{"id":5661,"date":"2026-02-17T04:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/?p=5661"},"modified":"2026-02-17T04:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:28:13","slug":"the-most-dangerous-four-word-sentence-in-your-office-is-what-do-we-do-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2026\/02\/17\/the-most-dangerous-four-word-sentence-in-your-office-is-what-do-we-do-now\/","title":{"rendered":"The most dangerous four-word sentence in your office is: &#8220;What do we do now?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I watched a new TV show last weekend, and there it was again. The line that, once you notice it, ruins almost every script it touches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;What do we do now?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want you to watch this short clip of Reese Witherspoon explaining exactly why this four-word sentence is so toxic. It is a masterclass in identifying the subtle ways we give away our power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JKKRBnpDpBY?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I heard Reese talk about this, I never truly &#8220;heard&#8221; the line. It was just background noise. I never considered it a problem, let alone a symptom of something deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the definition of a blind spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know. Often, the things we are missing are the very things that would make the most difference in our growth. In movies, this line strips a character of their agency. In the workplace, it does something even worse. It turns high-performing professionals into passengers who are simply waiting for a driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you see this pattern, you cannot unsee it. You start to notice it in meetings, in emails, and in the way teams lean on their leaders. It is the sound of potential stalling out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We usually think of blind spots as embarrassing or dangerous. We treat them like bugs in our software that need to be patched immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here is the reframe: The moment you identify a blind spot, you have found your next level of performance. The &#8220;What do we do now?&#8221; feeling is a signal. It isn&#8217;t a sign that you are failing: it is a sign that you have reached the edge of your current &#8220;map.&#8221; When you feel that urge to ask for directions, you aren&#8217;t actually lost. You are just standing at the frontier of your own agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The discomfort you feel when you realize you&#8217;ve been &#8220;scripted&#8221; is actually the birth of a new leadership capacity. It is the transition from a Fixed Mindset (waiting for the right answer) to a Growth Mindset (creating the answer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you realize that \u201cWhat do we do now?\u201d is a signal of a blind spot, you have to decide how to respond to it in real-time. Whether the words are coming out of your mouth or someone else\u2019s, the goal is the same: move from Passive Waiting to Active Intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When you hear yourself saying it<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It usually happens when you\u2019re tired, overwhelmed, or facing a problem you haven\u2019t seen before. Your brain wants to offload the cognitive load to someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Pivot:<\/strong> Catch the question before it leaves your lips. If it does slip out, immediately follow it with: \u201cWait, let me rephrase that. Based on what I see, I think our best move is X. What am I missing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The \u201cI Intend To\u201d Rule: <\/strong>Practice the habit of never presenting a problem without a proposed next step. Even if you are 90% sure your idea is wrong, stating an intent forces your brain back into the driver\u2019s seat. It changes your posture from a passenger to a navigator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Intent is not &#8220;The Answer&#8221;:<\/strong> This isn&#8217;t about being a lone genius. Stating an intent can be as simple as saying, &#8220;I intend to pull the team together this afternoon to analyze our options.&#8221; By doing this, you aren&#8217;t waiting for a boss to tell you when to collaborate. You are designing the conditions for the solution to emerge. You are owning the process, even if you don&#8217;t own the final answer yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When you hear your team saying it<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the \u201cAnswering Machine\u201d trap. When a report or a coworker asks you what to do, your ego wants to provide the answer. It feels good to be the expert. But every time you provide the \u201cfix,\u201d you are accidentally training them to remain in the blind spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Create the Container:<\/strong> Instead of giving the answer, hold the space for theirs. Use what David Marquet calls \u201cThe Ladder of Leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Reflection Technique:<\/strong> When they ask \u201cWhat do we do now?\u201d, respond with: \u201cThat\u2019s a critical question. Before I share my perspective, I want to hear yours. If you were in total control here, what would your first move be and why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adjust and Decide Together:<\/strong> This isn\u2019t about leaving them stranded. It\u2019s about collaborative adjustment. Once they share their intent, you can say: \u201cI like that logic. Let\u2019s tweak this one part to account for X, and then let\u2019s run with it.\u201d You are no longer giving orders: you are refining their leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Banish the &#8220;Answering Machine&#8221; response.<\/strong> Next time you or your team feels stuck, remember that the goal isn&#8217;t to be right. The goal is to be active. Replace &#8220;What do we do now?&#8221; with <strong>&#8220;I intend to&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong> even if that intent is just to gather the right people to solve it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Coaching Prompt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Grab a notebook or bring these to your next 1-on-1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Reaction Audit:<\/strong> The last time a team member suggested a &#8220;wrong&#8221; course of action, did you shut it down or did you explore their logic?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Safety Check:<\/strong> Does my team know what &#8220;safe to fail&#8221; looks like in this project? Or do they feel they only have one shot to be right?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The &#8220;I Intend To&#8221; Challenge:<\/strong> How can I encourage my team to start their updates with the phrase &#8220;I intend to&#8221; this week?