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Forbes
08-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Strategic Importance Of Taking Time To Think
Karyn Gallant, Certified Executive Coach, is founder of Gallant Consulting Group. She works with executives and leaders who want to grow. In an age characterized by rapid change, a call to limit risk and constant demands for revenue gains, the role of leaders has evolved significantly. As individuals ascend to senior positions, many find that success hinges not just on their ability to implement strategies but on their capacity for strategic thinking. The paradox of leadership today is that while immediate problem-solving is often the order of the day, taking time to think is equally, if not more, crucial for long-term success. Leaders today feel compelled to prioritize urgent tasks over thoughtful reflection. The pressure to demonstrate momentum and to "deliver" is a familiar refrain, one that keeps many up at night. Leaders are frequently called upon to put out fires and manage uncertainty, responding to immediate challenges with urgency. This reactive approach can create a "response reflex" where decision-makers instinctively react to crises without taking the necessary time to evaluate the broader implications of their actions. While quick decision-making has its place, it can lead to short-sighted solutions that fail to address underlying issues or capitalize on emerging opportunities. This is where the importance of strategic thinking comes into play. Taking a "time-out" to reflect on the current environment allows one to process not just the immediate problems they face but also the broader landscape of opportunities and threats. By stepping back, leaders can envision what success might look like six months or even a year from now and identify the steps necessary to achieve that vision. This forward-thinking mentality is essential in preparing for an uncertain and often unpredictable future. In my coaching practice, I work with many individuals on the fast track to the C-suite. Their success is frequently attributed to a unique blend of deep industry knowledge and hands-on experience. What is often referred to as heuristics is, in my view, an intersection of deep experience and learning, coupled with an ability to "cross-tabulate" all of that data on short notice to make sound decisions quickly. And while leveraging heuristics certainly contributes to the profile of a great leader, it is their ability to pause and think critically that truly sets them apart. By reflecting on their experiences and integrating their knowledge with strategic foresight, they navigate complex challenges with greater efficacy. This intersection of lived experience and strategic thought enables them to make informed decisions that not only resolve current issues but also position their organizations for future success. What You Can Do As A Leader Years ago, a colleague who had recently graduated from Wharton shared a practice that often helped him balance urgency with outcomes. "Think of time as a yardstick," he was taught. "The same event, or presenting problem, will look different from a 'start of the journey' perspective than it will at a halfway point, perhaps six months from now. And at a year? Ask yourself how the allowance for more time for something to take shape will affect what happens down the road." It is great advice I often share with my clients when they struggle with the perceived pressure to deliver immediately, in tension with wanting a more intentional, well-thought-out way of getting a result. Building Time To Think Into Your Schedule Leaders who cultivate the habit of taking time to think are better equipped to identify patterns, foresee potential challenges and leverage opportunities that others may overlook. Regular reflection fosters a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play within their industries and helps leaders remain adaptable in the face of change. Cascading That To Your Teams Fostering an environment that values strategic thinking can have a ripple effect throughout an organization. When leaders prioritize reflection, they encourage their teams to do the same. This can lead to a more engaged workforce that feels empowered to contribute ideas and solutions, ultimately driving the organization toward greater success. Even in this revenue-challenged, uncertain business climate, I am asked to facilitate many more offsites. There, leadership teams take a time-out to question legacy thinking and ways of relating to each other and their stakeholders. To use a term from Harvard Business Review, they "get on the balcony" and take a broader view of their worlds, often coming out with fresh ideas and ways to leverage their strongest assets—something that would have been far less likely to emerge as a plan had they not paused to think. Leaders see the outcomes of this work as a win for their business, as it often translates quickly into a better-designed, more thoughtfully executed road map for going forward. In Practice Well-known coach Marshall Goldsmith has "institutionalized" taking time to think with his "32 questions" process. Every day, he takes time out to ask himself a series of questions that help him reflect on challenges he faces and goals he has set for himself. Perhaps other leaders should do that, too—starting with just three or four thoughtful questions, and time to wonder, can get you launched. In conclusion, while the demands of leadership often pull individuals toward immediate action, it is imperative to recognize the value of reflection. Strategic thinking is not merely a luxury; it is a necessity. By building space to "imagine" what's possible into their leadership practices, leaders can enhance their decision-making capabilities, prepare for an uncertain future and drive their organizations toward sustained success. Embracing this balance of action and thought may just be the key to navigating the challenges that lie ahead. