Why High-Performing Leaders Lose Strategic Capacity | Ep. 102

Episode Summary

Pressure doesn't just affect your emotions. It changes the way your brain makes decisions.

In this episode, Coach Mo sits down with brain-based coach Hanna Curman to explore why so many high-performing leaders stay trapped in urgency without realizing it. Together they unpack how survival mode narrows thinking, limits strategic capacity, and quietly fuels burnout. You'll learn why slowing down isn't weakness, how self-awareness creates better leadership decisions, and why understanding your internal patterns is one of the greatest competitive advantages a leader can develop. If you've ever felt overwhelmed while trying to perform at a high level, this conversation offers a practical framework for leading yourself before leading everyone else.

Key Takeaways

• Urgency Shrinks Strategy
  The faster you move without awareness, the smaller your thinking becomes. 
• Your Body Speaks First
  Stress patterns often appear physically before they become conscious thoughts. 
• Pause Before You React
  Strategic leaders interrupt old patterns before making important decisions. 
• High Performance Requires Recovery
  Slowing down is often the fastest path to better execution. 
• Self-Awareness Is Leadership
  The quality of your decisions begins with understanding your internal state.

Transcript

Mindset Setup And Channel Welcome

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the next pick of my channel. When high school starts performing and start transforming. I'm coaching out. Founder of the inner winner and creator of the Twin X. Company, my power, my action, and red. And when I'm here, join your mindset. Challenge your limits and transfer into purpose. Subscribe now and join me on YouTube at Swanat Coaching. So let's get your red set.

Meet Hannah Kurman And The Goal

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Welcome to another episode of the Let's Think About It podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo. And today we're stepping into the inner arena with Hannah Kerman, founder of the Brain Shift International Speaker, Certified Brain-based coach and author. Hannah has dedicated her work to helping people better understand themselves, navigate change, and lead with greater awareness and intentions. I'm looking forward to where this conversation is going to take us. So, Hannah, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Thank you very much. I'm so looking forward to talking to you as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

I'm really happy to have you on. I believe we're going to get into some powerful nuggets that we'll be able to share. But before we do that, where are you checking in from?

Sweden Nature And Space To Breathe

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I'm checking in from Sweden. So it's the northern part of the world. And we are getting into the summer season, which is great for us because during the wintertime it's dark and cold. And now we are coming into this sunny and bright and light time of the year.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Sweden. Wow. What's the great thing about Sweden that my audience should know about?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

I do believe. And this is actually something that I use quite a lot. And that is that we have a lot of nature. And being out in the nature, we have free space. We can actually walk wherever we want in the nature, even though the property to someone else. Of course, we don't jump into someone else's backyard, but we can go in the forest, we can go in the nature, and being there together with the birds, together with the animals. I think that is one of the greatest of Sweden.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Love that. Love that.

Inner Balance That Fuels Achievement

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So tell us what type of value that you bring in the type of clients that you work with?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I do believe that I bring in a lot of different values. I've been there myself. I've been one of those C-suites, traveling around the world and trying to chase myself to find myself somewhere and waking up in different hotels and different cities at the same time as I've been raising a family back home. So just being aware of the different states and the different worlds where we want to be. I actually had a conversation today with a client and she said, Hannah, you know what? I do want to be able to say that I love to be at work. I love to work, but then we should also say that we want to be with our families and kids, right? And it's true. And what I say, that it's okay for you to say both, and we can find both. And that is really the value as well to find the balance. And I'm not talking about life work life balance. I'm talking about balance within ourselves. And at the same time, as you have this inner balance and feel comfortable with yourself, that also makes you be a higher achiever. Because I do believe in higher achievements.

Brain Shift And The Clarity Chain

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Is that where the brain shift framework comes in? Because when I think of brain shift, and please break it down for me, my audience, but when I bought it and the platform in which I work with leaders, they carry a lot of inner pressures, right? And when they're dealing with those inner pressures, the overthinking, the overfunctioning, the doubtful thoughts, the imposter syndrome, all of those different types of internal pressures that we create in our mind because stagnant. And in those moments of being stagnant, it's hard to have a strategy, vision of self, strategic capacity becomes very limited in key moments while dealing with these inner pressures. So I would assume that your work with brain shift helps people shift their paradigm. Can you tell us a little bit more about what brain shift is?

