Lisa Hammett Success Coach

Have you ever considered how your thought patterns influence your behavior and how you lead others?

Leadership can be lonely, especially at the executive level.
The support you once had may no longer be there in the same way.

People look to you for answers, direction, and reassurance.

Meanwhile, you may feel like you're bobbing in the middle of the ocean with a life preserver, wondering if anyone is coming to rescue you.

That's why thought awareness matters.

Under pressure, thoughts like these can take over:

I have to figure this out myself.
I can't let anyone know I'm struggling.
I should have the answer.
It's easier if I just handle it.
These thoughts influence our behavior.

We micromanage. We withdraw. We overwork. We become impatient. We stop asking for help. We carry more than we need to.

Mental fitness helps us recognize these negative patterns before they dictate our response.

Thought awareness → Intentional action → Greater impact.

Strong leadership begins with how we lead ourselves.

There’s a difference between providing leadership and needing to control everything.

For healthcare and HR leaders, high-pressure environments can make control feel necessary.

You double-check everything.

You want to be involved in every decision.

You hesitate to delegate.

You step in when someone approaches a problem differently than you would.

You tell yourself you're making sure things get done correctly.

Your team may experience it as micromanagement.

In Positive Intelligence®, this pattern is associated with the Controller Saboteur.

The Controller believes things won't get done, or won't get done well, unless we're directing the outcome.

That may produce short-term results, while creating long-term consequences.

Team members become hesitant to make decisions

They stop taking initiative.

They become increasingly dependent on you.

Resentment grows.

And you become more overwhelmed because everything still requires your involvement.

Control can become a source of burnout for the leader and disengagement for the team.

Strong leadership doesn't mean lowering standards.

It means creating clarity, accountability, and trust so capable people have room to think, decide, learn, and grow.

Ask yourself:

What does my team need from me to succeed without my constant involvement?

If you're a healthcare or HR leader who wants to reduce stress, strengthen communication, and increase your leadership capacity, let's chat.

Being highly rational can make you an effective leader. It can also get in your way.

Healthcare and HR leaders are expected to analyze problems, make difficult decisions, manage complexity, and navigate high pressure situations.

The challenge comes when rational thinking becomes the only way we lead.

In Positive Intelligence®, this pattern is known as the Hyper-Rational Saboteur.

It can look like:

• Trying to solve someone's problem when they need to feel heard.

• Becoming frustrated when a team member gets emotional.

• Focusing on facts while overlooking how a decision is affecting people.

• Avoiding vulnerability because it feels uncomfortable or unproductive.

• Becoming impatient with conversations that feel inefficient.
When you're navigating burnout, staffing challenges, organizational change, and difficult employee situations, this matters.

Employees need a leader to balance critical thinking with connection.

Mental fitness helps us recognize when we're overusing a strength and choose a different response.

We can analyze the problem, make difficult decisions, and hold people accountable while still listening with curiosity and acknowledging emotion.

Strong leadership isn't logic or empathy. It's knowing when we need both.

Where do you notice yourself defaulting to problem-solving when connection might be more valuable?

If you're a healthcare or HR leader who wants to reduce stress, strengthen communication, and increase your leadership capacity, reach out. Let's talk.

Staying in a toxic work environment never works.

Healthcare and HR leaders can spend decades building their careers, reputations, and expertise.

That investment can make leaving an unhealthy organization incredibly difficult.

You care about your team. You care about the people you serve. You may have once loved the work.

So you tell yourself:

Maybe things will get better.

Maybe I can make it a few more years.

Maybe I'm too far into my career to make a change now.

Meanwhile, you're pushing through excessive workloads, organizational dysfunction, chronic stress, and values that no longer align with your own.

Fear of leaving is not a sufficient reason to stay, especially when remaining compromises your health and wellbeing.

Starting over doesn't mean starting from zero.

Your experience, knowledge, relationships, accomplishments, and wisdom go with you.

You can reinvent yourself at any age.

If fear weren't making the decision, would you still choose to stay?

If this feels relatable and you're questioning whether it's time for a change, reach out. Let's have a conversation about where you are, what's keeping you stuck, and what your next chapter could look like.

🚨 FINAL DAY for our 2-for-1 special!

Today is your last opportunity to get TWO registrations for $247 to The Leadership Advantage.

Purchase one registration and your second registration is FREE.

Bring a colleague, friend, or fellow leader and split the $247 registration fee. Or purchase your ticket today and gift the second registration to someone you’d like to invest in.

