Inner Propaganda with Owen Fitzpatrick

Cait Donovan burned out while working around 25 hours a week. She had time for long lunches with friends and mornings free to exercise, yet she still felt exhausted, irritated, and stuck. Years later, a single line in the burnout research gave her the answer she had been searching for.

Cait's central idea is that burnout grows out of mismatches between people and their work, their families, their coping habits, and the environments around them. Workload matters, though it is only one piece of a much bigger picture.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore the six workplace mismatches with Cait, why organizations that ignore them invite attrition and disengagement, and the personal factors that lead good people to accept mismatches in the first place. Cait also shares how she learned to disappoint people in small ways for practice, and why "pee when you need to pee" might be some of the best burnout advice you'll ever hear.

What you will discover:

• Why the largest driver of burnout is a mismatch between a person and their role
• The six workplace mismatches and how to recognize them
• How interoception helps you notice burnout before it takes hold
• Why aiming for a 75% match works better than chasing perfection
• Simple ways to practice people pleasing less and asking for help more

Cait's brilliant new book, Mismatch: Why Good People Burn Out in Good Organizations, is out October 27, 2026. Order it now: https://caitdonovan.com/mismatch

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my new book, Inner Propaganda, where I explore the stories we sell to ourselves and how they shape what we believe and accept. The audiobook is now available for preorder.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

Over 30 years as a therapist and executive coach, I noticed that almost every person I worked with explained their problems using one of two stories. Some saw themselves as the victim of everything happening around them. Others saw themselves as the villain, the reason everything kept falling apart.

Both stories can feel completely true, and sometimes the evidence backs them up. The trouble is that the inner dictator only shows us the evidence that supports the story it wants us to believe. Each of us has been a victim, a villain, and a hero at different moments, which means we have more choice in the story we sell ourselves than we realize.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore the victim story and the villain story, how the inner dictator uses each one as a tactic, and how the arcs of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker show us what it looks like to move toward a hero story. I also share the five steps I have used with clients for decades to help them build a hero narrative and an antifragile identity.

What you will discover:

• The two stories most people tell about their problems, and how to spot which one you are running
• Why being a villain is another way of being a victim
• How the inner dictator chooses evidence to make its narrative feel like fact
• The five As: awareness, agency, alternatives, adapt, and accept
• How Viktor Frankl's search for meaning and Nassim Nicholas Taleb's idea of antifragility can help you keep moving forward

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my new book, Inner Propaganda, where I explore how the stories we sell to ourselves become the beliefs we buy into. It is packed with research, history, and practical tools to help you recognize your own inner propaganda and change the story.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

When was the last time you sat down with someone who sees the world very differently and listened to understand them? I believe the biggest problem in the world today is that we are not disagreeing effectively enough. Too often, we decide it is pointless even to try.

Polarization, echo chambers, and media that amplify the most extreme voices have convinced many of us that the gap between "us" and "them" is too wide to cross. Research shows we consistently overestimate how extreme the other side is, and when we respond with shame and moral outrage, we often push people further away.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore why shaming backfires, what the rise of the Nazis teaches us about ignoring people's grievances, and why identity-protective cognition makes us reject views that challenge who we are. I also share a conversation with my guide in Afghanistan that tested my ability to disagree well, along with research on deep canvassing and what it reveals about how people change their minds.

What you will discover:

• Why we overestimate how extreme the other side really is
• How shaming and moral outrage can create the very thing they oppose
• What identity-protective cognition means for every difficult conversation
• How the illusion of explanatory depth opens the door to more flexible thinking
• Why curiosity and respect give us the best chance of changing minds

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my new book, Inner Propaganda. It explores how the stories we are sold by leaders, by the media, and by our own minds shape what we believe, and what it really takes to change hearts and minds in a polarized world.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

What if your competitors are wrestling with the same dilemma you are, and nobody is brave enough to ask? My friend Jess Pettitt, a Hall of Fame speaker and crisis advisor, believes this fear is keeping good organizations from doing better.