SPEAKER_02 5:19

And I think that you're you are really spot on. What I see and what I what I work with are those high achievers that really want to take themselves and their teams and their organizations to the next level. And just as you say, too often we are overthinking and we don't really stop and reflect. And when we don't do that, we will just go in old pathways. And the pathways that I'm talking about, the way that we take decisions, it's also the way that we are thinking. So when I'm talking about brain shift, that is first of all, understand yourself. Brain shift is a framework, but I also have a methodology that is called the clarity chain. And within the clarity chain, we always start with spot. Start to recognize your triggers. Start to recognize when is your body tense. In which situations are you relaxed? In which situations are you fading away? In which situations are you actually really eager to go forward? You might get angry. Just to start to recognize it. That is the first part. And I do believe that you've seen it just as I have, that too many of us never even think about it. We wake up in the morning and we are still tense in our bodies, and we don't realize that we have been laying there in our beds with a high pressure and not really being relaxed. And jumping into and our breath is very shallow and our heartbeat is very high.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

That's the pattern, particularly when you're a high achiever, high performer. That's what you're taught, right? Oh, you gotta go, you gotta get this result, you gotta meet this demand, go, go to the point where the inner critic is telling you you can't afford to slow down because if you slow down, you will be bypassed. And we don't want to be bypassed. So we gotta press through this. You slow down, you're weak. You're it just creates this narrative. We just keep going, we keep going. And in the process of going, we lose sight of strategy in how we really want to see ourselves moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

I totally agree with you, but the beauty though is that you will be even high if you learn to slow down. If you learn to slow down and recognize those patterns and really take active decisions, not based on old patterns, but based on what is really needed. So that is going back to the methodology, the clarity chain. Then the second part is decode. Okay, so where do where does those signals come from? Is it really something that belongs to this existing, or is it something that belongs to the past? We all know by now that our brain and the easiest way to stay alive. So we are constantly chasing or scanning our environment for threats. But if we start to recognize those signals, because the body will tell us when we are in a threat state or threat mode. And if we can start to recognize that and then decode it and say that, okay, is this something that is really, do I really need to be threatened here? Is it something that is really threatening? Usually it's not.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Most leaders in these roles, they don't know what they don't know. They don't even they don't even realize they're in a pattern, let alone a signal. How do you help them realize the signal when they're unaware of signals? How do you help create that

Creating Awareness Without Shame

SPEAKER_01 9:13

level of consciousness for people that you work with?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

