The Last LinkedIn Coach You'll Ever Need | I Help You Get Fully Booked (simple as that) - 710+ Client Wins / $1.4M Inbound

I am happy you are here, a warm welcome.

Where do I start? I have been helping people win clients on LinkedIn since early 2019.

I'll share with you some stats (bear with me):

• 80% of my clients get inquiries within 4 months
• 25 of them have crossed 6-figures on LinkedIn
• They altogether signed up circa 840 clients
• Over $2,6M in inbound leads 

What makes my approach so effective? 

My guess: A deep understanding of human nature/psychology, coupled with social selling for LinkedIn 

Add to that a very personalized and supportive approach, and you get the last LinkedIn coach you'll ever need on your side. 

Clients include the likes of: 

Thomas Erikson 
Edvin Vosylius
Ani Filipova 
Sope Agbelusi  
Nadine Stanton 
Maria Malik
Misha Rubin 

And currently working with: 

A CEO coach with 40,000 clients helped
A serial entrepreneur 
4 Career Coaches 
A high-performance coach 
2 Executive Coaches 
A world-class public speaker 

[as per 22nd May 2025)


If you are looking to save yourself lots of effort and time to build a following that buys from you, I am your guy! 

In the 3 months together, I make sure you learn and absorb my best strategies for where you are going. 

No CTA is needed. 


A bit about me; 

• I was born in Albania, (grew up in Greece) and have been living in Italy for 20 years.
• I have a deep passion for psychology 
• I used to play football - Under 17 Monaco team 
• I love family time, and Bud Spencer's movies
• When I am not working, you'll find me playing Tennis somewhere.

Xhoni Mimillari

Personal branding influencers don’t tell the whole truth. 

They will say it's about the website, design, and storytelling. 

But that is not what creates influence.

The essence of a personal brand is the reputation and trust you’ve built. 

On the platform and outside of it. 

What do people say about your business when you aren’t in the room? 

What do you want them to say? 

Well, there you have my answer in the photo. 

“He has been the best investment ever”. 

One more:
“He is legit. Someone you can fully trust and rely on”.

oh and, I don’t offer any courses. 

Only elite and no-bs LinkedIn training & coaching. 

Excited to start offering my services more to companies and teams who want to grow quicker on here.  

Some things are cooking in the background, 
stay tuned 🙌

I’ll see you at the top!

The Last LinkedIn Coach & Expert You’ll Ever Need - Trusted by 200+ Experts - See below why.

It took me 10 years to learn these 17 business & life lessons. 

Some came from my personal struggles & wins. 
Some came from working with brilliant people.
And some from making difficult decisions. 

Yours in 2 minutes. 


1. Everything you want sits behind two doors:
The sting of rejection and the boredom of consistency.


2. Your biggest competitors aren’t people.
They’re your distractions, your impulses, and blind spots. 


3. If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice. 
I believe delayed gratification is the highest form of self-respect. 


4. The work you do today won’t pay you today. 
It’ll pay you months & years later when most people have already quit. 


5. Your next 5-10 years are decided by the habits & identity you justify today.


6. Solving difficult problems sets the value. Your uniqueness sets the price.


7. What you do when no one is watching is where confidence is built. 


8. You’ll lose sleep, profits, clients, and friends, but if you don’t lose hope and hunger, you’ll be good. 


9. The market doesn’t reward what you know. 
But how quickly you replace what you know when reality changes. 


10. The person you become is what gives actual value to the milestones you hit. Not the other way around! 


11. The true key to influence is to read & understand human behavior deeply and have strong self-control to earn your own respect. 


12. Speed often comes from humility. When you silence your ego and are willing to see how you are getting in your own way.


13. You can overcome fear of judgment when you stop judging others.


14. The life & business we want requires honesty that we have probably avoided for years. 


15. Burnout isn’t caused by hard work.
It’s caused by work that lacks meaning and status games, trying to impress people who don’t care. 


16. Compare yourself to others when it comes to the work they put in and the sacrifices they made. All of a sudden, you’ll be less jealous of what they have.

 
17. Taking full responsibility for where you are right now is empowering.
I’ve realized that the moment you own everything, nothing owns you. That’s freedom! 


Share one valuable lesson that has served you well in life & business 👇


PS: Which one resonates the most?

I am not bashing the idea of working for someone else.

I have, and it taught me a lot. 

I bash the idea of not taking any risk and expecting things to change.
 