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Forbes
08-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Why Your Brain Is Sabotaging Your Leadership (And How To Stop It)
Peter Accettura: executive leadership coach; enhancing resilience, executive presence, and decision-making confidence. In companies across America, a peculiar phenomenon unfolds: Highly competent executives hesitate to speak up, second-guess strategic decisions and wait for permission that they may never receive. Meanwhile, less qualified colleagues bulldoze ahead with unwavering certainty. What's happening here isn't a leadership crisis—it's a confidence crisis, and it's rooted in how our brains work. The Latin origin of "confidence" (confidere) means "to trust fully," yet most leaders have it backward. They're waiting to feel confident before taking action, when neuroscience reveals the opposite is true: Confidence follows action, not the other way around. The Competence-Confidence Disconnect Here's what keeps executives awake at night: Competence and confidence are only weakly correlated. The 1999 Cornell University research by Kruger and Dunning demonstrates this disconnect dramatically—less competent individuals often overestimate their abilities, while genuine experts may undervalue theirs. This creates a dangerous leadership paradox. The most qualified person for a promotion might hesitate to pursue it, while someone with marginal skills charges ahead. I have seen this play out in my executive coaching: brilliant leaders whose inner critic drowns out their track record. But here's where it gets interesting—and hopeful. Your Brain On Success: The Dopamine Loop Dr. Ian Robertson's research in The Winner Effect reveals that every time we achieve something, even small wins, our brain releases dopamine. This neurotransmitter doesn't just make us feel good; it rewires our neural pathways to increase motivation and risk tolerance. The process creates a self-reinforcing loop: action to evidence to belief to more action. This means confidence isn't a personality trait you're born with or without. It's a neurological pattern you can deliberately cultivate. Each strategic risk you take, each difficult conversation you initiate, each bold decision you make literally rewires your brain to believe "I can handle this." The Confidence Gap That's Killing Organizations Recent data from the Russell Reynolds Associates Leadership Confidence Index shows that as business complexity increases, leaders' confidence in their preparedness is declining. More troubling: While 90% of senior managers express confidence in leadership, only 77% of employees agree, according to Energage research. This confidence gap isn't just uncomfortable; it's expensive. Gallup research demonstrates that employee engagement has fallen to its lowest level in a decade and that, when engagement falters, turnover skyrockets. Gallup also notes that the cost of replacing these employees ranges from one-half to two times their annual salary. The Level 5 Confidence Model Jim Collins identified what he called "Level 5 leaders" in his book Good to Great: Executives who combine fierce professional will with personal humility. This may seem contradictory, but in fact it's the essence of authentic confidence. True confidence isn't loud, and it doesn't dominate rooms or demand the last word. Rather, it: • Welcomes feedback without defensiveness. • Admits mistakes and course-corrects quickly. • Creates psychological safety for others to take risks. • Makes bold decisions while staying open to input. Contrast this with hubris: the overconfidence that breeds catastrophic strategic missteps. "[Hubris] has played a key role in some of the greatest blunders in modern history, including the sinking of the Titanic, the Vietnam War, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and the 2008 financial crisis, not to mention governmental mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic." Three Neural Pathways To Executive Confidence Stop waiting to feel ready. Start with calculated action despite doubt. Your brain learns confidence through evidence, not affirmations. As Katty Kay and Claire Shipman write in The Confidence Code, "Confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into action." Each time you act despite uncertainty—speaking up in that contentious board meeting, proposing that unconventional strategy, having that crucial performance