First of all, my my first part is always to create a safe environment for the leaders or the leadership team in front of me, in between the two of us. And that is to show myself vulnerable and tell them a little bit about myself. And after that, also coming to some teaching. Some teaching about the brain, some teaching about our nervous system, some teaching about what is it that that makes us chase for the things that we are doing are here. Just to get away from the shame and guilt. Because that is also, if we are going a little bit more in depth in that, that is usually what is keeping us awake during the night. That is shame and guilt. And just to realize that the way that you are running, the way that you are chasing, the way that you are treating yourself and the treating the other ones around you, that is exactly what you're supposed to do, based on your inherited patterns to keep you alive. And then place questions, just have ask themselves. Many people of us, I don't have my watch on mine now, but many of us, we have some kind something on us that actually can measure our pulse. That is also just look at your watch. How is your pulse right now? And then start to talk about that. It's let's say that they have a pulse of 70, 75, we shouldn't have that high pulse in a calm time in a calm situation. And then we can start to talk about okay, how what happened before the meeting and so on. And one thing that I always do as well, but that and that is something that to start with, and that is a breathing exercise to support them to come down. It's so powerful, it's so powerful. But coming back to your question, what how do I start to work and how do I start to make the the leader who are in such a high state and really chasing themselves, as I said, I'm I was chasing myself all around the world. Sometimes it takes a few coaching sessions, sometimes it takes 10 minutes, but I will not stop until I have them there present. And that makes me have I have to be present, I have to be totally present in the moment. Because that is also one of the things. Now we are coming into a lot of teaching here, but that is one of the other things that the mirroring that we are doing. If I'm calm, the person in front of me will calm down.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, that's why I love the swag framework of what I created because it's really simple, right? Because when people think about swag, they think swagger, pop in your collar, or even swag merchandise. That's it's really that simple, right? But I take a different approach to it with self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grit, right? Just as you were saying, being aware of the triggers, the swag framework is when your swag is off, typically have a feeling, and that feeling can be overwhelm, discouragement, guilt, embarrassment, just whatever that draining feeling is in that moment, your swag is off. Because guess what? Self-awareness is probably distracted. There's no sight of purpose in that moment. Your actions are stagnant, right? And then you feel like you have to grind harder. And the grind is the distraction because that inner critic is telling you can't slow down and pause. You have to go faster. And that ultimately is what creates the draining energy leaks that's just constantly dripping that formulates into burnout. And yet it's that feeling of drain, overwhelm. That's your swag is off. It all aligns whether it's the brain shift methodological approach or whether it's a swag approach, it's a different path, it's the same message.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Sure, sure. And I think it's a message that we need to support each other to send out to those high achievers and to those leaders. Because at the end of the day, when you ask them, what is it that you really dream of? What is it that you really want to be memored for, be memorized for?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

That's a great question. That's an amazing question, because often, more than not, we're distracted in the daily habits of life from thinking about that and looking at that. And that goes back to the original question around strategic capacity side of that because we're distracted.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

We are, and going back to that and discussing that specific question, strategic you phrase it so well, strategic capacity, right? Yeah. To be able to have strategic capacities, you need to be able to be present under pressure. And to be able to be present under pressure, you need to understand yourself, you need to be able to regulate yourself. Because we will just go back to this. I love the work by Daniel Kayneman and the the book that he he wrote, Thinking Fast and Slow. It's a given. When you are thinking fast, you are thinking on your old pattern, that will not create any magic.

unknown 15:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

So if you slow down, you will win in the end. You might think it takes longer time, but that you will save so much time at the end, and you will do wonders. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

I agree. And it goes back to I center my coaching around sports analogies, right? When things typically hit the fan on the on the court, on the field, momentum is shifting. Guess what the other team typically does? They call a timeout. Let's reset, let's talk this through really quick. Let's come up with another play. Yet, in leadership, in these high-pressure environments, we're pressing forward without calling the timeouts.

Why Leaders Fear Slowing Down

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Yeah, we are. And I really do believe that goes back to this human biology of being we are so afraid of being excluded. Because if we are excluded, we are we are out of the game, right? And that means that we will be killed if we go back to the basic human biology. So we do believe that being there chasing as hard as we can and pushing forward, push, pushing forward and being seen, that is the same thing as being safe. But it's not we don't need to treat ourselves that way and and any longer. We used to do it, yes. But we don't yeah, but we don't need it. I'm talking about 40-50,000 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah. We had to be there, we had to be able to run in in the forest. We needed to run be able to run away from whatever wanted to kill us. We needed to go out there and really try to find as much food as possible because that kept us alive. We needed to be part of the tribe to be safe together with the tribe. So if I was slow and I could not run as fast as my my tribe could, then I was left there. They wouldn't stop and pick me up. They would leave me. If and if I was distracted and while I was packing food, I was not fast. I did not contribute as much to as the other ones to the table, to the food. I was no use for them. But it's not we don't live in that environment anymore. That was 40,000 years ago. We have a different kind of environment today, but our brain doesn't know that. That is why we are chasing, and that's why we are also always looking up to the leader. Because we want to be as close to the leader as possible, we want to praise the leader, we want to have the recognition recognition from the leaders, because then we will be safer. We believe that we will be safer. And of course, also we want to do the same thing as our as our teammates are doing. Because then I'm part of the tribe, I'm part of the group. If I'm doing something, if I'm saying that I don't believe in that, I want to do something different, then I'm an outsider. And it's easy for the group or for the tribe then to exclude me. So we need to understand all those things. We need to understand the biological reasoning behind the way the why we are doing as we are doing. And then we can break it down and say that is that really useful today? Is that useful in our environment? No, it's not. And just going back a little bit to this with chasing and running and trying to be there on the edge all the time, we know what that does to our nervous system, we know what that does to our body. We kill ourselves. Literally, we kill ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

