitude or a pattern in your life that kind of limits your effectiveness. And you can't see it yourself very clearly. You know, psychology confirms this. You know, human beings are notoriously poor self-assessors. Uh we we just are not good at trying to assess ourselves and see where we're at. You know, Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart of the heart is deceitful above all things. Uh Proverbs 16 and 2 says, all a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. So again, even the Bible talks about the fact that that we're not very good at accessing our own lives. Uh we're not very good objective observer observers of ourselves. You know, imagine if you're wearing glasses and they've got a smudge, right? And you don't see the smudge, and because you don't see the smudge, then you think that the it that everything, you know, is blurry. You think your eyesight is blurry. And so what happens is the same thing. Blind spots in your life kind of distort reality without you even reeling, uh realizing it.

A Counseling Wake Up Call

SPEAKER_01 5:05

You know, I can tell you back some 20-some years ago, I had a major issue that popped up in my life uh between me and my family and and some things. And um, you know, I I decided uh that I I wanted to go to counseling. And uh so I I went to counseling, and within a couple of sessions, what happened to me was incredible, uh, first off. But uh what I found was when I got out of the second session, I saw some things about myself that I had never ever realized. And the best way I could explain it, it's like walking outside of a prison for the very first time, and you walk out and you turn around and look behind you, and you see this prison, and that's when you realize, my gosh, I have been living in a prison and I never knew it. That was the experience that I had when I began to have a revelation and a self-awareness of my blind spots. And those blind spots were creating a ton of bad effect in my life, in my personal life, especially. And so it's important for us to look at those blind spots.

Saul David And The Cost

SPEAKER_01 6:29

You know, when you look at the biblical example of King Saul, you know, Saul's blind spot was insecurity. And he took and he masked that in this uh that insecurity with control. See, he he couldn't even celebrate David's success. He feared he would lose his position. Uh he would rationalize his disobedience to God. You know, 1 Samuel 15, Saul insists that he obeyed God, even though he clearly did not. He clearly did not obey God because, you know, first of all, Samuel said, wait for me. And then he also uh told him that the Lord had told him to destroy everything. And that's when Samuel said, Well, if you did that, then why do I hear the bleeding of the sheep? Why do I hear the sheep? And uh and Samuel said, Well, I just kept the best ones because we were going to sacrifice those to the Lord. And Samuel said, But that's not what God said. So he he he tried to uh you know rationalize that. So his blind spot really cost him because it cost him his kingdom, it cost him his peace, and it cost him his legacy. So, so why, you know, why blind spots hold leaders back is a question that I want to talk about just for a little bit because blind spots affect your decision making, it'll affect your relationships, it'll affect your culture, it'll affect your strategy, it'll affect your emotional stability. You know, Peter Drucker said one time, he said the greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it's it's it is to act with yesterday's logic. You know, blind spots keep us operating with outdated internal logic, if I can say it that way. It's like operating a computer with outdated uh operating system. Uh, you know, you you can look at uh um, you know, Travis uh Kalinick of Uber. He was a very brilliant visionary, but he had this massive blind spot in culture and emotional regulation. And so he was forced to resign. You know, his skill built a company, but his character and his blind spots just completely destabilized uh the company. Uh, you know, you look at uh David, David had a blind spot. He had this entitlement, this unchecked desire. Uh he didn't see how power had shifted his heart. Uh and Nathan had to confront him. And Nathan came to him, and of course, David recognized it when David showed it to him, or Nathan showed it to him, and and David called out and said, I have sinned against the Lord. Now you contrast that with Saul. You know, David corrected himself, but Saul defended himself. Big difference. So blind spots destroy leaders who defend those very same blind spots. So why we find, you know, little blind spots in our lives, it seems like we can see those, but and and we can fix those, but it's the big blind spots that we tr struggle with. You know, we we'll admit things like, well, I can be impatient or I sometimes I overwork, uh, but we don't want to admit pride or maybe control. We don't want to admit things like insecurity. No, I'm a leader, I'm secure, and and a lot of leaders are very insecure. Uh maybe there's a great need for approval that drives them or a fear of failure. Because the large blind spots typically are tied to our identity, which makes them so much harder to deal with. You know, it's like an iceberg. You know, there's 10% that's visible, but 90% is below the surface. Uh, you know, so spot uh small blind spots live above the water, but the large ones kind of shape the entire structure below the water. And so we need to deal with those. You know, Peter thought his strength, he really thought his strength was loyalty, uh, but his blind spot was overconfidence because Jesus said, before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times. And Peter said, Oh, there's there's no way. Uh he could see other people's weaknesses, but he couldn't see his own. And so we know what happened there. You know, he he denied the Lord just like he said he