Well, the law of cause and effect won’t allow it. 

I went into financial debt multiple times to start & grow my business, and it wasn’t about: 

“This is such a big risk, let’s see how it goes.”

It was more about: 

“I am betting on myself for this to work, and it will”. 

There is a different energy and vibe to that. 

So remember: 
If you plant safe, you harvest risk.

I’ll see you guys at the top! 


PS: I’ll do a special giveaway in a few days, click the double 🔔 on my profile to not miss it.

Career, Business & Executive Coach | Mindset & Mental Fitness Coach | DISC® Certified | Mentor

👋 Hi, I’m Monica.Most founders and business owners don’t need more strategy. They need more internal bandwidth.I coach founders to think more clearly, lead better, and run a business that doesn’t burn them out.I’ve spent 30+ years leading teams across corporate and start-up environments, responsible for people, revenue, and operations. I understand the pressure at the top - and what happens when the founder tries to carry it all.Those decades taught me one thing:If the founder is overwhelmed, the business will be too.No strategy fixes a leadership bottleneck.My coaching isn’t generic leadership training. It’s deep, personalised, evidence-based work grounded in performance psychology, neuroscience, and practical leadership experience.Credentials:• ICF-accredited Performance Coach• Neuroscience of Change certified• Positive Intelligence Coach• Certified Neuroscience Coach• CIPD Associate in HR ManagementSince starting my practice, I’ve coached founders and leaders from organisations including Nike, Amazon, Warner Bros, and the NHS -  but my focus now is singular:➔ founders navigating growth, decision fatigue, and the pressure to lead.Does this sound familiar?✔︎ You’re making nonstop decisions but trusting yourself less✔︎ Your team asks for things they should handle alone✔︎ You’re busy all day but key work isn’t moving✔︎ You’re dragged into fires instead of thinking strategically✔︎ Stress is rising and your headspace shrinking✔︎ You want growth but can’t keep leading like thisYou don’t need another masterclass.You need support tailored to you and your business.We work across three layers:1. Lead YourselfBuild the clarity and headspace to make better decisions and stay out of reactive mode.2. Lead Your TeamGet your team thinking for themselves, taking ownership, and solving problems without everything coming back to you.3. Lead Your BusinessMake clearer decisions, cut through noise, focus on what drives progress, and create momentum.Client results:✔︎ Simplified their business → revenue up 40%✔︎ Fixed costly team issues (incl. a £250K mis-hire)✔︎ Rebuilt confidence in communication and leadership✔︎ Stepped out of firefighting and regained thinking time✔︎ Reduced stress at work and at homeClients often say I make complicated things feel simple, and create a space where they can think clearly and make decisions they trust.📩 If you’re ready to lead with more clarity - and build a business that performs without burning you out - book a free 30-minute consultation.

Monica Federico, Assoc. CIPD

You can be a boss without being a leader.
Most founders learn that the hard way.

Building a business is one thing.
Leading one is another.

Most founders get pulled into the work.
I see it with my clients all the time.
Successful. Smart. Still “too busy.”

Almost every founder I coach thinks their problem is lack of time, but it’s usually leadership.

They run operations.
Solve problems.
Put out fires.
And somewhere along the way, the leadership part gets pushed aside.

It usually comes down to three layers:

1. Leading yourself
↳ Your clarity becomes the team’s clarity.
↳ Your emotional state sets the tone.
↳ Your habits set the pace.
Operate from a calm, focused, clear space and everything else steadies.

2. Leading your team
↳ Give direction, not micromanagement.
↳ Don’t get stuck in the weeds. Delegate.
↳ Help your team develop and grow.
Culture and alignment start here.

3. Leading the business
↳ Strategy becomes cleaner.
↳ Decisions get simpler.
↳ You shift from reacting to building.
This is where growth becomes predictable.

Founders often think leadership is something to revisit when things calm down.

But things calm down when leadership becomes the priority.

You can be a boss by default.
Becoming a leader is a choice.

And it always starts with how you run yourself.
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♻️ Repost and share it with someone who leads others.
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Monica Federico

Founder Leadership & Performance Coach | Helping founders think more clearly, lead better, and build a business that doesn’t burn you out | Based in 🇬🇧 supporting clients worldwide 🌎

Nobody likes to be disliked.

But in leadership, it’s inevitable.

John Lennon said, “Being honest might not get you a lot of friends, but it always gets you the right ones.”