And when it comes to cognitive ability, if going back then to this with strategic capacity, what does it really mean? It means that we need to be able to use our brain and cognition as much as possible, right? And I'm I and if you have your full possibility or that you can use your cognition in full, and I can use mine in full, and all all the other teammates can do that as well. And we really double up or triple up or use everyone's capacity fully, then we are strong.

Cortisol Shrinks Strategic Thinking

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

But when we are in a stress mode or survival mode, as we are when we are chasing and running, we are in a constant survival mode and stress, then our brain is sending out a lot of cortisol at our prefrontal cortex. Now it's a teaching here again. And when we are sending out that cortisol to the to the prefrontal cortex, that is the the purpose with that is that we should narrow our focus, grab whatever we have in front of us and run. That is the purpose with the that mechanism, meaning that when we have that that level of cortisol in the survival mode, we will narrow down our focus. Then take that connected to the strategic capacity. When we are setting strategies, we want to be as open, as wide open as possible in our cognition and be able to use everything that we have in here. So just take that. It's a given, right? It's really when you understand, when you really understand what happens with you, and you will not be able to be the best version of yourself when you are treating yourself as a leopard.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

How do I simplify all of this wonderful information that you just shared? And I will put it like this in real time. Time, chaos, pressure moments, external and internal. Learn to pause and ask yourself a powerful question. And maybe that powerful question could be as simple as why am I feeling the way that I feel right now? And if you can get to the root of that, it helps to start to create some sort of strategic capacity for you. It starts to create alignment for you. But we feel the urgency, the distractions that we don't have time to do that. We can't do that. So we continue to press forward. So everything that you shared, that's what came out for me listening. Pause and ask yourself about the state that you're in that current moment. And that that's the self-awareness, that's the initial piece that I think we all need. We all need it. We're naturally distracted by the external environments of everything that's happening around us. It's a distraction. It always will be a distraction.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

It is, and more today than ever. And if the future, we don't know about the future, but we can predict the future, and that is that it will run even faster. Meaning that we need to be able to slow down. We need to be able to live in this uncertainty. And just as you said, I think it was beautifully put together in a simple way.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah. As we wrap up.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

What final thoughts do you have?

Two-Minute Nightly Reset Questions

SPEAKER_02 23:43

One thing that I one one simple thing that everyone can do, no matter if you're a leader, achiever, high achiever, whatever whoever you are, is to give yourself two minutes every evening. Two minutes and place three questions. What am I really proud of? That happened today. What am I really happy about? And what am I really thankful about? So proud, happy, and thankful.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

I love that. Thank

How To Reach Hannah And Close

SPEAKER_01 24:25

you. How can you be found?

SPEAKER_02 24:28

I can be found either through LinkedIn where you can search my name. And I will, I promise I will reply every single DM myself. So it's just reach out there. Or you can find me on my homepage as well, which also has the same name as I have, Hannah Kurman, and that is.se, as I am based in Sweden.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Thank you, Hanna. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation today.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

So did I, thank you, Coach Now.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

That's another rep in the inner arena. You didn't just listen, you leveled up your swag. Self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grit. If this hit home, share it, subscribe to the Let's Think About It podcast, and lock in with me on YouTube at Swag Coaching. Until next time, stay aware, lead with your why, act in alignment, and keep your grit strong.