Life moves fast when the average adult makes around 35,000 decisions a day.

Yep, you heard that right. Thirty-five thousand decisions. In one day. No wonder some of us feel exhausted without knowing why!

Most of these decisions are small: what to eat for breakfast, what to pack for lunch, whether the red shoes go with your outfit. But for business executives, some choices carry far greater weight — determining budgets, approving mergers, or reshaping company strategy.

Even with experience and intelligence, decision-making at the executive level can still feel overwhelming. Why? Because many barriers to good decisions come from deep-rooted thought patterns that shape how we interpret information, assess risk, and manage uncertainty.

Improving strategic decision-making starts with understanding those patterns. Executive leadership coaching helps leaders identify and reshape them, building the clarity, adaptability, and confidence needed to make sound, strategic decisions every day.

How Mindsets Harm Decision Making

From an early age, we develop mental shortcuts that help us make thousands of daily choices automatically. But many of these instincts can also undermine sound decision-making over time, especially for those in leadership roles.

Many of these thought patterns directly impact growth mindset and leadership development by reinforcing fear, rigidity, or short-term thinking — all of which undermine effective decision-making.

Here are three common traps that even strong leaders can fall into:

• Fear of failure. Avoiding risk may feel safe, but it prevents innovation. For an executive, that could mean passing up bold strategies that could move the organization forward.

• Short-term thinking. Focusing too heavily on immediate gains can sacrifice long-term sustainability and growth.

• Resistance to change. It’s human nature to prefer the familiar, but failing to embrace change leads to stagnation and missed opportunities.

Each of these mindsets represents natural human tendencies rather than flaws — but left unaddressed, they can cloud judgment and limit performance. Breaking free from them is challenging, but essential for anyone who leads at a high level.

A Growth Mindset and Leadership

One of the most valuable traits an executive can cultivate is a growth mindset and leadership perspective — a belief that skills, intelligence, and outcomes can be improved through effort, learning, and resilience.

This mindset helps counter the most common barriers to good decision-making. When leaders view failure as feedback instead of finality, they’re more likely to take calculated risks that lead to innovation. When they value long-term improvement over short-term comfort, they make decisions that strengthen their teams, their culture, and the broader organization.

A growth mindset also nurtures emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Leaders who embrace it understand their own strengths and limitations and have both the humility to listen and the confidence to act decisively.

Ultimately, adopting a growth mindset and leadership approach empowers executives to make decisions grounded in learning, collaboration, and strategic vision — not fear, ego, or impulse.

Developing this mindset isn’t easy, though. The mental patterns that hold us back are often invisible to us, shaped by years of habit and experience. That’s why many successful leaders turn to executive leadership coaching, which helps uncover and replace these limiting patterns with more effective, forward-thinking ones.

What Executive Leadership Coaching Can Do

The first step in building better decision-making habits is understanding the source of poor ones. Executive leadership coaching provides the framework to help leaders do exactly that.

Through personalized sessions, coaches help executives recognize when negative thoughts arise, identify their root causes, and replace them with strategies that foster clarity and confidence.

Key skills developed through executive leadership coaching include:

• Reframing challenges. Viewing problems as opportunities encourages innovation rather than avoidance.
• Clarity under pressure. Learning to calm mental noise helps leaders make rational choices during high-stakes moments.
• Mental agility and adaptability. Coaching builds flexibility, enabling leaders to pivot effectively when faced with change.
• Long-term vision. Shifting focus from short-term wins to sustainable strategies creates stronger organizations.
• Openness to innovation. By overcoming resistance to change, leaders become more receptive to fresh, creative ideas.

These are all core components of a growth mindset and leadership style — and real-world examples of leadership traits that inspire trust and drive performance across teams.

Start Your Journey Toward Better Decision Making

Few people are born with the mindset and skill set for exceptional decision-making, but anyone can develop them with the help of executive leadership coaching. 

Not every program is created equal. To achieve meaningful results, organizations need coaching grounded in behavioral science and proven techniques. 

That’s what sets The Pacific Institute’s coaching apart. Our consultants use mental technology based on cognitive and behavioral psychology to help leaders dismantle counterproductive habits and build stronger, more strategic thought patterns. With a flexible, four-step framework, we guide executives from self-awareness to sustainable decision-making success. 

Begin your journey toward better decisions today by downloading The Pacific Institute’s free ebook, The Keys to Decision Making.