Six Leadership Blind Spots

SPEAKER_01 11:05

would. So there's six really common blind spots, and I want to talk about these real quick. Uh, there's more than this, but there's six common leadership blind spots. The first one is the control blind spot. Uh, and they and they say things like, Well, I'm just holding people accountable. And the reality is you just don't trust other people. You know, Exodus chapter 18, Jethro, uh Moses' father-in-law, confronts Moses and he he tells him straight out, he said, What you're doing is not good. Because Moses was overfunctioning. He he he was he was trying to do it all. He he didn't delegate, he he didn't trust people to do it, um, and then you know, he was just in complete control. And so uh Jethro explained to him what he needed to do, and that was to create leaders of tens, fifties, and hundreds and thousands, and then uh have those people do work that you don't need to do, and only the really, really important things would people bring to you. And that correction really saved his leadership. It saved his leadership, it saved his leadership uh longevity. Uh, that's what helped Moses. But the control blind spot is a big one. Uh, the second one is the approval blind spot. And I'll start that by saying what Galatians 1 and 10 says. It says, Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Approval-driven leaders, they they really will avoid the hard conversations, they'll delay correction, they'll tolerate uh um uh mediocre um performance. Uh, because why? Because they don't want to deal with it because they want to have the approval of everyone. And sometimes, as a leader, not everybody approves of what you're doing, but regardless, you're the leader and you have to make those tough decisions. Another blind spot I mentioned was uh the pride blind spot. You know, Proverbs 16, 18 says pride goes before destruction. John Maxwell says the greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one. You know, make a mistake. Uh, and and and that's a complete blind spot. Pride hides behind competence. So if we are really, really competent, um, you know, we we kind of look at that and say, see me, see what I've done, see what I can do. It's just a it's a pride issue. It's an issue of pride. Um, and then there this is another one that we don't talk enough about. It's it's the busyness blind spot. The busyness blind spot. Um being busy doesn't mean you're being productive. But in a in a lot of ways, it can mean that you're being distracted. You know, I I I try to keep myself when people say, hey, how are you doing? Oh, I'm real busy. I, you know, I try not to say that because you you can you can get into a place in your mind where you equate busyness to being productive, and it's totally different. That doesn't mean you're being productive. And some people keep themselves busy, so they distract themselves from other things. Um, you know, it's just not the same. You know, uh many of the Christian leaders out there, they they confuse activity with fruitfulness. Two different things. Two different things. Um, another blind spot is the emotional blind spot, the emotional blind spot. You think you think you're passionate, but your team is thinking you're just volatile. You know, uh Proverbs 29.11 says fools give full vent to their rage. You know, Elon Musk has been publicly transparent about his intense leadership style, and that has impacted a lot of people's perception uh about him, but but he recognizes some things about himself. Uh another is the the spiritual bypass blind spot. In other words, you use spirituality to avoid accountability. Well, I'm praying about it. You know, we'll say, well, I'm praying about it. Instead of confronting it, you know, well, I'm praying about it. You know, James 1.22 says, do not merely listen to the word, but do what it says. I think that's important. So, so why do we not correct blind spots, even when we see them?

