Why So Many Leaders Feel “Slightly Off” — And What the Evidence Shows

mpl3wis
Apr 10
3 min read

Over the past few years, something subtle has been happening in leadership.

Not a crisis. Not a collapse. Not burnout in the dramatic sense.

Something quieter.

Leaders are telling me:

“I’m doing well… but I don’t feel as clear as I used to.”

And the research backs this up.

Across sectors — healthcare, education, tech, social impact — leaders are carrying higher cognitive load, more decision friction, and less recovery time than at any point in the last decade.

Not because they’re failing. But because the conditions of leadership have shifted.

Let’s make this tangible.

1. Leaders are making more decisions than ever before

A 2023 McKinsey study found that leaders now make up to 40% more decisions per day than they did pre‑2020.

That’s not just “more work.” That’s more micro‑judgements, more context switching, more mental tabs open.

And cognitive science is clear:

Working memory can only hold 4–7 items at once.

Anything beyond that creates mental noise — the foggy, slightly‑behind feeling so many leaders describe.

2. The pace of work has increased, but clarity hasn’t

Microsoft’s Work Trend Index shows that:

64% of leaders say they have less time to think
70% say they’re expected to respond faster
60% say they’re carrying more emotional load than before

This isn’t overwhelm. It’s pace inflation — the speed of work rising faster than the space to process it.

And when pace rises but clarity doesn’t, leaders feel:

stretched
reactive
slightly out of rhythm

Not broken. Just misaligned.

3. Leaders are operating with reduced “white space”

Harvard Business Review has been writing about this for years:

Leaders need unstructured thinking time to make good decisions.

But most leaders now get:

fewer pauses
fewer reflective moments
fewer chances to zoom out

The result?

A sense of being “fine… but full.”

You’re functioning. You’re performing. But you’re not getting the mental space that makes leadership feel steady.

4. This is not a personal failing — it’s a structural shift

This is important.

What leaders are experiencing is not:

poor time management
lack of resilience
disorganisation

It’s the natural consequence of:

increased cognitive load
faster decision cycles
reduced recovery
more emotional labour
more complexity

Your brain is doing exactly what it’s designed to do under pressure: work harder to maintain clarity.

But that effort has a cost.

A small tool to help you reset your rhythm

Because of all this, I created something simple:

The 5‑Minute Leadership Clarity Scanner.

It’s a short, reflective self‑assessment that helps you:

see where your cognitive load is coming from
understand what’s draining your clarity
identify the smallest shift that would make the biggest difference
reset your leadership rhythm gently

It’s not a diagnostic. It’s not a performance tool. It’s a moment of space.

You can take it here:

👉 www.longruncoaching.com/scan

What happens after you take it

You’ll receive:

your score
a grounded explanation of what it means
a small, practical shift you can make this week
a short series of emails to help you build clarity and steadiness

No pressure. No push. Just support.

And if you want to go deeper, I’ll also share details about The Clarity Sprint — a 4‑week lunchtime coaching course for leaders who want a clearer, more intentional rhythm.

But the Scanner stands on its own. It’s yours to use however you need.