conversation—you're literally training your brain to associate leadership with capability. If going big is not initially in your toolkit, start small. But start. Much confidence erosion happens not through external events but through internal stories. Your inner critic uses absolutist language: "always," "never," "not enough." Cognitive restructuring techniques from behavioral therapy can help identify and replace these distorted thoughts with evidence-based alternatives. Ask yourself: Is this thought true? Useful? Based on data? Often, it's not. Google's Project Aristotle research identified psychological safety as the number one predictor of high-performing teams. Leaders who create environments where people can speak up, make mistakes and challenge assumptions build cultures where confidence becomes contagious. This starts with modeling imperfection yourself. Not lowering standards, but decoupling self-worth from flawless performance. The Ripple Effect Of Neural Leadership Authentic confidence creates exponential impact. When you lead with grounded self-trust rather than manufactured certainty, teams innovate more, engage more deeply and follow more willingly. Not because you have all the answers, but because you trust yourself to find them—or to adapt when you can't. In today's business environment, this kind of neural confidence can be your competitive edge. The question isn't whether you're ready to be confident. The question is whether you're ready to act. And let your brain catch up. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Why burnout in women spikes in their 30s and 50s – and how to get through it
Lynn Blades had been a highly successful executive coach for nearly two decades when life took an unexpected turn. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, while many of us sat back online and waited to see what would happen next, Blades' experience in digital global coaching meant her number of clients tripled. Within a year, her health had deteriorated so badly that her back ended up being held together with three-inch screws. 'I was in my late 50s, with a university-aged daughter, juggling a mountain of work, running the household, and propping up a husband neck-deep in his career as a film producer. It was organised chaos on a good day – and I was the one holding all the strings,' she says. Then in August 2021, Blades almost collapsed while out walking on Hampstead Heath. Within a couple of weeks, she could barely move and ended up having emergency surgery on her back. It transpired that two discs in her lower spine had deteriorated, causing the vertebrae to grind against each other. 'A few years before everything came crashing down, a specialist warned me I needed physical therapy,' she recalls. 'My spine was crying out for help. But I didn't listen. There was always a deadline, a duty, a demand louder than my own wellbeing. I wore my resilience like a badge of honour, powering through the pain, telling myself I was strong. Eventually, my body called time.' The price she paid as a result was major surgery. 'A titanium cage and three-inch screws now hold my spine together,' she explains. 'I spent six months on 1,800mg of nerve blockers, floating through life in a fog. It took nearly a year to feel like myself again.' Blades is not alone. According to Mental Health UK, 94 per cent of women reported experiencing high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year, compared with 89 per cent of men. Suicide risk among female doctors, related to work stress and emotional burnout, is also significantly higher (76 per cent) than the general population. And women over the age of 55 lose more working days to mental-health issues than any other group in Britain, reports the most recent Health and Safety Executive's Labour Force Survey, with 53 per cent of professional women in leadership roles dropping out. The danger ages What's more, it seems, there are red alert ages for burnout. Women in their late 30s, with the pressure of young children and a full-on career, can struggle with overwhelm, while those in their mid-50s are stretched to breaking point while managing work, older children, ageing parents and menopause. Sadly, because many of us tend to normalise living in a hyper-state, the warning signs are passed off as simply 'having a busy life'. But doing it all is rarely sustainable, and often it's passed down through the generations. 'I see women who have grown up with female role models, like their mother, who put others first, worked hard and didn't prioritise rest,' says burnout expert and psychologist Jaime Jonsson. The reason behind this is that women often tend to be the main carers in the family, plus they often veer towards being people-pleasers. But ask yourself: do you want it modelled for your own daughters?' Blades also sees certain female traits playing out in the workplace. 'Women are conditioned to put their head down, go again, and then reward will come,' she says. 'I work with many senior female executives who have shattered expectations, but they are still riddled with impostor syndrome, or they believe asking for help is a sign of weakness. 