The Science of Steady: Why Great Leaders Manage Their Nervous Systems First

Why Great Leaders Manage Their Nervous Systems First

“I just need to push through.”

“I just need to get through this month.”

“I don’t have time to hit the gym.”

“I don’t have time to [do anything besides work]”

Sound familiar? These are phrases we hear often from high-performing leaders who are juggling back-to-back meetings, critical decisions, and constant change. Leadership isn’t a test of how much stress you can absorb, it’s a test of how well you can regulate yourself so you can lead others through it. And that starts with managing one often-overlooked system - your nervous system!

Leadership Training & Coaching

One of my executive coachees joked with me the other day, “Kerry, sometimes I feel like you are my therapist and not my leadership coach!” I explained that a large part of my coaching practice and advanced leadership training helps our executive community with stress management. An executive’s role is demanding! As we ascend the leadership ladder, we continue to put pressure on ourselves to perform. When we become executives, our number of stakeholders increase. And as a result, the demand for our time and energy increases too. We often don’t recognize the early signs of burnout because burnout doesn’t announce itself loudly, the SOB creeps in quietly, gradually, and is often disguised as ambition, dedication, or “just a busy season.”

Missing The Signs

Many of us know that we need to take care our ourselves to perform well at work. So how the heck do we miss the signs that burnout is coming? Burnout mimics high performance (at first).

At the beginning, burnout can look like:

·       Staying late to finish projects

·       Pushing harder when you're tired

·       Taking on more responsibility

·       Skipping breaks because “there’s no time”

These behaviors are often rewarded in workplace cultures, so we mistake the early symptoms for commitment rather than concern.

Over the span of our careers, many of us have normalized stress. For many executives, chronic stress becomes the new baseline. Leaders in high-demand environments often don’t remember what “rested and clear” feels like, so they assume exhaustion and irritability are just part of the job.

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