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thank you for reading the Emerging Leadership Newsletter<\/strong> Each edition explores one idea that helps leaders create organizations where people take responsibility and deliver impact. If this resonates with you, feel free to share it with a colleague or start a conversation in your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also listen to new conversations on <em>Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership<\/em>. You will find references and transcripts for each episode, along with past newsletters, on <a href=\"https:\/\/alexis.monville.com\">\u200balexis.monville.com\u200b<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can listen wherever you already get your podcasts. Just pick your favorite platform and hit \u201csubscribe\u201d so you won\u2019t miss any new episodes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/fr\/podcast\/le-podcast-on-emerging-leadership\/id1530971309\">\u200bApple Podcasts\u200b<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/20zeQkRIKW9bJs0vXFcmN8\">\u200bSpotify\u200b<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/castbox.fm\/channel\/Le-Podcast-id3584663?country=us\">\u200bCastbox\u200b<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.fr\/podcasts\/ad909282-83ea-4871-ab34-ccdb0d7b5c4a\/le-podcast-on-emerging-leadership\">\u200bAmazon Music\u200b<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/aea70f4\/podcast\/rss\">\u200bRSS Feed\u200b<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And if your favorite platform isn\u2019t on the list, just let me know, I\u2019ll be glad to add it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d love for you to join me there! See you in your earbuds!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched a new TV show last weekend, and there it was again. The line that, once you notice it, ruins almost every script it touches. &#8220;What do we do now?&#8221; I want you to watch this short clip of Reese Witherspoon explaining exactly why this four-word sentence is so toxic. It is a masterclass [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/image.jpeg?fit=480%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNjQG-1tj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2384,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2017\/07\/24\/town-hall-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":0},"title":"Town Hall Meeting","author":"Alexis","date":"July 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The term Town Hall Meeting is often used inside a company to characterize a meeting organized by a highly ranked executive and gathering a large part of the company employees, or even all of them. Usually, the meeting is meant to give a short status on what the executives are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/414H-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/414H-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/414H-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/414H-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/07\/414H-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3552,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2020\/11\/03\/what-a-coding-dojo-taught-me-about-agile\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":1},"title":"What a Coding Dojo taught me about agile","author":"Alexis","date":"November 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In their article,\u00a0What is agile?, Jen Krieger, Daniel Oh, and Matt Takane discuss what we at Red Hat consider the most important sentence of the\u00a0Agile Manifesto: \u201cWe are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.\u201d I like this sentence because it helps to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"woman wearing red and black checkered blouse using macbook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-1181472.jpeg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-1181472.jpeg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-1181472.jpeg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-1181472.jpeg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/pexels-photo-1181472.jpeg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3888,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2021\/12\/22\/a-tale-of-a-leadership-team-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":2},"title":"A tale of a leadership team workshop","author":"Alexis","date":"December 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Day One: Coming Together For some leaders from different organizations that will merge into one in the upcoming weeks, the face-to-face meeting is the first opportunity to meet in person with each other and their new manager. Even if the three facilitators made sure to greet everyone as they entered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"group of people wearing shirts spelled team","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/pexels-photo-7551442.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/pexels-photo-7551442.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/pexels-photo-7551442.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/pexels-photo-7551442.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/pexels-photo-7551442.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3828,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2021\/05\/18\/invest-a-few-hours-to-excel-at-public-speaking\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":3},"title":"Invest a few hours to excel at public speaking","author":"Alexis","date":"May 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A few months back, I was doing some research on public speaking, and I stumbled\u00a0on this short video\u00a0of one of the world's experts in public speaking Conor Neil. What I learned in the video changed forever the way I envision starting and finishing a talk. Yes, there is a grownup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"man standing in front of people sitting on red chairs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/pexels-photo-1708936.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/pexels-photo-1708936.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/pexels-photo-1708936.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/pexels-photo-1708936.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/pexels-photo-1708936.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4064,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2022\/12\/30\/the-best-framework-to-grow-yourself-as-a-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":4},"title":"The best framework to grow yourself as a leader","author":"Alexis","date":"December 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership. I am OpenAI. I am the host of today\u2019s podcast. The BEPS framework is useful for understanding a leader's different roles and responsibilities. It helps clarify the various areas a leader should focus on to be effective and achieve success.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Le Podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Le Podcast","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Le-Podcast-on-Emerging-Leadership-Square-e1611488942222.png?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3422,"url":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/2020\/08\/27\/the-4-axes-of-a-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":5661,"position":5},"title":"The 4 BEPS Axes of a Leader","author":"Alexis","date":"August 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The 4 axes of a leader emerged from conversations in which I was trying to explain what a manager is not expected to do. The attempts to tell people that they should not split the work items, or distribute the work between the team members were leading to a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/category\/all\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Team-of-Leaders-BEPS-1.png?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Team-of-Leaders-BEPS-1.png?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Team-of-Leaders-BEPS-1.png?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/Team-of-Leaders-BEPS-1.png?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5663,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5661\/revisions\/5663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-alexis.monville.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}