Johari Window: Uncover Your Leadership Blind-Spots
Discover what's really holding your back as a leader
In this issue:
Part 1: Understanding the Johari Window
The Four Boxes
The Johari Window
Part 2: Applying the Johari Window
4 Steps to Uncovering Your Blind Spots
Real-Life Leadership Scenarios
The Johari Window Worksheet
Part 3: Going from here
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Recommended Resources
Final Takeaway
✨
Consider this:
You walk into meetings thinking you’re being supportive, while your team may silently feel micromanaged.
You roll out strategies you believe are clear, while everyone in the team may be confused.
I have faced these very situations in my leadership career, and at the time, I had no clue what was going on.
Until I did.
I realized later that as a leader, you can’t build trust if you don’t even know that it doesn’t exist.
According to research by Tasha Eurich, 95% of people think they’re self-aware, but only 10–15% actually are. And this gap between what we believe is true and what others see is caused by our “Blind Spots.”
In today’s post, I will discuss a self-awareness framework called the Johari Window, which is one of the most powerful tools that you can use to uncover your leadership blind spots. We will learn the mechanics of the framework, and master the strategies to apply this in our roles as leaders.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
Part 1: Understanding the Johari Window
The Johari Window was created in 1955 by two American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham. In case you’re wondering, the name "Johari" comes from combining their first names (Jo + Hari).
They developed it during research on group dynamics, with one goal in mind:
To help people better understand how they relate to themselves and others.
It was originally used in group therapy sessions, but over time, it became a powerful tool for leadership, team development, and self-awareness.
The Four Boxes
The Johari Window can be represented as a simple 2x2 grid with two axes:
Your self-awareness: What you know about yourself vs. what you don’t
How others see you: What others know about you vs. what they don’t
Each box in the grid tells a different story. And together, they reveal the gap between how we see ourselves and how we’re seen by others.
Let’s look at each of those boxes, one by one.
Open Area (Known to Self + Known to Others)
This is the part of you that’s out in the open.
Your values, habits, personality quirks, and communication style. Anything that both you and others agree on, lands in this box.
This is where trust lives. It’s built on mutual understanding.
When this box grows, teams become more aligned and efficient.
According to Google’s Project Aristotle, the most effective teams share one trait: psychological safety, and the Open box helps create that safety.
How this box shows up in practice:
You know you’re direct in meetings, and your team appreciates that.
You’re known for being a morning person, and you lean into it.
👉🏼 Leaders with large “Open” areas tend to lead with clarity, consistency, and confidence. They don’t “hide” their quirks. They show up with authenticity, and remain unapologetically true to themselves.
Hidden Area (Known to Self, Unknown to Others)
This is what you know about yourself but choose not to share.
Your insecurities.
Your motivations.
Your past experiences.
Even your values, if you haven’t voiced them.
This area isn’t always negative. But if you have a large hidden area, you may come across as ‘closed off’ or ‘hard to read,’ and that can create a distance between you and your team.
Remember:
“What people don’t know, they fill with assumptions.”
Examples of how this box may show up:
You fear public speaking, but you never admit it, so people assume you’re uninterested or aloof. Many introverted managers fall into this trap.
You deeply value transparency, but never say it out loud. When you’re silent, your team may think you’re just hoarding information.
👉🏼 Leaders with large ‘Hidden’ areas should try to shart sharing small truths from their hidden box. This can help them build trust with their teams.
Unknown Area (Unknown to You + Unknown to Others)
This is the “mystery” box, if you will. It contains the things no one sees, yet.
Untapped potential.
Latent fears or triggers.
Deep beliefs shaped by past experiences.
Hidden strengths that emerge only under stress or challenge.
You might discover this box through coaching, therapy, or intense feedback. Or simply by putting yourself in new environments that stretch you.
Examples of how this box might show up:
You never saw yourself as a public speaker… until you had to give a keynote and crushed it.
You keep avoiding conflict, but don’t realize it stems from some early childhood trauma.
👉🏼 Leaders with large “Unknown” areas are sitting on large amounts of untapped potential and growth. You can’t eliminate it, but you can stay curious about it.
Blind Spot (Unknown to Self, Known to Others)
This is the box every leader should worry about.
It’s what others see that you don’t.
Examples of how this shows up:
You think you’re approachable. Your team thinks you’re vague.
You believe you’re calm under pressure. Your body language says otherwise.
You think you listen well. Your team disagrees.
A 2022 study in Harvard Business Review found that self-aware leaders are 3x more likely to be rated as effective by their teams. But here's the twist: most leaders think they’re self-aware… and they’re not.
The only way to ‘shrink’ your blind spot is to ask for feedback. It can feel uncomfortable, but it’s necessary for your growth.
👉🏼 Leaders with large ‘Blind spots’ should try to ‘shrink’ them by soliciting feedback. It may feel uncomfortable, but it’s necessary for your growth.
The Johari Window
The Johari Window is the combination of the four boxes we just discussed. I consider it the ‘window into self-awareness’.
What’s most interesting about this window is that it is not a static diagram, but a living tool. As one area grows, the others shrink, which is what makes it interesting and useful as a tool:
When you share more, your Hidden area gets smaller, and the Open area grows.
When you ask for feedback, your Blind spot shrinks and starts to give way.
When you reflect, explore, and stretch, the Unknown starts shrinking.
In the next section, we will learn techniques to use this tool with the goal of uncovering our blind spots.
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Part 2: Applying the Johari Window
In this section, you will learn how to apply the Johari Window in your role as a leader.
We will start by reviewing the 4 Steps to Uncovering Your Blind Spots, a simple yet powerful process that you can start applying right away.
We will then discuss some common real-life leadership scenarios, and how you would uncover your blind spots in each of those situations.
Finally, we will make it real with the Johari Window Worksheet, which will help you build your muscle in applying and using this framework in your leadership role.