Why Everyone in a Meeting Thinks They’re Right

It’s not arrogance.

It’s not ego. 

It’s simply how our mind works.

You walk into a leadership meeting. The agenda looks simple enough, but it doesn’t take long before people start defending their ideas like their career depends on it. Each person presents their plan as if it’s the obvious solution. The temperature rises, and the conversation turns into a power-play for dominance.

It feels like everyone is convinced their way is the only way.

It’s not arrogance. It’s not ego. It’s simply how our mind works. It’s often called the Ego Mind.

Each of us has only ever experienced life from one perspective - our own. That perspective feels complete because it’s all we know. When someone shares a different angle, it clashes with what the ego mind knows, and it reflexively dismisses it.

From the outside, it looks like stubbornness. On the inside, it feels like certainty.

When every person in the room is locked into this default pattern, progress slows to a crawl. Instead of ideas building on one another, they bounce off like billiard balls. Meetings run over, decisions get delayed, and the loudest voice often wins by sheer force, not by merit.

This is not a clever way to manage a meeting.

In every meeting, people will think they’re right. That’s not going to change. What can change is how you, as a leader, respond to your own ego voice.

The ego voice only runs you because you let it.

All you have to do is notice it. Just notice the chatter insisting you’re right, that urge to dismiss others. That’s the voice talking - not you - you’re the one listening to it. If you can watch it, it loses its grip over you.

The more you step back from that reflex, the more space opens for genuine listening and collaboration. That’s when the room moves from clashing certainties to creating solutions.

If you’re tired of meetings that waste time and energy, it’s time to lead them differently. Send me a message or visit www.darrenfleming.com.au to know more.