In her new book, Doing Good Better, Jess adapts Maslow's hierarchy of needs for organizations. At the top sits outlasting the cycle: surviving recession, disruption, and crisis while staying true to your values. She argues that every mistake you have made prepares you to recognize the next one faster.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore with Jess why leaders fear admitting mistakes, the internal and external pressures behind that fear, and the two questions she asks leadership teams that reveal where they really stand. We also discuss the shareholder-versus-stakeholder debate, a protein loophole in the food industry, an oil refinery racing its competitors, and what it would take for AI leaders to agree on a shared off button.

What you will discover:

• How organizations can climb their own version of Maslow's hierarchy
• Why past mistakes are preparation for recognizing new ones
• How internal and external pressure shape the decisions leaders make
• Why collaboration with competitors can create collective decisions that do good
• How to take back control of your own sense of urgency

Jess' new book, Doing Good Better, is out now! I highly recommend it. Spread the word, and you can order it here: https://jesspettitt.com/doing-good-better-2/.

Take Jess Pettitt's advisory survey: https://jesspettitt.com/advisory-survey

Learn more about Jess: https://jesspettitt.com/

Exciting news: my brand new book, Inner Propaganda, is now available to buy in Ireland and the UK. In the book, I explore how our beliefs form, why they resist change, and how leaders can align what they do with who they are. You can now find it on https://www.amazon.ie/ and https://www.amazon.co.uk/.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Whenever I feel anxious or down, a voice in my head speaks with complete authority. It tells me I'm a fraud, that I'm broken, that nothing I do matters. I call it the inner dictator, and I have named him Dick.

Inner propaganda is how we convince ourselves of the ideas we hold. The stories we sell to ourselves become the beliefs we buy into, and the inner dictator is the voice that sells the darkest of them with total certainty.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore why recognizing the inner dictator weakens its hold, drawing on the persuasion knowledge model and my own experiences of propaganda in North Korea. I then go through the most common lines Dick uses on me, from "You're a freak" to "The world is so full of pain," and share how I talk back to each one.

What you will discover:

• Why naming the inner dictator makes its messages less convincing
• How the change of meaning principle works inside your own mind
• Why your mood decides which evidence feels like proof
• Simple questions that expose the vague claims behind self-doubt
• How to judge a thought by its usefulness rather than its accuracy

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my brand-new book, Inner Propaganda, where I explore how the stories we are sold by leaders, the media, and our own minds shape what we believe. Drawing on field research and stories from across history, it offers practical ways to take back control of your own narrative.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

If you have ever felt like you are not a good enough parent, partner, friend, or professional, you have met the inner dictator. It is a voice of absolute certainty that tells you the limits of your potential, and it can sabotage your chances of success.

The belief "I am not good enough" is so vague and abstract that it is hard to pin down and easy to accept. It is a form of inner propaganda, a story your mind tells you to keep things simple and stable.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore how to tackle this belief from every angle, drawing on my book, cognitive behavioral therapy, neurolinguistic programming, and mindfulness. I share the belief audit, a way to define what "good" and "enough" actually mean, and questions that test how much evidence sits behind the belief. What you will discover:

• Why "I am not good enough" is inner propaganda from the inner dictator
• The four questions of the belief audit
• How to define "good" and "enough" so the belief becomes specific and testable
• How to build an antifragile identity that turns mistakes into growth
• Questions that test how certain you really are, including rating your certainty from one to ten

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my brand new book, Inner Propaganda, where I show how the stories your mind tells you take hold and share the tools you can use to challenge them. It draws on stories from history, the latest research, and everyday life to explain what leads us to believe what we do.

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/ Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/ Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

Most people chasing followers are playing the wrong game entirely. In this episode, Howie Chan, founder of the Behavioring Company and LinkedIn's number one branding creator, explains why the visible metrics of likes and reposts often hide the real currency of influence.

Howie built his career by switching tribes, moving from stem cell science into brand strategy and eventually into entrepreneurship after being laid off from the agency he helped grow to over 2,000 people. That experience shaped his belief that behavior change, not belief change, is usually the fastest and most reliable path to real influence.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, we explore why LinkedIn behaves more like a risk management exercise than a true social platform, why belief often follows behavior rather than the other way around, and why the smartest people online are usually optimizing for authority rather than applause. Howie also breaks down his six-part framework for building influence and his CARE method for earning trust quickly.