It’s a life principle.

But if we are in charge, it becomes a requirement.

Because when the need to be liked outweighs the need to be honest, our leadership will suffer.

I’ve seen people-pleasing cost leaders more than they realise:

❌ Agreeing to business decisions they didn’t believe in because they didn’t want to upset a strong-headed team member.

❌ Letting unrealistic demands from senior leadership hit their team because they didn’t want to be seen as difficult.

❌ Avoiding giving new hires the guidance they needed because they didn’t want to come across as a micromanager.

People-pleasing isn’t harmless.

It leads to poor decisions.
It leads to underperformance.
It slowly erodes your authority.

The fix isn’t about being blunt for the sake of it.
It’s about leading with clarity, not appeasement.

Here’s where to start:

✅ Know your non-negotiables.
Decide what you will and won’t compromise on before you step into the room.

✅ Prepare for trigger moments.
Before a meeting or one-to-one, ask yourself: “Where could I slip into people-pleasing here?” Plan your response instead.

✅ Speak early.
Address concerns before they snowball.

✅ Separate disagreement from disrespect.
Challenging an idea isn’t the same as undermining the person.

✅ Anchor in shared goals.
Frame honesty around what’s best for the mission.

Being honest, even when it’s uncomfortable, is how you create teams that perform, trust you, and stay aligned under pressure.

Popularity is easy.
Credibility is what gets results.

What’s one thing that’s helped you speak up more as a leader?
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♻️ Repost to support a culture of honesty in leadership.
👉🏼 Follow Monica Federico for performance & leadership insights

Leadership & Performance Coach | For founders who want to lead with clarity, calm, and strategic focus | Based in 🇬🇧 supporting clients WW 🌎

The moment a team stops feeling trusted is the moment they stop showing initiative.

And that tension shows up inside every growing business.

When it’s our business, it’s natural to stay close to everything.

But that instinct comes with a cost.

The watching, the double-checking, the stepping in…
it creates the very friction you’re trying to avoid.

There are always 3 layers to this:

1. The leader
↳ Control feels safer
↳ Perfectionism creeps in
↳ Guilt makes handing things over harder
↳ No one understands the business like you do

2. The team
↳ Rushed handovers
↳ One brief with no checkpoints
↳ Taking tasks back because it’s quicker
↳ Assuming delegation doesn’t work after one mistake

3. The strategy
↳ Right person, right role
↳ Do they have the skill?
↳ Do they have the time?
↳ Do they understand the bigger picture?

When these layers fall out of sync, leaders end up doing the thinking and the doing.

Meanwhile, the team waits (and disengages) on the sidelines.

But when the layers line up, delegation becomes lighter.

✓ Your workload decreases
✓ Your team steps forward

And you get to focus on the work only you can do.
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♻️ Repost if you don't believe in micromanagement
🔔 Follow Monica Federico for leadership insights.

Founder Coach | Helping founders think more clearly, lead better, and build a business that doesn’t burn you out | Leadership & Performance | Based in 🇬🇧 supporting SMEs worldwide 🌎

Your leadership won’t outperform your habits.
And neither will your team.

After coaching leaders and founders across industries, I see the same pattern repeatedly:

👉🏼 Your daily habits become the culture your team works inside.

When leaders are clear, intentional, and grounded, performance rises.

When they’re reactive or stretched thin, the whole system feels it.

Here are the 9 laws I see consistently in high-performing leaders who navigate pressure, build trust, and make better decisions under stress.

Which one is your favourite?
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📌 Save this for the week ahead.
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Leading from the front

Doesn’t require doing every job.

Many still misunderstand what "leading by example" means.

Mainly because they’re stuck in the early-stage version of it.

When your team is small, rolling up your sleeves works.

It proves you’re willing.
It builds trust.
It keeps things moving.

I learned this firsthand.

When I was leading a team of 5, doing everything did work.

But when that team grew to 35, the exact same instinct started breaking things instead of building them.

And I see this pattern in every team that scales:

❌ If you keep doing every job, you stop doing your job.
❌ If you stay everywhere, your team stays dependent.
❌ If you signal commitment through hours, you teach exhaustion is normal.
❌ If you fix everything, they never learn to think without you.

At scale, “leading by example” changes shape completely.

✅ It becomes calm over chaos.
✅ Clarity over noise.
✅ Boundaries over burnout.
✅ Delegation over micromanagement.
✅ Thinking time over constant busyness.

