Permission to Change your Mind
By Sophie Makonnen
The Courage to Reconsider
We often praise leaders for conviction and consistency. But what about the ability to change your mind?
In most professional cultures, strength is associated with holding your ground, sticking to your guns, acting decisively, and moving forward without hesitation. We celebrate quick decisions and clear direction, sometimes forgetting that these traits can become rigid when overused. This stereotype of the strong leader leaves little room for reconsideration. In such a scenario, once a decision is made, changing course can be seen as a weakness, confusion, or loss of authority.
Yet leadership rarely unfolds along fixed lines. Circumstances evolve. New information emerges. Perspectives deepen. The ability to adjust, to pause, reflect, and, when needed, to change one’s mind comes into play, and it isn’t indecision. It’s discernment.
Flexibility requires just as much confidence as conviction, and maybe sometimes more. It takes a dose of humility to admit that something you once defended no longer fits, and a dose of curiosity to re-examine your reasoning without self-judgment. What if changing your mind was also an act of learning?
As I explored in Staying Present in Uncertainty, leadership is not about knowing everything; it’s about navigating what can’t always be known. And sometimes, that means being willing to see things differently than you did yesterday.
Why It’s So Hard to Change Your Mind
Being open-minded is usually seen as a good thing. We all like to think we are, don’t we? Yet how many times have we met someone who insists they are open-minded while also being completely certain they are right? I have had those conversations, too. You ask, “If you are open-minded, why not consider another view?” and the response comes quickly, often in the form of “Well, not in this case.”
It is easy to say we are open-minded when the topic feels safe. The challenge often appears when something we have said or decided no longer fits. There can be a quiet discomfort in realizing that what once seemed clear might now need to be reconsidered.
Part of the difficulty may lie in visibility. Once a decision has been shared, it becomes public territory. Others may have adjusted to it, built around it, or even defended it. Reconsidering it can feel like unravelling everyone’s effort. For those in leadership roles, the hesitation can be stronger. Many of us have learned that authority is tied to consistency, that conviction should not waver. Yet when circumstances evolve, holding firm for too long can quietly shift from steadiness to resistance, especially when the context no longer supports the original choice. To say I’ve changed my mind can seem risky for some and an embarrassment to appear unsure. But what if really signals awareness, noticing when the facts, the situation, or ourselves have evolved, and adapting to new circumstances ?
If you’ve ever sat in a meeting where the plan clearly isn’t working but no one wants to say it aloud, you know the relief that follows when someone finally does. What breaks the tension isn’t contradiction, it’s honesty.
What Changing Your Mind Actually Looks Like
Changing your mind rarely happens in a single moment; it's typically a gradual shift. This adjustment unfolds quietly through subtle changes in how we perceive situations, people, and ourselves. It may begin with a lingering question or an uneasy feeling, which we may ignore at first, until it demands our attention.
Over time, that habit of re-evaluation becomes a steady discipline, one that keeps both decisions and relationships connected to truth rather than appearances.
Changing your mind involves attentive listening, it is not hesitation. In leadership, reconsideration should be seen as thoughtful analysis, not a sign of weakness. It’s about responding to new information and recognizing when previous solutions no longer work. The aim is not to defend a stance, but to learn from the present moment.
Someone once quoted the line, perhaps wrongly attributed to Einstein, that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It’s a bit of a cliché in management circles, yet it still makes me laugh, mostly because of how often we do exactly that. We repeat strategies that no longer work, holding on to them because changing our minds feels riskier than continuing. I’ve been guilty of that more than once. The truth is, repetition isn’t the problem. Repetition builds mastery, discipline, and trust. The issue is when we keep repeating what no longer fits, hoping that effort alone will make it right. What separates perseverance from stubbornness is the willingness to pause and ask, Is this still working? Do I need to change my mind? Changing your mind doesn’t guarantee success, but refusing to do so guarantees you’ll keep circling the same result, no matter how hard you try.
When leaders change their minds thoughtfully, they inspire collective reflection. Admitting, “I have been rethinking this” or “I see it differently now,” encourages openness and shared responsibility. Flexibility from the top sets a tone for honesty throughout the team.
Confidence and presence help us notice when change is needed. As I explored in Confidence the Career Skill You can’t Afford to Ignore confidence is not the absence of doubt but the ability to move through it with awareness. And as The Power of Being Present reminded us, presence allows us to notice change as it happens rather than defending what once was. Sometimes experience, pressure, or new understanding reveals a part of reality we had overlooked.
What Happens after you change your mind
Changing your mind is part of leading. It is less a reflex than a skill. That skill develops over time. Doing it well means taking responsibility for what follows. People notice not just what changes, but also how they are shared. A decision rarely stands alone. It touches other people’s plans, work, and confidence.
When a leader simply says, “We are going in a new direction,” the silence is filled with uncertainty. Context matters. Explaining how you reached the new conclusion, what you learned, or what you observed helps others stay connected to purpose. It keeps them from guessing at motives. Transparency gives change coherence.
Handled this way, a shift of direction is more than a correction. It becomes a collaboration. It tells the team that thinking remains welcome and that learning continues. When change arrives without explanation, it feels abrupt. When it is shared with clarity, it feels alive.
Changing your mind is not just about rethinking. It is an act of leadership. It invites others to join the process of seeing differently.
Conviction That Evolves
Every decision reflects a moment in time. It shows the information we had, the conditions we faced, and the limits we couldn’t yet see. When those elements change, clarity has to change with them. That’s not inconsistency; it’s responsiveness. It’s what keeps leadership real.
We don’t lead by being right all the time. We lead by staying attentive to context and to people. We watch for signals that tell us when something needs rethinking. Conviction that never bends can become rigidity. Conviction that evolves becomes experience.
So much of leadership is about holding that balance. We must be grounded enough to act and flexible enough to adjust. When we change our minds with openness and integrity, we show others that learning doesn’t end when a decision is made.
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