What you will discover:

• Why the mechanics of a platform matter less than the psychology of its audience
• Why LinkedIn users protect their reputation more than they chase engagement
• How changing default settings can shift behavior faster than changing beliefs
• The six-part framework for moving someone from noticing you to recommending you
• The CARE method for building trust: competence, authenticity, repeatability, and empathy

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my brand new book, Inner Propaganda. It explores the same mechanics of belief and influence that Howie and I discuss, applied to how we lead, communicate, and change minds.

Connect with Howie Chan: https://howiechan.com/

Take his free quiz at https://influencestylequiz.com/

Connect with Howie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howiechaniam

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/ Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/ Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

A few weeks ago, I posted photos of myself signing books at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue and at my local bookstore. It looked like a win. What I didn't share was how some stores I visited hadn't stocked the book at all, or had a single copy on order from a friend of mine who had put in the order.

There is a story I heard years ago from my friend Philippe about Grigory Potemkin, who supposedly built fake, beautiful villages along a riverbank just so Catherine the Great would believe everything was thriving. That image has stuck with me, because most of what we see on social media works the same way.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I pull back the curtain on the last six months of launching my book. I talk about landing incredible endorsements from people like Tony Robbins and Robert Cialdini, and about the far larger pile of rejections that never make it onto Instagram. I talk about hitting USA Today's bestseller list and missing the New York Times list I wanted. And I break down what I call the story war, the way our minds can take the same fact and spin it into two completely different realities depending on which internal narrative wins that day.

What you will discover:

• The Potemkin village metaphor and why so much of what we present publicly is a curated version of reality
• How the same piece of news can trigger either a confidence-boosting story or a self-defeating one
• Why "am I good enough" is a question with no useful answer, and what to ask instead
• The four core themes of my book and why mental health and polarization matter most to me
• Why the meaning we assign to an experience shapes our next move more than the experience itself

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/ Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/ Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness spent decades as sworn enemies in one of the bloodiest conflicts in modern history. Then they became genuine friends, so close the press nicknamed them the Chuckle Brothers. If they could bridge that gap, the divide behind your last political argument may not be as permanent as it feels.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore why disagreement now so often feels like disrespect, and what is actually driving us apart. Not just human nature, but a set of forces, from the way our brains sort people into us and them in milliseconds, to feeds engineered to keep us certain and furious, that are pulling us further apart than we would ever go on our own.

I also explore the research behind polarization and share the four moves I use to bridge even the deepest divides. I draw on my own experience sitting down with people in North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iran whose beliefs seemed completely alien to me, and I walk through the deep canvassing research showing that a single honest conversation, built on real curiosity rather than argument, can shift a belief and make it last for months.

What you will discover:

• Why we overestimate how extreme the other side actually is
• How social media turns an ancient psychological effect into a machine for manufacturing outrage
• Why shaming someone out of a belief almost always backfires
• The four moves that actually bridge deep divides
• Why the goal is never to win, but to find the common ground underneath

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/ Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/ Order my book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/

In the early 1980s, Steve Jobs asked an engineer to save 10 seconds off the Macintosh boot-up time. The engineer found 28. His skills never changed. The story he was working inside of did.

This episode brings together everything I have taught this summer on logic and story into one complete system I call DELP: Demos, Ethos, Logos, Pathos. It is built on Aristotle's original framework, with the one piece he never had to think about added back in: knowing your audience before anything else.

In this episode of Inner Propaganda, I explore what real, ethical influence looks like in practice. I walk through Sophia Jex-Blake's fight to study medicine, the unsettling truth behind Milgram's obedience experiments, why a mint on a restaurant bill can raise tips by 23 percent, and the single three-word question that gets other people to argue your case for you.

What you will discover:

• Why influence, done right, is something you do for someone rather than to someone
• The four elements of the DELP framework and why order matters
• How the same fact can produce completely different decisions depending on how it is framed
• Why conceding a point first builds more trust than any amount of extra evidence
• A three-word question that gets people to talk themselves into a decision

Visit my website: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/

Join my newsletter: https://owenfitzpatrick.com/newsletter/

Get my new book, Inner Propaganda: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Propaganda-Leading-Through-Turbulent/dp/1646872444/