Power doesn’t “ruin” people. It reveals their childhood wounds. In this episode of Decoded, Bizzie Gold breaks down power projection —what happens when authority, hierarchy, or feedback gets interpreted through unresolved identity wounds… and personal responsibility becomes unbearable. You’ll learn why some people can zoom out, self-correct, and stay grounded in objective reality—while others collapse into splitting, victim narratives, and “toxic boss / narcissist / cult” labels the moment evaluation shows up. This episode covers: Metacognition (thinking about your thinking) and why it’s the #1 trait of high performers Why “toxic environments” are often distorted relationships to power, not just abuse of power The Brain Pattern Spectrum: abandonment-oriented vs rejection-oriented attention styles Situational awareness vs reputation management (and how that changes everything in workplaces and relationships) Co-regulation vs self-regulation and why co-regulation fuels projection in authority dynamics The psychology of splitting: when complexity becomes intolerable and everything turns “all good / all bad” How resentment + comparison erodes work quality, then gets reframed as exploitation Why leaders get labeled “narcissistic” for enforcing standards, deadlines, and boundaries How these patterns scale from relationships → organizations → institutions → politics If this episode creates friction: good. Friction is useful—if you can metabolize it into radical ownership instead of projection. Want to find your position on the Brain Pattern Spectrum?