There’s a silent pressure in leadership—one that weighs heavy, yet goes unnoticed until it’s too late. It’s the pressure to be ‘high-performing’ at all costs. We reward it. We measure it. We make it the gold standard of success. But here’s the problem: the relentless pursuit of high performance is not only unsustainable, it’s dangerous.
For leaders, the myth of high performance often looks like pushing harder, moving faster, expecting more. It whispers that exhaustion is a badge of honour. That great leadership means always being switched on, always delivering, always achieving. But at what cost?
I’ve coached leaders who were at the top of their game—respected, driven, outwardly thriving. But behind closed doors, many of them confessed to feeling stretched thin, disconnected, and barely holding it together. Their teams mirrored this too: high output, yes—but low morale, rising burnout, and a culture of silent exhaustion.
One leader I worked with—a brilliant, charismatic CEO—once told me, “I can’t slow down. If I do, everything falls apart.” His company was growing, but so was his anxiety, stress, and sense of isolation. He was performing, but he wasn’t leading. He wasn’t present. He wasn’t thinking expansively. He was simply keeping up.
This is what the myth of high performance does: it traps leaders in reactivity. Instead of leading with vision, they operate from survival mode, making short-term decisions that burn through their own energy—and their team’s resilience.
What if I told you that high performance, as we glorify it, actually reduces leadership effectiveness?
A Deloitte study found that 82% of global leaders have experienced exhaustion indicative of burnout, with nearly all reporting a decline in their mental health.
Neuroscience tells us that the more depleted we are, the more we default to linear, habitual thinking rather than creative problem-solving. The leaders who are most impactful are not the ones running hardest on the treadmill, but the ones who pause, reflect, and recalibrate.
Sustainable leadership isn’t about working harder—it’s about working in rhythm. It’s about knowing when to push and when to step back. It’s about leading from presence, not pressure. And yet, this goes against everything we’re conditioned to believe.
The most successful leaders aren’t the ones who squeeze every last ounce of energy from themselves and their teams. They are the ones who:
One of my favourite quotes is from the poet David Whyte: “The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.”
Leaders who operate from wholeheartedness—who know how to lead from their being, not just their doing—are the ones who create real, lasting impact.
If we want to redefine leadership for the future, we need to move beyond the myth of high performance. We need to replace it with something more human, more sustainable, and ultimately, more effective.
Because the best leaders aren’t just high performers. They are highly aware, highly intentional, and highly present.
So here’s the real question:
What if great leadership isn’t about how much you can do—but about how much presence, clarity, and impact you can bring?
David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity.
Inspiring Insights: Well-being and resilience in senior leaders, Deloitte and LifeWorks Research Group, April 2021