Why We Avoid Correction

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Uh, why do we not correct them? I think this is really critical because I think there's several major reasons. One is ego. Uh, you know, when you admit that you have a blind spot, it kind of threatens your identity. Um, so we're trying to protect that ego. Uh the second is uh there's some kind of a gain there. Your blind spot benefits you somewhere. Control gives you power. And, you know, maybe if you have control uh or if you're a control person and that's your blind spot, it gives you a sense of power. Well, that's just a secondary gain. That's a something that benefits you. Uh anger, uh, maybe you feel like anger it gives you dominance or busyness validates you. Uh it there's a gain there. You're getting something from it, and that's why you won't deal with it. Another one is uh just familiarity. I mean, you know, if you're familiar with this blind spot, it feels normal. It feels like, well, what do I need to change? I feel good, I this is normal, uh, you know, but that can really cause you not to deal with a blind spot. Another one, a big one, is fear of change, you know, because correction is going to require a certain amount of humility. Uh, it's gonna require a certain amount of change in your life. And most people struggle with change. You know, we all talk about, yo, we know we're looking forward to change. You know, I've been through a couple of company mergers uh before in my past, and everybody talks about how great the new company is and they're looking forward to the changes they make. And they all say that in the beginning, but then when the changes start affecting them and their position and what they're doing, oh boy, change isn't so great anymore. So there's a fear of change. You know, Jim Collins said one time, he said, great leaders display a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. So you're gonna have to have and understand it's gonna require some humility to actually deal uh and change uh these blind spots.

How To Identify Your Blind Spots

SPEAKER_01 17:44

So how do you identify your blind spots? Well, I think first thing you have to do is invite confrontation. You gotta invite it. You know, Proverbs 27 and 6 says, Faithful are the wounds of a friend. So you need to ask people that you trust, not just everybody in your organization, but certain people. And you can ask things like, Well, you know, where do I frustrate you? Uh or you could say, uh, what do I try to overdo? Or where do I underperform in relationships? You know, ask some hard questions. Uh another thing that you need to do is study your patterns. You know, if you are are uh repeatedly having conflict with people, that's a strong indicator, a very, very strong indicator. What are your patterns? So you have to look at those and and and try to see what those patterns are. You know, well, it just seems like, you know, uh every time I hire somebody for this position that works closely with me, you know, they work for me and then they just don't work out. You know, a month they just don't work out. Well, why is that? If it's over and over and over again, it's probably you, to be quite honest. So you've probably got a blind spot that you can't see. Uh another one is you need to track your emotional triggers. So what are what are your strong emotional reactions? What are they and and and what causes them? Because a lot of times those strong emotional reactions will signal like a hidden insecurity. So you need to track what those emotional outbursts are or these emotional triggers. What are these triggers? What are they? Because that's a good sign of what uh could be a blind spot in your life. And then spiritual reflection, you know, uh Psalms 139 and 23, it says, Search me, O God, and find if there be any wicked way in me. You know, search me. You know, let the Lord speak to your heart. Find out what it is that you feel like that God is saying to you, be open and honest to what God has for you. Because when you when you have the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life and you feel convicted over some things, let me tell you something. That blind spot will begin to shrink. And so you need to you need to look at that as well. So,

How To Overcome Blind Spots

SPEAKER_01 20:05

how do you overcome these blind spots? Well, you you gotta name them, first of all. You gotta put a name on it. You know, you can't defeat what you won't define. So you have to you have to define it first. What is it? What's this blind spot? Is it control? Is it fear? Um what is it? What what is that blind spot? So put a name to it. And then you gotta own it. That's the next thing. You have to own it, and you have to own it publicly when that's appropriate. Now the only one that's appropriate. Um, you know, leaders should always be first in in in with regard to humility. They should always be first. You know, Patrick uh Lincioni said trust is built when leaders are vulnerable. And I know that to be true personally. And then you need to build some accountability systems. Um maybe you get a maybe you get an executive coach or a leadership coach, uh, life coach. Uh that's one of the things that I do. I'm a coach, uh, and I have clients and I have indiv you know clients that I coach personally, but I have leadership uh people uh that I coach them in leadership. Um and so I do that, and I have some other things as well. But but get a coach, find a coach, find somebody you trust. Uh maybe you've got some peers that you feel like you can be accountable to. What about your spouse? You know, your spouse, they'll they'll give you honest feedback, sometimes more than we want, sometimes more than we want, but but our spouse typically will give us really good feedback. I know my wife is very good about giving me good, honest, loving feedback, and that's the key. You know, Ephesians 4 21 through 24 says assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceit. Desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So, what am I saying here? Well, I'm I'm talking about replacing behavior. So once you know and you recognize that that blind spot, now you've got to replace it. You have to replace the behavior, just as this passage just said in Ephesians. So it's you don't just stop it, but you've got to control it. You've got to replace that bad behavior. Uh another thing is, is you've got to practice uh correction, slow correction. You know, sanctification is the act the Bible uh talks about being sanctified. Uh it is a separating of yourself, a setting aside of yourself for the Lord. You know, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 and 4 says, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. It's a separation of yourself. Um and so that happens slowly uh over time. You work on things, you work on this, and then you move to the next thing, and then you work on this and you and you move to the next thing. It's so, so important uh that you do that. And uh that's how that's how you're going to deal with these blind spots that we have in life.

