Why your past is key to understanding the leader you are today

At a time when leaders are stretched by heavy workloads and ever more complex environments, they find themselves under enormous pressure, running on autopilot and relying solely on instinct. As a result, and despite their best intentions, they end up behaving in a way they always do under stress.

While many of us like to think of ourselves as thoughtful, calm, and poised under pressure, when we are deprived of time, our instincts come to the fore and a different kind of leader emerges – one that relies on default tendencies that are formed in childhood. As leaders, when you do not have time to think about how you ought to be, you become the person you naturally are.

But depending on your instincts is a bit like gambling blind; as a result, stress levels, mistakes, and failure rates are all on the rise. 72% of leaders say they find themselves moving from meeting to meeting with little or no time to reflect and 68% say they feel uncertain about a decision at least once a…