'As a result, they suppress the anxiety, fear, and exhaustion that come with constant overachievement,' she adds. 'But emotions don't just disappear; they build up, creating an unbearable weight that can crush even the strongest among us.' The warning signs In her new book, The Quiet Burn, Blades speaks about the importance of self-care. But first, she says, it's crucial to understand burnout symptoms. These range from exhaustion, brain fog, irritability and insomnia to anxiety, heart palpitations, loss of appetite and emotional detachment from colleagues or family. 'Question your values, assess your purpose, work out your needs,' she advises. 'Then make sure they are aligned with how you are living. If you don't look after yourself, no one else is going to get the best version of you.' And while the pressures of a career can crush all aspirations for an unruffled existence, those who typically hurtle towards burnout tend to be mothers. At 36, Claire Ashley, a doctor and neuroscientist, was working ridiculous hours as a GP in a surgery with medically complex patients, while juggling two small children and a husband who worked away regularly. With no family back-up, she was forced to pay an extortionate amount for childcare, which not only stretched her bank balance, it also created crippling feelings of guilt around leaving her young children for hours on end. 'I felt like I was a failure at work and as a parent,' she admits. 'Emotionally, I was strung-out; physically, I was incredibly fatigued. I wasn't sleeping properly. I became quite cynical. And I'd either fly off the handle easily or burst into tears. Even so, I was still turning up for work every day and trying my best. I went into survival mode.' Ashley says she believed that no one was to blame but herself. 'I saw it as a 'me' problem,' she explains. 'I thought, you've worked so hard to become a doctor, just get on with it, you should be able to cope.' Then one evening, after a particularly long and stressful day, Ashley was on the phone to her husband and she had a panic attack. 'I'd never had one in my life before and it was a real shock,' she says. 'I completely lost control, shaking and crying and feeling like I was going to vomit. It took me a while to calm down, but once I did, I had the clarity to realise I'd reached breaking point.' The first thing Ashley did was speak to her boss. 'We had a frank conversation about my situation, and I told her I couldn't carry on in the same way. I was given support by NHS Practitioner Health, which is the service that looks after doctors with mental health problems, and, consequently, my hours at work were reduced. My recovery was slow but I've since put changes in place to prevent those stresses ever taking over again.' Ashley now works as a locum doctor, which means flexible hours and more control over her diary – and is an ambassador for Doctors in Distress, a charity which protects the mental health of healthcare workers. She has written a book, The Burnout Doctor, to help others in similar situations. 'Burnout is a term that's been around for a while now,' says Ashley, 'And knowledge around the topic is increasing. But there could be much more work done on how to effectively prevent burnout at an organisational level. People use the term burnout interchangeably with stress without the realisation that burnout is the end result of chronic stress. Once a person gets to this point, it is a serious and debilitating condition.' After Blades' own debilitating experience of burnout, she decided to make drastic changes. 'I knew if I didn't get my situation under control, there was every possibility it would kill me,' she admits. She looked long and hard at her approach to working and identified a number of red flags. 'Generally, women do not ask for what they want,' she says, 'Men do and are much more likely to be promoted on potential while women are promoted on attainment. This discrepancy in opportunity makes women feel invisible. When I was younger, I'd step in to take on the load hoping to be recognised, now I am not afraid of stepping out. Saying, 'No, I can't' isn't a sign of weakness, it shows we have the strength to choose what we really want to get involved in. It means you respect your boundaries and capacity.' Blades also understands that for women in their 50s, there are specific difficulties to overcome. 'Not only is the menopause throwing brain fog, hot sweats, sleepless nights and mood swings at us, there may be the pressure of teenage children or ageing parents in the mix.' And never imagine burnout is not a 'real' thing. As a neuroscientist, Ashley reveals the brain actually changes shape in burnout. 'The amygdala in the temporal lobe of your brain processes emotions, especially anxiety and fear. When a person reaches burnout, this section increases in size and becomes more emotionally reactive. When I was struggling, knowing this helped me to understand that my feelings weren't just in my head, my brain was literally being overloaded. It gave me the wake-up call to realise enough was enough, but above all, I was enough.' 'The Quiet Burn – The Ambitious Woman's Guide to Recognising and Preventing Burnout' by Lynn Blades 'The Burnout Doctor: Your 6-Step Recovery Plan' by Dr Claire Ashley
