As the Paris Olympics 2024 came to a close yesterday, I found myself reflecting on all the energizing stories of strength, determination, and redemption that provided an absolute treasure trove for leadership lessons and Yes-You-Can inspiration.

From Celine Dion’s stunning comeback performance of L’hymne a L’amour from the Eiffel Tower, where she conquered the disorder that had inhibited her ability to sing for years, to Noah Lyles overcoming his asthma, ADHD, anxiety and race-day covid to win a Gold medal in the 100M and Bronze medal in the 200M, to my personal favorite — Simone Biles rising above her Tokyo 2020 withdrawal from the competition to become the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast in history.

For those of you not following gymnastics, Simone Biles experienced something gymnasts refer to as “The Twisties” during the Tokyo olympics that led to her decision to pull out of the competition. An extended accumulation of stress and pressure can lead to a mental breakdown in which the essential mind-body connection falters and the gymnast loses sense of where her body is in space while mid-air. For anyone competing at this intensely difficult level of gymnastics, having this happen is *extremely* dangerous and could result in paralysis or death if you can’t land properly.

Can you imagine how terrifying this must be??! Experiencing the Twisties would naturally invite anxiety and worry about it reoccurring, which can then set up a loss of confidence in your mental and physical abilities that can cascade into a downward spiral and self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re in this unfortunate fear-oriented mental loop where you’re focused on avoiding failure rather than envisioning and manifesting your success.

While most of us have never attempted Olympic level acrobatics to know what experiencing the Twisties is like, I bet every single one of us can relate to what I’m calling, The Leadership Twisties. You’re experiencing extended, unrelenting stress and just grinding through it, inadvertently not setting boundaries to protect your physical and mental well-being to handle the intensity of your job. This can happen whether you’re a new or veteran leader.

You may be someone who is starting your first leadership role and feeling overwhelmed with the pressure to prove yourself and show impact in your first 90 days, and you’re struggling with Never-Done-This-Before imposter syndrome. You may be an experienced leader tasked with solving something new outside of your strengths and comfort zone that is overly complex or ambiguous. Or you may be a tenured executive experiencing extensive stress and trauma in your personal life combined with burnout at work.  I’ve walked a few miles in all of these scenarios.  You want to take action, you are fully capable of generating solutions that set you up to call the plays and move the ball forward — and you are immobilized by paralyzing overwhelm.

So what lessons can we learn from Simone who conquered her self-doubt demons from Tokyo and came back to dominate in Paris?

Recognize and Name What’s Twisting You. When you name it, you can start to break it down and shift from problem to solution. Simone came to recognize that part of what led to her Twisties was stuffing the sexual abuse and trauma she suffered from former Team USA coach, Larry Nassar. This combined with the isolation and separation from her family support system she experienced while in Tokyo and the pressure of Olympics competition all contributed to the mental breakdown she experienced.

Prioritize Daily Physical Self-Care. There’s a reason why the airlines tell you to put the oxygen mask on yourself first. You can’t help those dependent on you if you pass out! End of stop! Simone was a role model for the world in calling a “Time Out” for herself and setting a boundary for self-care. I’ve had to reteach myself the essential importance of physical self-care in order to perform mentally at work several times over the course of my career. I’ve inadvertently gotten caught in the vortex of “keeping pace” and woken up to realize my exercise, my diet and my sleep — basically my well-being as a human — had become an afterthought.  Make “Me First” your mantra y’all.  ME FIRST.  

Remind Yourself of Your Success and Your Talent Prior to Your Current Twisty. I love that Simone placed reminders for herself of her greatest of all time GOAT goodness everywhere in Paris. She had a brown stuffed goat on her bed, a cutout picture of a goat’s head above her bed, and a beautiful necklace with a goat-shaped charm encrusted with 500+ diamonds.  Yes, yes, yes!!!!

Invest in a coaching mentor outside the business. Simone got weekly therapy which can be enormously valuable for helping transcend both personal and professional challenges. I’m a big advocate for personal coaching which has been enormously beneficial to me over the years. Sometimes as much as a business culture stands for authenticity, it can be better for your reputation management when you avoid crying Uncle internally.  If you’re a new or aspiring leader seeking some outside counsel to tackle your Twisties, drop me a line at monica@monicacravotta.com.

Establish a Peer Partnership with Someone Who Has Complementary Strengths. This is different than crying Uncle to your boss as it’s more of an exchange program in which you’re each helping each other out when you get blocked in the area one of you is weaker and the other stronger. Are you more creative and relational and needing to show more leadership competence on the logical/analytical side or vice versa? To learn more about different leadership strengths and ways you can take action to improve areas of weakness, or help other leaders who need to get better at your strengths, check out my post, Can You Change Your Personality?

YOU GOT THIS!!