CareerTalk

When Your Nervous System Runs Your Career.

Most senior leaders believe their biggest obstacles are external organisational complexity, visibility, succession planning, politics at the top table. Yet, the real tipping point is seldom operational.

• It is internal.

• It happens in the nervous system long before it appears in performance data or executive perception.

The latest Lean In and McKinsey Women in the Workplace Report shows that senior women are burning out at record levels, not because they lack competence, but because they are over-functioning under chronic psychological load.

Research from the Chartered Management Institute found that emotionally strained leaders were significantly more likely to delay decisions, avoid conflict and default to appeasing behaviours, all of which weaken executive presence.

Meanwhile, Dr Aldrie Henry-Lee, a distinguished sociologist and Professor of Social Policy at UWI Mona highlights that unprocessed stress reshapes communication, confidence and authority, especially for women navigating dual leadership at work and at home.

Why what she says matters?

Since 1995, she has combined impactful teaching with applied research and policy influence. She serves as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Graduate Studies & Research, first female director of SALISES, and chairs key regional child-focused initiatives.

Her awards and partnerships reflect her leadership in social development.highlights that unprocessed stress reshapes communication, confidence and authourity, especially for women navigating dual leadership at work and at home.

When decisions begin to slow down, it rarely signals a capability gap. It signals cognitive overload. London School of Economics behavioural studies show that decision fatigue decreases accuracy and increases over-analysis in complex roles, particularly for leaders managing constant change.

At the C-suite level, hesitation is not interpreted as thoughtfulness, it is interpreted as uncertainty. The shift from reactive thinking to regulated thinking is often the difference between being seen as operational and being positioned as strategic.

Avoiding difficult conversations is another silent career derailment. The CIPD Conflict in the Workplace report found that unaddressed tension leads to diminished credibility, weaker influence and blocked progression into senior roles.

Silence may protect relationships short-term, but it erodes authourity long-term. Executive leadership is not defined by how well someone avoids conflict, but by how skilfully they navigate it without emotional leakage. Prepared communication preserves both composure and control.

Overworking while delivering diminishing returns is one of the most common patterns among high-achieving leaders. Deloitte’s Women @ Work research shows that over-functioning creates the appearance of commitment while reducing strategic thinking and innovation, both essential for C-suite readiness.

In the Caribbean context, UWI findings reveal that emotional overload leads women to absorb responsibilities that should belong to systems, not individuals. At senior levels, relentless output is no longer interpreted as dedication. It is interpreted as a lack of scalability.

When minor issues begin to feel like crises, the nervous system is scanning for threat rather than information. The American Psychological Association reports that chronic stress reduces cognitive flexibility, which means leaders react to present pressures through the lens of past experiences.

In executive environments, this results in defensiveness, over-correction and an inability to prioritise what truly matters. Influence is not built through urgency. It is built through perspective.

The inability to switch off, even when nothing is wrong, is one of the clearest indicators that emotional overload has become a leadership style rather than a temporary state.

The University of Cambridge Wellbeing Institute found that senior professionals who integrate restoration practices improve presence, strategic clarity and relational intelligence within eight to twelve weeks.

At the top of the organisation, rest is no longer a wellness preference. It is an executive capability. Leaders who cannot recover cannot rise.

Finally, it is important to recognise that emotional overwhelm is not a weakness. It is a threshold. Skill, experience and ambition can only carry a leader as far as their nervous system allows.

Careers accelerate when clarity replaces reactivity, when communication becomes intentional and when regulation becomes a strategic advantage rather than an afterthought.

The next level is not only earned through performance. It is accessed through capacity.

If this resonated, share your reflections below. Contribute your insights so others at this level can benefit from them and pass this forward to someone who is ready to rise without eroding themselves on the way up.