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Art Of CEO Coaching: Mastering The Chair/CEO Partnership
Dr. John Blakey is an author, keynote speaker and CEO executive coach. A number of unique challenges come with stepping into the CEO role. One of these is building an effective partnership with your chair. Just when you thought you had gotten your hands on the steering wheel of the organization, you meet an influential and well-intentioned figure who has the potential to make or break your role. In my years supporting CEOs, I have witnessed many tales of CEO/chair partnerships built, squandered and rebuilt. In this article, I will capture some of the insights and learnings from these privileged conversations. The Crucial Partnership Between Chair And CEO When you become a CEO, it's tempting to think you are finally the "big boss" and can announce your grand plan—the plan that will resolve all the ills and frustrations of the organization you had experienced as a director. Well, I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but it's better you know the truth: The chair might become the immovable object that stands in the way of your infinite will. That is not to say that this has to be the case, but it is a significant risk unless you learn quickly to forge a win/win partnership with your new "next door neighbor." Picture the scene: I have been invited to facilitate a meeting between a chair and the CEO as part of the CEO's executive coaching program. I make the three-hour journey to the office in person because this one hour of interaction could be pivotal to the organization's effective leadership. If it goes well, then a new phase of growth and potential will open up. If it goes badly, then it is highly likely that someone will lose their job. After all, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I arrive at reception and am immediately intercepted by the chair, who wishes to have a short, unscheduled pre-meeting with me. As we scuttle into an inconvenient side room, he regales me with all the reasons why the CEO is the problem. Suddenly, the door opens, and there stands the CEO, looking a little surprised but still forcing a confident grin as she shakes my hand. There are a few nervous coughs as we retire to the main meeting room and sketch out our agenda. This story highlights the importance of trust: It arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. My job as a CEO executive coach is to build trust with both parties, and their job is to build trust between themselves. How do we do that? The Three Pillars Of Chair/CEO Trust First, we acknowledge that trust takes time. We must spend enough time together focused on relationship-building despite all the urgent tasks of the day. One effective CEO/chair partnership I witnessed categorized this time as "gray time," since it was neither urgent and task-focused nor big-picture strategic thinking. Gray time was for personal relationship-building, and it needed to be scheduled in everyone's diaries; otherwise, it would not happen. Second, trust-building at this level in organizational life requires ultimate discretion. This is not a place for idle gossip, humorous asides or partisan flattery. All parties are required to put the organization's greater good ahead of personal ego, despite the temptation to score points and lobby potential allies. If tension from the CEO/chair relationship spills over into the rest of the organization, it can unnerve and undermine the confidence of the whole senior leadership team. Finally, trust-building requires some degree of opening up and sharing of personal vulnerabilities. A powerful coaching question in this context is "What worries you?" The chair and the CEO are always worried, and this question invites a deeper sharing of what currently keeps them awake at night. As I drove home from the CEO/chair meeting, I breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the ominous start, we had found some common ground. It took time, but gradually, both parties opened up. The chair was worried about the organization's safe governance and how the board's independent directors could be kept on side. The CEO was worried about excessive interference from the board in operational matters and the chair's tendency to talk out of turn to leadership team members. I was worried about keeping the meeting on track and ensuring there was a mutual commitment for the CEO and chair to stay connected through planning some regular gray time. As the CEO and I were leaving the meeting, she turned to me and quipped, "I told you what he was like." Tempted though I was to side with my immediate client, I bit my lip and held my tongue—now was not the time to undo all the valuable trust-building that had just taken place. Discretion is the better part of valor, I thought. Final Thoughts Gradually, effective CEOs learn that they don't actually have their hands on the organizational steering wheel after all. It turns out they are riding tandem with the chair. When this partnership works well, the organization can move faster and with greater agility through periods of inevitable and relentless change. When this partnership works badly, it jolts and jars organizational momentum, leading to fragmented efforts and confused agendas. Meanwhile, the art of CEO coaching is to ensure three-way conversations in every CEO executive coaching program and to prepare for these meticulously. Finally, the effective CEO executive coach, like the CEO and the chair, must always put the good of the organization ahead of personal relationships. We act as guardians of the wider system, and we must exercise that privilege with great care. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Hustling is out, healing is in: what I learned following 400 online gurus
