The Most Dangerous Leadership Decline Looks Like Success
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Leave a comment on this guest post by Dr. Denis Cronson to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of his new book, The Executive Condition: The Hidden Health Crisis of High-Performing Leaders.
Deadline for eligibility is 09/13/2026. International winners will receive an electronic version.
There’s a blind spot in how we assess leadership performance. Visible output can continue – sometimes heroically – while the human system that produces it erodes. It’s a deception created by the very traits that built the leader:
- Discipline sustaining an unsustainable pace;
- Intelligence constructing rationalizations;
- Loyalty justifying self-neglect;
- Authority overruling dissent;
- Grit tolerating what should have been redesigned.
So the numbers remain strong, the calendar stays full, decisions keep coming. But the cost of producing those results rises: Patience shortens. Curiosity fades. Control tightens. Recovery takes longer.
The leader’s self-sacrificing identity resists course correction.
The organization mistakes compensation for resilience.
Judgment, adaptability, and relational range steadily narrow.
Leadership decline hides in its own success.
1. Measure what success now costs.
Do you need more urgency to create the same result? More caffeine? More weekend work? More control over people and decisions?
Do not measure only what you produce. Measure what producing it now requires.
2. Ask the people who experience you.
Boards see output. Partners, assistants, peers, and family members experience the leader behind it.
Ask one trusted person: “How have I changed under pressure?”
Do not defend the answer. Listen for changes in patience, presence, and emotional availability.
3. Track capacity before performance falls.
Choose two signs that reveal your operating condition before results do. They might be recovery after intense periods, patience under challenge, protected thinking time, or your ability to be fully present.
Review them as seriously as your business metrics.
The tragedy is not always that a leader breaks. It’s that they become a narrower, colder, less available version of themselves… while everyone applauds the results.
The leader pays first. Then the team adapts. Eventually, the leader’s condition becomes the culture.
Who are you becoming in order to keep the results coming?
Dr. Denis Cronson is a physician–strategist redefining leadership through the biology of performance. With surgical training and an MBA (cum laude), he has spent over 30 years bridging medical science and corporate strategy, advising multinationals on enterprise health design, executive frameworks, and pandemic resilience — translating science into systems that hold under pressure. His first book, The Executive Condition: The Hidden Health Crisis of High-Performing Leaders, exposes the hidden costs of overcommitment and converts cutting-edge biology into a durable advantage.
These are very valuable reminders. What resonates with me is the importance of daily and weekly reflections of myself. Who am I becoming at what cost? Am I actively investing in bettering myself? Am I going slow enough? Am I getting enough sleep? Am I listening to and actively working through honest feedback from others around me? Where are my blind spots that will worsen if not corrected? The results will be evident in time for better or worse.
I find this to be very true, but in my organization it is because the culture rewards the shift. The cost-benefit swaps. What got them to leadership roles is not what my organization wants there… they want loyalty in those roles as the driver. So that changes how leaders behave. I see this more than not. I’ve been in leadership roles in the military and government… the higher you go, the more “alignment” the institution wants from you and only rewards those that provide it.
This is a great article to provide us all with perspective. I immediately thought of the flight attendant telling you that you can’t assist others until you get your own oxygen mask on. It is imperative that we take care of ourselves as part of our ability to take care of others. We live in a world where self-care has become all the rage, but too many of us focus solely on the organization around us without looking at ourselves first. If we take care of ourselves we can do an even more effective and efficient job of taking care of those we lead.
Very much needed! We need to peel back the curtain, pop the hood, and look deeper. And we need to ask others.
Loved the phrase “don’t defend the answer.”
It’s so hard to ask, and then not defend, but we have to get to where we can do this.
This is my takeaway, “Ask one trusted person: “How have I changed under pressure?” Do not defend the answer. Listen for changes in patience, presence, and emotional availability.” That is a very valuable question to ask and really listen to the answer.