Build A Culture Of Feedback

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Um you know, and then I think it's important. If you if if you and I have blind spots, that means that we have people in our companies and organizations that have blind spots, right? So it stands to reason that we need to build a culture that helps people see and correct blind spots. So how do how do you do that? How do you create this kind of a culture that works and allows for us to work on those blind spots? Well, first of all, you need to communicate your desire to help others become better versions of themselves by helping them deal with blind spots. You know, add value to people. And you could do that with communication with them and helping them. And then you train other people in your organization on how to find and recognize blind spots and then realize it may require correction. So your organization needs to normalize correction. Now, Galatians 6.1 says that we should restore gently. So you don't want it to be where the hammer comes down and almost destroys somebody every time, but you do need to bring correction. So you need to create like feedback loops, you know, where people can give feedback and it comes through the right places and to the right people. Uh, maybe you want to do some anonymous surveys so you can kind of see the health of your organization. Make sure you have open door policies where people can come in and talk honestly. Uh, open door doesn't mean they can come in anytime they want to, let me say that. But it does mean that that door is always open for any kind of communication. Uh so you want to have that kind of a policy. And then make sure that you have leadership reviews that look at every aspect of them. And to that way you can try to help them not just to be a better performer for the company, but to be a better person, to help them be a better person. Because remember, you know, correction is not punishment. It's it's it's refinement. It's refinement. You know, it's like refining gold. You know, heat reveals impurities, and then correction removes those impurities. You know, Jesus is a great model of that. He created, uh he corrected uh Peter, he corrected uh James and John, he corrected the Pharisees, he corrected the disciples when they were arguing about who was the greatest among them. Uh, but it was always from the standpoint if it uh from the standpoint of his desire to redeem them, to add value to them, to encourage them. So, you know, know this. You're never gonna grow. You're never gonna grow beyond the level of your blind spots. Let me say that again. Let that impact you. You will never grow beyond the level of your blind spots. What you don't see about yourself, it's gonna limit your influence, it's gonna shrink your leadership, and it's gonna restrict your calling that God's put on your life. Uh, but here's here's the hope. Here's the hope. Blind spots that become exposed are blind spots that are weakened. So you want to expose them. You know, and God, remember this: God is more committed to your growth than your comfort. God's not there to make you comfortable, he's there to help you to grow. You know, Proverbs 12 and 1 says, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. So you need to ask God to reveal those blind spots to you. Invite honest feedback, and study some repeated patterns, maybe correct uh with humility, and build this culture of restoration. You know, Andy Stanley said leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say. Now you let that sink in. So listen, you're called, you're capable, but you're not complete, and that's okay. Because the Holy Spirit specializes in revealing what we cannot see. What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. But what God reveals, he always redeems.

Final Challenge And Prayer

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Lord, thank you today for those who downloaded and listened to this podcast. Lord, let something have really impacted them today and let them begin to completely be honest with you and themselves. Lord, help us all, Lord, to see that vulnerability is not a weakness, Lord, it's a strength. Lord, help us to make a conscious uh decision to not only find these blind spots, but also help us, oh Lord, to do something about them. And Lord, we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, again, thank you for downloading and listening to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. And it looks like we're out of time. So until next time, remember, Jesus is Lord and He wants you blessed.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Thank you for tuning in to this week's Christian Business Concepts Podcast. Go to Christian Business Commoncepts.com for more information and resources. Your personal and your level of success.