When “High Performer” Turns Into “Burned Out”: Why Executives Are Turning to Executive Function Coaching
- Tina Gaskell
- Dec 2
- 5 min read
By Tina Gaskell, LCPC, ADHD-CCSP, BCC | Neuroscience-Based Executive Function & Leadership Coach
Executives aren’t burning out because they’re weak. They’re burning out because the modern workplace is breaking their brain’s operating system.
And the smartest leaders are finally doing something different about it. A recent Business Insider article captured the moment perfectly: White-collar work is overloading the brain - and executives are now hiring executive function coaches to stay focused, productive, and emotionally steady.
What Is Executive Function Coaching - And Why Is It Suddenly Everywhere?
You’ve seen leadership coaching. You’ve seen productivity systems. But executive function (EF) coaching supports an entirely different part of the brain = the part responsible for:
Working memory
Sustained focus
Task initiation
Time management
Emotional regulation
Planning and prioritization
Cognitive stamina
As Business Insider highlighted, EF coaching has expanded far beyond the ADHD community. It’s becoming a core tool for executives, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders who feel the cumulative strain of nonstop digital demands and decision-making.
Why It’s Taking Hold in the C-Suite
Executives aren’t looking for motivation. They’re looking for sustainable cognitive bandwidth. EF coaching is rising in demand because:
1. Chronic stress is degrading neurological performance. Back-to-back meetings, constant Slack pings, and shifting priorities overload the brain’s “air-traffic control system.”
2. Hybrid work removed the structure that kept people on track. Without natural transitions, many leaders lose rhythm, pacing, and the ability to reset.
3. Decision fatigue has become a daily battle. When the brain is overwhelmed, even minor decisions drain energy. 4. Companies finally recognize that leadership requires cognitive health. Some major employers are now investing in EF coaching as a benefit, acknowledging that performance is neurological, not just behavioral.
So, what exactly does Executive Function Coaching look like? Executive Function Coaching looks different for everyone, but here are two recent examples:
A CEO Who “Powered Down” One of my clients - we’ll call him Marco - led a global tech organization. Brilliant, strategic, and respected. Yet every night, at exactly six o’clock, his brain shut down. Not physical exhaustion. Cognitive exhaustion. He described it this way: “It feels like my mind goes dark, like someone unplugged me.” He struggled with:
• Unanswered emails
• Lingering decisions
• Family time that felt distracted
• A constant fear of missing something important
In coaching, we rebuilt his workday based on brain science rather than willpower. We structured:
• Dedicated decision-making blocks during his highest-focus hours
• Transition buffers between meetings
• Routines that minimized context switching
• Boundaries that protected his evening cognitive energy
Within four weeks, he regained two hours of clear presence every evening. His spouse noticed. His team noticed. And Marco said, “I finally feel like I’m leading again, not just reacting.”
A CEO Who Thought She Had to “Try Harder”
Another client, a high-performing COO of a rapidly scaling company, lived in a state of constant overwhelm. She assumed she simply needed more discipline. During our first session, she opened her laptop to reveal dozens of open tabs and a calendar that looked like a mosaic of overlapping colors. We rebuilt her system using EF principles:
• A pre-decision checklist to slow impulsive choices
• Rhythm-based scheduling to reduce mental switching costs
• Cognitive sprints to maximize her strongest focus windows
• Short, strategic breaks that prevented daily burnout Three months later she told me: “I’m not just on autopilot jumping for meeting to task to meeting anymore. I’m leading with calm, and intentionality - and my team feels it.”
This is the nature of EF coaching: It doesn’t make you more disciplined. It helps your brain work the way it’s meant to.
Why Neuroscience Matters in Executive Coaching
Leadership isn’t just a set of skills - it’s a set of brain processes. When executives understand how their brain regulates focus, decision-making, emotional control, and cognitive stamina, they stop trying to “push through” and start working with their biology instead of against it. Modern demands exceed what the prefrontal cortex was designed to handle, and chronic overload disrupts the neural circuits responsible for clarity, prioritization, and follow-through. By grounding coaching in neuroscience, we rebuild a leader’s systems based on how the brain actually functions - improving focus, reducing overwhelm, and restoring the cognitive capacity required for high-level leadership. What brain science tells us, for example, is that back to back tasks, meetings, immediate messaging tools, are productivity killers - despite the impression of feeling more productive.
Why This Matters Now
We’re in a moment where:
• Burnout is expected
• Overwhelm is normalized
• Productivity is glorified, even when it’s unsustainable
• Executives carry the emotional load of entire teams
Science backed executive function coaching is not about color-coded calendars or forcing productivity or positivity. It’s about rebuilding the brain’s architecture so that clarity, confidence, and steadiness become the default - not the exception. It’s leadership supported at a neurological level.
Why the Return on Investment (ROI) of EF Coaching Is Getting Hard to Ignore
Recent reporting from Business Insider reveals that what was once considered an “intervention for ADHD or neurodivergent individuals” is now being embraced across white-collar workplaces: more professionals and executives are hiring “executive function coaches” to manage the overload and cognitive fatigue of modern work. Business Insider By improving focus, time-management, task initiation, and emotional regulation, EF coaching doesn’t just make life easier - it rebuilds a leader’s capacity for sustained cognitive effort. For companies, that shift can translate into fewer stalled projects, better decision follow-through, lower turnover, and reduced burnout - all of which have real financial and organizational consequences. Given that chronic overwhelm and “executive dysfunction” are widespread among modern professionals, investing in EF coaching becomes not a nice-to-have perk, but a strategic tool for preserving and maximizing human capital. And as Business Insider notes, some major employers are already offering these services as a benefit - signaling that EF coaching is rapidly becoming a recognized driver of long-term performance and retention.
Two Questions to Ask Yourself
1. What drains your mental energy the most - decision-making, email overload, countless meetings, shifting priorities, or constant interruptions?
2. If you could regain ninety minutes of high-quality focus every day, how would your leadership change?
Your answers will tell you more about your cognitive needs than any performance review.
Ready to Build a Brain That Matches Your Ambition?
Betterlife+ Executive Function coaching integrates:
• Neuroscience
• High-performance coaching
• Leadership coaching
• ADHD-informed systems
• Habit architecture
• Emotional regulation strategies
• Burnout prevention
• C-suite leadership psychology
If you’re ready to think clearly, focus better, and lead with steadiness again, I can help you get there. Explore coaching packages and next steps. Or schedule a strategy session to see whether EF coaching is right for you.
Tina Gaskell, Licensed Clinician, ADHD Certified Clinical Services Provider, Neuroscience-Based Executive Function & Leadership Coach, Founder of Betterlife+, Worklife+
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