On September 15, Elizabeth Bethel Mahusay, with Go With Elizabeth, and I are bringing together the science of habit formation, intentional thinking, and practical mental fitness strategies for a highly interactive morning of leadership development.

📅 September 15
⏰ 8:30 AM–12:00 PM
📍 Dyer Hall, First United Methodist Church, McKinney

The 2-for-1 offer ends TODAY, September 7.

Don’t miss the opportunity to invest in your leadership and bring someone with you for free.

✨ September is Self-Improvement Month.

For healthcare and HR leaders, self-improvement should never mean adding more to an already overwhelming to-do list.

When leaders are navigating staffing challenges, employee concerns, organizational change, demanding schedules, and competing priorities, growth can mean learning to carry less mental and emotional weight.

It looks like:

✅ Becoming more aware of stress triggers
✅ Creating healthier boundaries
✅ Strengthening mental fitness
✅ Asking for support instead of trying to handle everything alone
✅ Making time for recovery
✅ Celebrating progress before moving to the next challenge

Small, intentional changes can improve how leaders communicate, make decisions, manage stress, and show up for their teams.

These are many of the principles addressed in my latest book, From Burnout to Best Life: Sustainable Strategies for a Healthy Mind & Body.

👉 Grab your copy today

Self-improvement is about making intentional changes that support a healthier way of leading and living.

What’s one area you’d like to strengthen this month?

Our Labor Day Weekend 2-for-1 Special is here!

From September 4–7, purchase one $247 registration for The Leadership Advantage and receive a second registration FREE.

You can split the $247 fee between two people, or purchase your ticket and gift the second registration to someone you'd love to bring with you.

On September 15, Elizabeth Bethel Mahusay with Go With Elizabeth, and I will lead this highly interactive half-day workshop combining the science of habit formation, intentional thinking, and practical mental fitness strategies.

You'll walk away with practical tools and daily routines designed to help you transform small choices into better leadership results.

📅 September 15, 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM–12:00 PM
📍 Dyer Hall, First United Methodist Church, McKinney

Two people. One $247 registration fee.

The Labor Day Weekend offer ends September 7.

Burnout isn't going away.

Recent data shows that 55% of the U.S. workforce is experiencing burnout, while 72% of employees report moderate to high workplace stress
For Healthcare and HR leaders, the pressure is significant.

Staffing shortages.

Demanding schedules.

AI integration.

Ongoing compliance challenges.

Excessive workloads.

And the responsibility of supporting teams that are navigating many of the same pressures.

Organizations have a responsibility to address the workplace conditions contributing to burnout. Leaders also need strategies to protect their own capacity when they're dealing with circumstances they can't immediately change.

One place to start is focusing more energy on what's within their control.

Incorporate mental fitness practices into daily routines for self-regulation.

Notice when emotions are driving reactive behavior or overwhelm, then pause and approach the situation with curiosity instead of judgment.

Set boundaries around time, energy, and availability.

Question the fears and assumptions adding to stress. Often, they're false assumptions.

Ask for support before becoming depleted.

Protecting wellbeing isn't separate from effective leadership. It's an essential component of it.

Leaders can't eliminate every source of pressure. They can strengthen how they respond to it, and help their teams to do the same.

There’s a hidden source of exhaustion for many healthcare and HR leaders.

Pretending everything is fine when it isn’t.

Staffing is short. Workloads are excessive. Employees are struggling. Organizational change is ongoing. Everyone needs something.

Often, leaders feel enormous pressure to project:

“I’ve got it.”

“I know what to do.”

“No problem.”

Authentic leadership doesn’t mean sharing everything you’re thinking or feeling with your team.

It means recognizing that you don’t have to pretend.

You can say:

“I don’t have the answer yet.”

“This is difficult.”

“I need your perspective.”

“I made a mistake.”

“I don’t have the capacity to take that on right now.”

Being honest about reality while remaining calm, grounded, and focused doesn’t diminish credibility.

It can strengthen it.

When leaders appropriately acknowledge challenges, ask for help, own mistakes, invite input, and maintain healthy boundaries, they show their teams that being human and being an effective leader aren’t mutually exclusive.

Healthcare and HR leaders already carry tremendous responsibility.

Leadership shouldn’t require performing a version of yourself that looks strong while becoming depleted.

You can be credible, capable, and professional without pretending everything is fine.