Author: Roel Puts

“Stress is necessary to perform, but too much stress is unhealthy.” This (or some variation) is a frequently heard mantra. It seems to be based on the idea that there is one type of stress and that this one type of stress, with moderate exposure, ensures that you are sharp and can perform well, but with excessive exposure leads to lower performance and, ultimately, to health damage. This is not the case. They are actually two fundamentally different kinds of physiological responses. One type (hereinafter: Performance Response) contributes to peak performance, high productivity and flow,[1] and under the influence of the other type, the so-called fight or flight response (hereafter: FF Response), cognitive performance is virtually impossible. A good understanding […]

An apt summary of what leadership entails, can be found on the INSEAD website: “Leadership is a lifelong journey that begins with self-awareness”. This journey includes looking at the prerequisites for the ability to lead, including authenticity, clear values and focused and deliberate action. Leading requires access to the ‘rational brain’. This is the part of the brain that is responsible for reasoning, thinking, decision-making, empathy and planning. It is critical to understand that access to our rational brain is blocked when our physiological stress responses are triggered and that, as a result, leading – yourself and others – becomes physically impossible. This is a very important fact, because it implies that there is no room to develop personal and […]