Some years ago, I started writing a novel. The novel satirises the world of executive coaching and, as part of my research, I began to follow some coaches and motivational speakers online. It started with corporate leadership coaches preaching banal management advice. But it slid quickly into chaos as I surrendered – with dreadful compulsion – to the algorithm. Within months I was following every kind of online coach in the Anglosphere, from divorce coaches, parenting coaches and habit-stacking coaches through to neurolinguistic programmers, flow-state TEDx gurus, money-manifestation mentors and Ponzi-style coach-coaches. I was inside a teeming ecosystem; a lawless jungle of competing advisers, all of them hawking prerecorded masterclasses. Now I'm sharing my key learnings from this confusing period – but with one caveat: I am much stupider now than I was when I started this journey. Hear me out! I implemented the one-touch rule for a tidy house recommended by a habit coach. It really helped with my household overwhelm and despair, until I stopped doing it. A wellness coach told me to give myself a gold star on a physical calendar for every day I exercised – and it worked. I was motivated. I resisted the urge to drop $399 on a pdf handbook written by the same coach; I may be desperate, but I'm not rich. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning This is especially true in the world of dodgy business coaches. Who signs up for a pricey passive-income content portal run by a seasoned grifter? Aspiring grifters. Although the offer is actually pretty enticing. Who wouldn't want to learn how to build an evergreen sales loop? Now if I were rich … Punters have grown cynical about charlatan coaches with their luxury lifestyles and super-polished Instagram feeds. In response, many coaches have pivoted hard into realness, setting up cameras to film themselves blubbering in their most vulnerable moments. 'Truth is: even after building the life I dreamed of, I STILL get impostor syndrome.' Every time I think we have reached peak internet mucus, someone ups the ante. Coaches want to be raw and real. They'll teach you to 'get shit done'' and 'unfuck the world'. My favourite example was a Denver-based wellness expert who stormed a TEDx stage shrieking, 'Time to get holistic as fuck!' Even before the pandemic, the #riseandgrind lifestyle promoted by leading Silicon Valley coaches – 5am wake-up followed by treadmill, breath work, supplements and back-to-back strategy meetings – was starting to look tired. Today self-care is ascendant. Self-discipline is for chumps. Most coaches now teach us to navigate boundaries and comfort zones, avoid burnout, process our past, regulate our nervous systems and be kind to ourselves. Tedcore reigns supreme, with its soothing blend of therapy-speak and pop-philosophy, its confusing mishmash of science and pseudoscience, its incessant pathologies and its endless cult of the self. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion This is especially big among the feminine embodiment types but also, interestingly, among the money-manifesters. And – look – I wish them well in their erotic endeavours, I really do. It's the logical conclusion of the cult of the self, after all. But it is hilarious to imagine the pre-production work that goes into their spiciest aspirational and erotic content. Imagine arranging candles, flower petals and some rented Louis Vuitton handbags around your bedroom, then pressing record to film yourself either actually wanking or delivering a breathy lecture about why it's such an enriching pastime. I'm suss on the self-care gurus who always lure me into luxurious self-pity. Is my procrastination a sign of laziness? Of course not. Coach Katy says it's just my chronic perfectionism. Or maybe a trauma response. Take me back to the biohacker guys with their growth mindsets and solemn data-driven daily protocols. Now I've finished researching, I don't need all these advisers any more. I have slowly begun to purge them from my feed, burrowing myself out of the unsavoury self-improvement hovel I've built for myself. I am emerging like a blinking mole into the daylight, an over-counselled, disoriented mole – unsure if she needs to heal or habit-stack. A post-truth mole who sniffs the air and finds her instincts totally scrambled. My nose – once keen and reliable – can no longer distinguish between TEDx horseshit and actual horseshit, let alone pseudoscience and actual science, queasy therapy-speak and solid advice. God help me. Sophie Quick is the author of The Confidence Woman (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)