Because your team doesn’t copy what you say.
They copy what you model.

📌 And what you model becomes the culture.

Switching from the old version to the real version isn’t dramatic.

It’s a series of small, deliberate choices that shift how your team operates, even when you’re not in the room.

If you want a team that leads, stop showing them leadership means doing everything.

Show them what leadership looks like now.
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The smartest founders are often the most overwhelmed.

Not because they lack intelligence.
But because their minds never stop generating solutions.

Every problem gets a new tool.
Every challenge gets a new framework.
Every dip gets a new strategy.

More apps.
More advisors.
More methodologies.

It happens quickly.
You see possibilities everywhere.
And the very thing that makes you effective starts to scatter your focus.

When you can see ten ways to solve something, it’s tempting to try all ten.

Meanwhile, the simple answer sits there.
Ignored.

Under pressure, switching to something new gives the mind a quick sense of relief.
It feels like progress, even when it isn’t.

Complexity doesn’t create clarity.
It buries it.

I’ve seen founders stack system on top of system.
Each one made sense on its own.
Together, they created chaos.

The team couldn’t keep up.
The direction blurred.
Momentum dipped.

Mental clarity isn’t about hunting for better solutions.
It’s about creating space to use the ones you already have.

One strategy, fully executed, beats ten half-started.
One clear metric beats a dashboard of noise.
One focused quarter beats a year of pivots.

The founders who operate at their best don’t collect everything.
They commit to what matters.

In a world built to sell you endless solutions, the real power is knowing when to stop adding.

What’s one thing you could pause this week to see things more clearly?
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♻️ Repost if simplicity is on your mind
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20,000 followers 🥳
Some call it a vanity metric.
I call it 20,000 humans who chose to be here.

That's the capacity of O2 Arena in London.
That's Madison Square Garden in New York.

Of course, not everyone's online at the same time.
Not everyone reads every post.

But still - it's a community!
And when I think about it like that, it's genuinely humbling.

Thank you so much 🙏🏼

Many of you are relatively new here.
So let me reintroduce myself.

I'm Monica. I'm 56, with a 37-year career behind me – much of it in management and leadership.

That experience comes in handy now.

I work with founders who are feeling the pressure and realising they need to evolve as leaders if the business is going to keep growing.

Over the last 4 years, I've integrated applied neuroscience into my coaching practice.

Always learning something new about how our brains work under pressure.

It helps my clients perform better without the burnout.

I'm based in London, working with clients worldwide.

I mostly work from home, which means I could be anywhere.

And if I had the choice? Sydney, without question.
Lived there for a couple of years in the nineties and it still calls to me.

Some personal bits:

😻 Obsessed with cats (and all animals, really)
🦝 Have one cat, Plato, but would happily add two more cats, a raccoon, and a dog if my lifestyle allowed :)
💄 Own a ridiculous makeup collection. It's meditative, like painting with colour and shape

A nice counterbalance to the strategic thinking I do all week.

Now your turn.

Tell me one thing I should know about you.
What brought you here? What are you building?

Let's turn this number into real connections.

PS: And if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
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♻️ Share if you believe in community over metrics
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3 ways to stop avoiding the hard conversations.

It’s not conflict that makes some conversations hard.

It’s our resistance to discomfort.

Most of us don’t need another course in communication.
We just need to get better at staying in the awkward bits.

Here are three ways that help:

1️⃣ Notice your escape routes.
 • Delaying, softening, or joking to dodge tension
 • All small ways of saying I don’t want to feel this
 • Pause instead. Let the silence do some work.

2️⃣ Stay with the feeling, not the story in your head.
 • Discomfort doesn’t mean you’re wrong
 • It usually means you care
 • Breathe. Name it. Keep going.

3️⃣ Choose honesty over harmony.
 • Awkward moments pass
 • Avoidance lingers
 • The more truth you speak kindly, the more trust you build

The best leaders aren’t fearless.

They’re the ones who can feel the heat 
and still keep the conversation open.

PS: How do you handle the moments that make you squirm?
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♻️ Repost if you believe we need braver leaders.
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Thank you to Loren Rosario for reminding me of this quote 🤍

Failing twice doesn’t make you a failure.

But losing perspective will.

Most people don't spiral because they fail.
They spiral because they forget to zoom out.

