Break Leadership Paralysis: Action Over Awareness

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room🐘: business for lots of coaches and consultants is bad right now. Not just bad, but horribly dismal. Add the discourse in the news, social media, and everywhere else, and paralysis is prevalent.

I see it in myself. I see it in peers. I see it in the social media posts that are supposed to be uplifting and encouraging. I see those posts and cringe. They feel like bullshit to me. That’s a discussion for another day.

It’s scary when the leaders are paralyzed. When the leaders are having trouble helping their clients move forward. Most of those leaders won’t say it out loud. They won’t say they are scared. Scared of what tomorrow brings, scared that all of the tactics they’ve been using since the pandemic aren’t working, scared that their bank accounts aren’t looking so healthy and their operating costs are going up.

Transparently, business is slooooooowwww. I’ve had more than a few moments staring at the wall, unable to make a decision, to make any move. Paralyzed.

Leadership means taking action💥, not just recognizing the problems, issues, challenges we are facing. It occurs to me that the campaign to replace the word ‘problem’ in corporate America with the word ‘challenge’ has contributed to our inability to take action now.

I was in a Fortune 100 company in the early 2000s when the word ‘problem’ became a dirty word. You were scorned if you used ‘problem’ instead of challenge to discuss a fucking problem. What else do you call a declining profit margin in a Fortune 100 company? It is a problem that needs to be addressed. It’s challenging to fix that problem, but seriously. Unless you drank the Kool-Aid, you knew it was all a word game to make leadership and team members feel better.

Nobody wanted to admit there was something wrong. I was in the telecommunications industry where profits were soaring, stock options were plentiful, and sales folks were making silly money. It was anathema to think there were issues within the industry.

That inability to admit something was wrong has stuck with many of the Gen Xers (that’s me!) who are now leaders. We’ve worked hard to grow as humans, to see the issues in front of us, to grow as a leader, and to grow our businesses. We’ve learned to be transparent about our hurdles and how we address them.

And now, our hurdles have reached a height that creates paralysis. Think of a horse that stops dead still in front of a jump.🏇🏼 (Maybe you have to be a horse person to get that reference!)😃

As leaders, we need to acknowledge where we are and find a way to move through that paralysis to take action. Your action can be as simple as writing an article or creating a meme. Action breeds action.

When that spark to act surfaces, you need to grab it and run🏃🏽‍♀️. Imperfect action is the key.  

Yes, acknowledge that you are overwhelmed by the public noise, your business noise, and that it is creating paralysis. Nothing is addressed until you are aware it exists. Awareness is just the beginning. Your job as a leader is to take the next step to move past the paralysis.

On bad days, it’s hard to shake the paralysis to be the leader you want to be. That’s okay. Reach out to peers or leave a comment here if it helps you shake off the paralysis and take a step.

There’s a catch. It’s not just about making the move. It’s about making an intentional move. A messy, imperfect, intentional move. You can’t keep doing what feels easy in the moment or chasing shiny objects. (You want ease in life, but that doesn’t mean everything is easy.) You want to make small, consistent progress that matters. It’s about recognizing that even if the path isn’t clear, you can still move. That movement can give you momentum.

Momentum is a big deal when you’re feeling stuck. Even the smallest action- hitting “send” on that email, posting that video, brainstorming with a friend, making that call, leaving a comment- begins to loosen up the paralysis. It’s not about perfection. It’s about movement.

Stop overthinking and start doing. Put yourself out there, even if you’re unsure of the outcome. Take a risk in a decision or adjust your messaging to better resonate with your audience. Action will always win over awareness.

If you’re sitting there, stuck, waiting for the “perfect moment” let me tell you: it’s never coming. The best you can do is embrace imperfection and get out of your head🧠 and into action. That’s how you break through paralysis.

The truth is, as leaders, we don’t have the luxury of waiting. Our clients need us. Our teams need us. And quite frankly, we need us.

There’s no magic cure, no overnight solution. But here’s the thing: the first step is always the hardest. And sometimes, that step is simply acknowledging that you’re paralyzed. After that, take the smallest possible action and see where it leads. You’ll be surprised how quickly momentum can build. (If you slip back into paralysis, try again!)

So here’s my challenge to you: Stop reading. Stop scrolling. Take action💥. Even if it’s a small one. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Just move.

Because leaders lead by example, and right now, we need to lead ourselves through the noise and fear.

What’s your next step?

Let me know in the comments. Let’s break this paralysis together.