When Pushing Harder Makes Leadership Worse
What leaders discover when they stop forcing outcomes and start seeing clearly
Most leadership training is built on a simple promise:
“If you do X, you’ll get Y.”
If you set the right goals, apply the right framework, make the right decisions, and execute with discipline, results will follow. And in many situations, that logic works.
Linear leadership thinking is effective when:
the problem is known
the environment is stable
the path has been walked before
But modern leadership rarely lives there.
Leadership today is rarely linear
Leaders are increasingly asked to navigate:
uncertainty without clear answers
change without proven playbooks
complexity without clean cause-and-effect
Culture change.
Strategic pivots.
Organisational redesign.
Innovation under pressure.
In these situations, linear logic quietly breaks down.
There is no straight line.
No guaranteed sequence.
No plan that survives first contact with reality.
Yet many leaders respond by doing what they know best: planning harder, controlling more, thinking faster.
That’s usually when clarity disappears.
When pushing harder makes things worse
Under pressure, it’s tempting to believe that:
more effort will produce better thinking
more control will reduce uncertainty
more certainty will calm the system
But experienced leaders know this isn’t true.
Pressure narrows thinking.
Stress reduces perspective.
Control often creates resistance instead of alignment.
The harder leaders try to force clarity, the further away it seems.
This isn’t a competence problem.
It’s a state of mind problem.
A different leadership blueprint
When linear leadership logic runs out of road, a different approach becomes available, one that looks less impressive in PowerPoint, but works far better in practice.
It starts with movement.
Step one: Move in the direction of what matters.
Not with full certainty.
Not with perfect answers.
But with integrity and intent.
Leadership doesn’t require having everything figured out, it requires taking responsibility for the next honest step.
Then comes the part many leaders skip.
Step two: Pay attention.
Notice what changes when you move.
Notice how people respond.
Notice the ideas that emerge once motion replaces rumination.
Movement generates information.
Stillness under pressure rarely does.
Finally:
Step three: Continue with what has life and let go of what doesn’t.
This is not about being reactive.
It’s about being responsive.
Good leadership is less about sticking rigidly to plans and more about recognising when reality is offering new data.
The leadership fork in the road
Every leader eventually reaches a fork.
One path offers predictability.
The other offers possibility.
The predictable path prioritises:
control
certainty
explainability
The other path asks for:
presence
curiosity
trust in thinking that hasn’t appeared yet
This doesn’t mean abandoning strategy.
It means recognising that strategy alone cannot create clarity.
Leaders who can tolerate uncertainty without panicking create space for better thinking in themselves and in others.
Effortless leadership is not passive leadership
This is often misunderstood.
Effortless leadership is not about doing less.
It’s not about avoiding responsibility.
And it’s definitely not about “going with the flow.”
It’s about doing what fits now.
It’s about recognising when effort is aligned and when it’s just noise.
It’s about understanding that forcing decisions in a low state of mind often creates more work later.
Calm doesn’t make leaders weak.
It makes them accurate.
Sometimes leadership doesn’t need a better plan
It needs:
a clearer mind
a willingness to pause before deciding
and the courage to listen after acting
The most effective leaders are not those with the fastest answers,
but those who create conditions where good answers can emerge.
That doesn’t come from pressure.
It comes from perspective.
And perspective appears when the mind settles.
A quiet invitation for leaders
In early 2026, I’m starting a small leadership community in Oslo called State of Mind Oslo.
It’s a space for leaders who carry responsibility, complexity, and expectations and want to explore how clarity, better decisions, and healthier leadership emerge from the inside out.
No techniques.
No fixing.
No performance.
Just thoughtful conversations about how leadership actually works when the mind is clear.
If this resonates, you’re warmly invited to stay close.
More details about the first gathering will be shared soon.
Looking for a coach?
In service of those who serve others.
Leadership is hard. Whether you’re stepping into management, leading an entire organization or wondering about your career, the challenges are real: confusing, overwhelming, and sometimes isolating.
I offer a tailored 1:1 or team coaching quarterly program to help you move forward with clarity and confidence. I’ve walked in your shoes, and I’ll work with you to build the resilience and relational skills needed to lead well, beyond just the work.
If this sounds like what you need, let’s talk. Email me at jose@facilistation.com to book a no-strings attached, no-obligation call to talk about your needs and see what I can offer that will fit you the best. Because coaching isn’t expensive. Staying stuck is.
You should see the cost of a life and work that you don’t love... sometimes one good conversation can change your life and your career forever.