A missed target feels like a disaster.
A tough week feels like proof they're not good enough.

But it's rarely the event.
It's the meaning we attach to it.

When stress kicks in, the brain's threat system takes over.
Focus narrows. Confidence dips.

We stop seeing the full grid of wins and zero in on the two red crosses.

That's not failure.
That's distortion.

Here's how to reset perspective when you're in it:

✅ Ask yourself: "What would I tell a client in this exact situation?"
(You already know the answer. You just can't see it for yourself.)

✅ Write down 3 recent wins before analysing any loss.
(Your brain needs evidence that you're not actually failing at everything.)

✅ Set a 24-hour rule before calling anything a failure.
(Most "disasters" look different after a night's sleep.)

High performers don't avoid mistakes.
They manage their state when mistakes happen.

Because when you can hold perspective under pressure, you can handle anything.

PS: What helps you zoom out when everything feels too close?
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♻️ Repost if this shifted your perspective today
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Image inspo: psychologyposts_ on IG.

When your head is overloaded, big productivity systems don’t help.

Your brain doesn’t have the bandwidth for them.

I get to this point almost every year.
And I know I’m not alone.

Many of us hit this stage where half of our brain is planning for next year.

We’re trying to tidy up the loose ends of this one.

And we’re noticing the things we thought we’d finish…
and didn’t.🤷‍♀️

It creates a quiet mental clutter that sits in the background.

Nothing dramatic.
Just a little less clarity.
A little more noise.

And that’s when I reach for these tools.

They’re simple.
But they’re effective.

They might sound basic.
But they’re grounded in performance science.
And each one targets a specific mental state.

They work because they help your brain do what it struggles to do
when it’s overloaded.

Five different tools.
Five different states.
About five minutes each.

If your head feels full right now,
pick one and give it a go.

PS: How's your brain doing right now? Just me? 😉
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♻️ Repost and help others declutter & stay focussed
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5 quick & easy ways to declutter your mind

You can’t master the 4 quiet habits.
Without mastering no.5 first.

Plan. Pause. Reflect. Simplify.

They sound simple.
Until real life gets in the way.

That’s why high performers rely on no.5:
the habit that makes them work.

 👉🏼 Saying no to everything that isn’t these four.

You can’t Plan in back-to-back meetings.
You can’t Pause when everything’s urgent.
You can’t Reflect while solving everyone’s problems.
You can’t Simplify when you keep adding more.

The highest performers get this.
Founders, executives, even ambitious juniors.

They protect these four habits.
By declining everything else:

• The meeting that hijacks planning
• The chat that kills pause time
• The “quick question” that breaks reflection
• The new idea that ruins simplicity

They’re not being difficult.
They’re being disciplined.

These quiet habits only work in actual quiet.
And quiet doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens when you guard it.
When you say “not now” to the urgent.
When you choose depth over being liked.

High performers don’t rely on quick fixes.
They protect the habits that matter.

Because that’s what keeps them high performing.

PS: Which of these 4 habits gets interrupted most in your day?
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♻️ Repost if you're ready to protect your quiet habits
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Red flags get all the attention.
But green flags are what leaders should reward.

Our brains are trained to spot the gap.
The problem.
The risk.
The person who isn’t pulling their weight.

That’s the brain doing what it’s built to do.
It prioritises threat over everything else.

Useful for survival.
Terrible for leadership.

Because when we’re glued to what’s wrong,
we miss what’s working.

We miss our steady performers in the middle.
We miss the green flags that quietly keep everything moving.

And the irony?
What we reward gets repeated.

So this week, try switching the lens.

✅ Spot the green flags.
✅ Name them.
✅ Reinforce them.
✅ Make the good behaviours visible.

People rise when they feel seen for what they’re doing right.
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♻️ Repost to support a better workplace culture
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Most people don’t have a productivity problem.
They have a prioritisation problem.

The 80–20 principle sounds simple…
But applying it?
That’s where everything changes.

Here’s the pattern I keep seeing with founders and leaders:

We spend 80% of our week on things that move us 20% forward.
Emails. Admin. Meetings.
Busy work disguised as progress.

But when you zoom out, you always find the same truth:

A tiny percentage of your actions, decisions, relationships, habits and customers drive almost all of your real growth.

And when you double down on those things?
Life gets a lot lighter, and results get a lot bigger.

I made this breakdown as a reminder:

 • Business.
 • Leadership.
 • Energy.
 • Strategy.
 • Relationships.

