The Science Behind Post-Decision Doubt
From Education Leaders | Strategic School Leadership by Shane Leaning | School Leadership & Organisational Development Coach
April 20, 2026 · 14 min · Episode 157
About this episode
Shane Leaning explores the psychological underpinnings of post-decision doubt in leadership, reframing it as a sign of commitment rather than a warning of failure.
That sickly feeling after a tough leadership call isn't your intuition warning you that you got it wrong and this episode explains exactly why. Drawing on Leon Festinger's 1957 work on cognitive dissonance, a 2021 meta-analysis from Hebrew University, and Kahneman and Tversky's research on loss aversion, Shane reframes one of the most common experiences in school leadership: the quiet panic that shows up on the sofa after a hard decision. If you've ever drafted a softening email at 11pm or lain awake running alternate endings, this one is for you. You'll learn why that post-decision discomfort is a receipt, not a warning, proof that your brain is doing the work of committing, not evidence that you chose wrong. Shane also explains why the loudest complaints after a change are predictably loud (loss aversion means losses feel twice as heavy as gains), and why suppressing the discomfort actually makes you a worse leader in the room. The practical takeaway is a single written exercise you can do this week that won't make the feeling stop, but will change what it means to you. Resources & Links Mentioned: Leon Festinger's A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957)…
People in this episode
Host: Shane Leaning
Topics covered
- cognitive dissonance
- leadership decisions
- loss aversion
- post-decision doubt
- school leadership
- emotional intelligence
Keywords
- cognitive dissonance
- leadership
- decision making
- loss aversion
- emotional discomfort
- school leadership
- Kahneman
- Tversky
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Hebrew University
Books & works: A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
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