As you know, I lead a team coaching practice. Alongside my esteemed colleagues, I spend most of my time working with executive teams navigating immense pressure.
Lately, we’ve noticed a shift—or perhaps, a regression.
These teams are still filled with purpose-driven, capable, and committed leaders. But increasingly, behind closed doors, we’re hearing the same refrains we heard in the early 2000s:
- “I’ve been grinding at this pace for 18 months—these days, I’m always sick with something.”
- “Every vacation, I’m still working. My family wonders why I even bother.”
- “I had a panic attack before our last board meeting. I didn’t tell anyone.”
This isn’t on every team, but these aren’t exceptions either. It’s a trend.
And while our culture often applauds this kind of overdrive as evidence of passion or resilience, what we’re seeing suggests something different: a system quietly breaking the very people it relies on.
We All Play a Part
In many early-stage companies—especially those with significant capital raised or high-stakes milestones looming—there’s a subtle, shared understanding:
“We’ll all push a little harder, a little longer. This is just what it takes.”
CEOs carry board and investor expectations. Executives try to meet impossible demands without letting anyone down. And teams mirror the behavior above them, often afraid to say what’s actually happening.
This isn’t about blame. It’s about a collective collusion with the myth that this level of effort is both necessary and temporary.
Until it isn’t.
The Cost of Sustained Overdrive (As I See It)
I’m no doctor, but I’m in conversation every week with executives whose bodies and minds are bearing the hidden costs of this culture. We hear about chronic pain, migraines, breakdowns, and the persistent fear that if they pause—even briefly—everything will fall apart.
The truth is: most people can handle a sprint. It’s when the sprint becomes the baseline that things begin to erode.
Not all at once. Quietly.
First, strategic thinking narrows. Then, team dynamics tighten. Risk tolerance drops. Feedback disappears. And eventually, what looked like high performance becomes a very expensive form of survival mode.
What Sustained Excellence Actually Requires (Even in the Chaos)
The leaders we work with at HAVEN aren’t confused about what matters. They’re outcome driven. But in early or unstable environments, everything starts to feel important. And when every dial is turned to high, there’s no margin left to adapt, recover, or recalibrate.
That’s the real challenge: not pushing harder—but dialing smarter.
When every dial on the dashboard is maxed out, the system overheats. Sustained performance isn’t about constant intensity—it’s about strategic intensity.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Visualize the heat map. What’s running hot right now—and where can we consciously reduce intensity?
- Be explicit about tradeoffs. What’s getting attention? Who is vital? How are we talking about those choices out loud?
- Normalize cooling down. Protect downtime, recovery, and recalibration—not as a luxury, but as a performance requirement.
- Create safety to name limits. People should be able to say, “This is too much,” without fear of losing credibility or trust.
If You’re Seeing Yourself in This…
Then this isn’t a critique—it’s a mirror. And maybe, an invitation.
Because you can’t build something extraordinary by burning through the extraordinary people you’ve assembled.
But you can look at the dashboard—and adjust the dials—before the system pushes past what people can bear.
We’ve been here before; we know the way up.