It’s all the same pattern.

Focus on the few things that actually move you forward.
Cut the rest.

Save this for the week you need the reminder.
Because we all hit those weeks.
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♻️ Repost to help others prioritise
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Earlier this month my brain felt like it had 39 tabs open and a YouTube ad playing somewhere in the background.

I kept pushing… until last week, when I finally had to take my own advice.🤦🏼‍♀️

As a performance coach, I spend my days helping people optimise their minds.

But even I forget that peak performance is not built on hacks.

It comes from recovery.
It comes from maintenance.
It comes from the boring habits most of us overlook.

Looking after your brain is not just about feeling better.

It is about:

- clearer business focus
- better decision making
- better emotional regulation
- being able to show up fully for your team, your work, and the people you care about

So I went back to my own checklist, the simple habits that keep my mind sharp without burning me out.

And as soon as I made a couple of small tweaks, I could feel the difference almost immediately.

So here is my invitation to use the infographic as a little self-audit 👇🏼

You do not need to tick every box on the checklist by Monday.

You can add a change or two per week.

And since it is Friday, consider this your permission slip to start small this weekend.

Give your brain the conditions it needs to show up fully next week.

PS: Happy Friday!
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♻️ Repost to help others with a low battery
🔔 Follow Monica Federico for more founders performance & leadership psychology

56% of leaders report burnout.
47% of UK founders say running their business has harmed their health.

56% of leaders report burnout.

That isn’t just a workload problem.
It’s a bandwidth problem.
A nervous system stretched past its limits.

When stress spikes, your prefrontal cortex loses processing power.

• Focus narrows
• Decision quality drops
• Emotional reactivity increases

Your brain shifts into short-term survival mode.

And your leadership follows.

That’s why the same behaviours keep showing up when pressure rises.

They’re not personality traits.
They’re stress responses.

• Talking in circles
• Chasing urgency
• Acting on impulse
• Over-controlling decisions
• Working nonstop to “catch up”
• Avoiding overdue conversations

They feel productive in the moment, but they quietly sabotage your leadership reputation and impact.

Better leadership doesn’t come from trying harder.

It starts with getting your capacity back.

And that begins with a few basic foundations that stabilise your nervous system:

 1. Protect your sleep
 2. Eat high-nutritional-value food
 3. Move your body daily
 4. Take micro-breaks between meetings
 5. Reduce caffeine when you feel wired
 6. Step outside for natural light

These are the levers that restore bandwidth.

Once your cognitive load drops, it becomes easier to correct your leadership responses.

You can’t access strategic thinking in survival mode.

And you can’t scale what your nervous system can’t sustain.

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Sources:
FreeAgent, Burnout Britain Report (2023).
Superhuman Executive Burnout Report (2024).
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♻️ Repost to support a healthier leadership
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72% of founders report feeling burned out. 

And it’s not just “the hustle.”

It’s bandwidth overload.

Burnout for founders rarely shows up as “I can’t do this anymore.”

It shows up as:

– Making slower decisions
– Snapping at tiny things
– Losing creative sharpness
– Feeling busy but oddly unproductive
– Carrying the whole business in your head
– Working all day but making no real progress
– Never having space to think beyond tomorrow

That’s not weakness.

That’s cognitive overload from running an entire company on a low bandwidth.

Most founders don’t burn out because of hard work.
They burn out because they’re:

✔️ the chief problem-solver
✔️ the decision engine
✔️ the emotional shock absorber
✔️ the strategist
✔️ the operator
✔️ the culture-setter
✔️ the safety net for everyone else

And you were never meant to hold all of that alone.

Here are 7 signs your leadership bandwidth is overloaded...and what to do before it costs you clarity, your team, or the business.👇🏼

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Sources:
– Startup Snapshot, State of the Startup Report (2023)
– Startup Snapshot & Intel Ignite, Founder Wellbeing Update (2024)
– MindForward Alliance, Wellbeing in Startups (2022)
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♻️ Repost if you agree burnout isn’t a badge
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Your mind won’t relax when things calm down.
Things calm down when your mind relaxes.

Don’t get me wrong, having a busy mind isn’t always a bad thing.

Sometimes it’s a spark - the kind of busy that fuels ideas, creativity, and momentum.

But there’s another kind of busy.

The kind where you have too many tabs open at once.