This article really hit home. I remember when I first started moving into positions of leadership, I was convinced I would not fall into the trap of giving too much of myself for the organisation and that I would make sure I looked after myself and my family. But, then you end up slowly drifting into the culture of the organisation. As a friend once told me, culture eats a new strategy for breakfast 9 times out of 10. Once you have drifted into that culture yourself as a leader, you then end up driving that culture and expectations for others. Thank you for this reminder.
This topic is so relevant. I am working with a few top management teams. They do not take vacations with the excuse, “too much going on”. And, of course, they don’t see the example they set for their organization. We focused one discussion forum on this very topic and they were surprised at their own excuses for unhealthy behavior. One big topic was “think time”. As executives, they need to think not just act! One ‘homework’ was to schedule time to think before our next meeting. Nearly all found this very challenging.
One of the challenges I see is that many leaders, especially those from older generations, were trained to view these traits as strengths without limits. The message was often to work harder, sacrifice more, push through, and never let people see the struggle. Those behaviors were rewarded for decades.
While I agree this is a better way to evaluate leadership moving forward, the difficult question is how we untrain what has been reinforced throughout an entire career. Many leaders do not view self-neglect, overwork, or constant availability as warning signs because those behaviors were historically celebrated as dedication and commitment.
The blind spot may not be recognizing decline. It may be recognizing that the very habits that created success can eventually undermine it.
This quote- It’s that they become a narrower, colder, less available version of themselves… while everyone applauds the results.
Leaders don’t always see the change in themselves because they are reaching for the results. This text seems like a good one as we should all self-evaluate in the midst of challenging situations.
It is so hard as a leader to not feel the pressure of failing your team. As expectations grow so does the feelings that you are not going to maintain them, so you sacrifice your personal health during the week and go numb on the weekends. If we call ourselves servant leaders, then we must learn to also serve ourselves. A burned-out leader is not good for anyone. Thanks for the reminders as I jump into this busy day! 🙂
Great post! The closing thought is huge! Who am I becoming in order to keep results coming?
This is an article that probably will resonate with most leaders. The push to continually do more, not necessarily be more effective as an actual leader. I know often times, I do not take the time I need to think. I feel like I need to always be doing and that comes from a mindset of thinking is not getting anything done, which is clearly not the case. As leaders, we need to step away from the “work” and get into the stuff that really matters. It is a good reminder to me to take that time that is necessary to do these things. Thanks for the post, Dan!
It is easy to confuse grit with running on fumes until patience and presence quietly disappear. Measuring what producing the result actually costs in sleep, energy, and recovery is something far too few of us track before the damage is done. Thank you for the wake up call, Dr. Cronson.
Knowing the signs of our operating condition rang a bell for me. It’s usually easy to brush it off when we start experiencing those, and having a time boundary may help with that. Experiencing these for over 2 weeks is an indication to take inventory of everything on our plates. The difficult part will be if we’re in our business’s “busy time,” or there’s a business transformation happening, how do we re-calibrate?
I appreciate the call out to “measure what producing it now requires” we need to evaluate workflows and expectations. The last few years have really changed what work can be done and what requires the bulk of our time. If I don’t evaluate, I end up with high cost – low reward which decreases the effectiveness of my position and that of my team.
“Leadership decline hides in its own success.” Reading this hits you in a new perspective when you think of the cost of success. Those on the outside see everything you have accomplished, but cannot see that on one’s inside that person may feel alone and the bar is set higher each day. How do you balance this each day?
This is a very interesting topic that I have had to live through myself. Having taken multiple startups from zero to multimillion enterprises, one with an amazing recapitalization event. However, my marriage almost exploded twice, my teenage kids struggled through school, and to hit that huge event my coworkers saw me change for the worse and I couldn’t hear them when they warned me. The output speaks for itself, however my near collapse was the real story for me.
I’m fascinated to see what else from the book still exists in my blind spots.
