Why Executives Lose Clarity Under Pressure

There is also research on what psychologists call the window of tolerance. Under sustained stress, the kind that the CEO role generates constantly, month after month, year after year, the nervous system has a threshold. Below that threshold, a person can think clearly. They have access to their full cognitive capacity. They can read situations accurately and respond with judgement. Above that threshold, when the pressure exceeds what the nervous, nervous system can absorb, people either shut down or become reactive. Their perception narrows. Their thinking becomes more rigid. They start operating from a much smaller version of themselves. Where that threshold sits, how much pressure someone can absorb before they lose access to their best thinking, was largely shaped in childhood. It can be developed, but it has to be worked on deliberately.