And that version is usually a signal that you have been carrying more than your brain was designed to hold.

Decisions.
People.
Deadlines.
The invisible load no one else sees.

When everything lands at once, your mind stops sorting what matters from what is just noise.

So suddenly:
→ Everything feels urgent
→ Everything feels like yours to solve
→ Everything stays open in the background

Most people try to push through this.

But your brain does not need more pressure.
It needs more structure.

⤷ Space between tasks
⤷ Loops closed instead of left running
⤷ A body that is not locked in tension all day
⤷ The reminder that thoughts are not instructions

The truth is:

Things do not calm down and then you rest.
Things calm down because you rest.

A calm and focused mind makes clearer decisions.
Clearer decisions create better outcomes in work and in life.

If your mind has been too busy lately, take it as an invitation.

You do not have to carry everything at once.
You do not have to figure it all out today.

Happy Friday 🤍
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♻️ Repost to support wellbeing in business too.
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The highest performers I know share one secret.
They've lost more deals than they've won.

Not because they're bad at selling.
Because they refuse to sell their integrity.

Sales targets and high-pressure environments are where our values get tested most.

I've seen it throughout my entire career. 
↳ Talented people at every level making dubious choices under pressure.

From founders fudging numbers to junior team members being pushed to bend the truth by leadership.

The temptations are always the same:

• Exaggerating capabilities to close the deal
• Hiding limitations until after the contract’s signed
• Creating false urgency to push decisions
• Omitting information because they didn't ask
• Overpromising timelines you know can’t be met

Here's what people don’t tell you.
Every bent truth is a loan you’ll pay back with interest.

➔ The client you deceive today becomes the damaged reputation tomorrow.
➔ The shortcut that hits this quarter’s target creates next quarter’s crisis.
➔ The impossible promise you make to close the sale becomes the team burnout that costs you your best people.

True high performance isn’t about winning at any cost, but being able to build something sustainable.

And nothing built on compromised values ever lasts.

The highest form of accomplishment?
Standing by your principles when they’re tested.

Even when – especially when – the pressure is on.

Because integrity beats quarterly targets.

Every single time.

PS: What’s the hardest values test you’ve faced in business?
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Leaders alway teach us something.

Sometimes we teach what not to do.

We’re shaped by the leaders we admire… 
and the ones we hope we never become.

It starts early.
Watching the adults around us.

Noticing what lifts people up.
Noticing what shuts people down.
Quietly thinking "Right. I won’t be like that."

And the same thing happens at work.

We learn from the brilliant leaders.
The ones who stay calm, clear, present.

But we learn just as much from the overwhelmed ones.
The reactive ones.
The ones who stopped paying attention.

Those lessons stick.
They shape how we make decisions.
They shape how we treat people.
They shape the culture we create when it’s our turn to lead.

Here’s what most people forget.
Someone has learned from us in the exact same way.

A team member.
A colleague.
A friend.

They’ve watched us at our best and at our worst.
And they’ll carry those lessons forward…
including the ones we never meant to teach.

That reality can sting.
But it’s also the wake-up call most leaders need.

Because it brings the focus back to the only thing we control.
How we show up today.
How we set the tone.
How we correct ourselves when we realise we’ve gone off-track.

Your behaviour becomes someone else’s blueprint. 
Make it worth repeating.

PS: What's a lesson that stood out for you?
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Have all a fantastic week!
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Successful people master one underrated skill.

Saying no to almost everything.

Most people think success comes from doing more.

Taking more meetings.
Chasing more ideas.
Saying yes to more opportunities.

But the best leaders don’t play that game.
They choose subtraction over addition.

Every “no” protects their energy.
Every “no” sharpens their focus.
Every “no” keeps them on the path that matters.

Steve Jobs rejected over 90% of Apple’s ideas.

Not because they were bad,
but because they distracted from the few that would change everything.

The same is true for founders and leaders I coach.
They rarely suffer from a lack of ideas.
They suffer from too many good ones.

If you want more clarity,
start cutting.

Say no to work that doesn’t align.
Say no to clients who drain you.
Say no to meetings without purpose.
Say no to perfectionism disguised as progress.
Say no to busywork that makes you feel productive but changes nothing.

Success isn’t built by doing more.
It’s built by having the discipline to stop.

PS: What’s on your “stop doing” list next week?

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♻️ Repost if you agree that less really is more
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The Battle

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Monica Federico, Assoc. CIPD

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