This is so important. I have watched this happen to a leader I know. While her health declined, the organization was thriving or appeared to be. We had a conversation at one point about time and balance for employees, but she said she didn’t have time for much because she was still working each evening at home until 9:00. She felt she had to, to keep things moving in the right direction.
I’m interested to read about what Dr. Cronson has to say.
I have a quote on my desk that says, “Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.” I think that it is important for all leaders to remember this because sometimes what looks like success on the outside is really burnout on the inside. The other unintended result is that you aren’t growing the leaders around you. I need to remind myself to delegate so that those I’m supposed to be helping to become leaders get those experiences. Oftentimes I want to do it myself because it’s faster, but by not teaching others, I’m always keeping that burden on myself.
This is great reflection. As an exec in the last phase of my working life, I can tell you that my family has seen me burn the candle at both ends during periods in my career. Our organization is also really good at providing feedback, but the hidden cost for execs is that we often don’t ‘show’ our work. In other words, noone but the rest of the executive team knows the pressures. The incredible responsibilities are often overlooked as a job that’s ‘easy’ but the countless hours spent thinking and ensuring viability and strong outcomes for the org are intense.
Yes, as both a Clinical Pharmacist and an Evangelical Pastor, both in Executive Roles, I know this all too well. Margin is everything! Your body keeps the score! I am a recovered (16 years ago) Workaholic and Perfectionist and CoDependent.
This! I have felt this and see it in other leaders. I’m not sure if it’s how we were raised, a servant leader philosophy, etc. Loved the article and can’t wait to read the book.
Very insightful article. It’s easy to have the urgent drown out the important, especially when it comes to leading others. Being vulnerable enough to ask those around us, “how have I changed under pressure” may help us preserve the relationships that matter most to us.
After 30+ years in a career with the later in management/executive positions, the concepts resonate with me and coincide with all that I have seen. Higher expectations, doing more with less, and not taking much needed respite are all seen in a variety of organizations. In those with a passion for the success of their profession, an “all in” mentality and work ethic can lead to health demise. I have experienced it firsthand.
This hit home: “The tragedy is not always that a leader breaks. It’s that they become a narrower, colder, less available version of themselves… while everyone applauds the results.” with me.
This reinforces the old tenant that it’s not just the goal that is achieved, but, HOW the goal is achieved. Namely, the journey is just as important as the result of the journey. They must exist in balance with each other.
It’s such a difficult task to keep the results coming as a leader while maintaining a healthy lifestyle and commitments to a strong family. I’d love to hear more from the author’s perspective. Thank you.
Thank you Dan and Dr. Cronson – these insights are wonderful reminders for high performing leaders. Reminds me of the classic “sharpen the saw” lesson and the dangers of “running on empty.” Every Spring, we invite all the new leaders in our organization to reflect on how to recognize and count these hidden costs. We also explore how following God’s design for Sabbath can serve as a powerful way to restore and maintain the right balance.
Great blogg, Dan, thanks!
Wow! That last statement was powerful, Dan!
“Eventually, the leader’s condition becomes the culture.”
This is a pause-and-think post. I really appreciate your insight.
Life is full of blind spots! Thank you for these great insights!!
In government, where leaders often have to sustain results despite slower systems, competing mandates, and limited resources, how do we distinguish true resilience from simply becoming more tolerant of dysfunctions? And how is that different from the pressures leaders face in the private sector?
I love the, “Ask the people who experience you” question. I like to ask my teammates, “What is like to be on the other side of me.”
Great post! This became abundantly clear to me years ago when I realized that the Leader of my company was drinking 5 Diet Cokes a day just to keep up and often led off an 8:30am meeting with a fresh Diet Coke. The caffeine was needed to keep up with the load and stay sharp, yet the impact on health could be clearly seen from those outside. There is great risk of a leader becoming less patient, snapping in conversations or behind closed doors, and focusing only on tasks rather than people. Additionally mistakes can be made more frequently that affect everyone.