I recently wrote a reflection piece for the board evaluation consultancy Bvalco, of which I am an Associate, in response to the FTSE Women Leaders Review 2026, and on the heels of International Women’s Day. IWD provoked a lot of noise, but looking at social media engagement, seemingly not much traction. It doesn’t mean that people are not listening, but there is a lot of work still to be done. You can read the full article here.
What the article explores is the culture of heroic leadership, and how damaging that can be, especially for women.
We’ve all seen it. The executive who treats an out-of-office reply as a suggestion rather than a rule, or the “heroic” leader who wears their 11 PM email habit like a badge of honour. The reality is, for most people this isn’t a personal choice or a sign of dedication, it’s unhealthy normative behaviours, and it’s a governance failure. When we normalise this kind of “heroic striving,” we aren’t just tired, we’re compromising our ability to lead.
This is where leadership coaching can become an essential business tool. It provides the space for leaders to look at these behaviours not as strengths, but as risks. For instance, research shows that constant hypervigilance, that “always-on” state, floods the brain with cortisol, which directly interferes with our judgement and decision-making. A coach helps a leader step back and realise that by never switching off, they are effectively choosing to lead while cognitively impaired.
Coaching is also vital for navigating the “double bind” that women in leadership in particular frequently face. Traditionally male-coded traits like relentless drive are still the default for promotion, often leaving women caught between being penalised for assertiveness or overlooked for being communal. Coaching allows leaders to interrogate these “male-normative” structures and legitimise “relational labour”, things like listening and trust-building, as core work rather than “soft skills”.
Perhaps most importantly, coaching shifts the focus from “endurance” to sustainable performance. Instead of seeing resilience as just “gritting your teeth” through a broken system, coaching can help you to focus on somatic recovery and the ability to co-regulate a team. When a leader works with a coach to set real boundaries, like being truly unavailable on a Sunday ,they aren’t just helping themselves, they are bringing better weather to the rest of the organisation. By modelling that safety and discipline, they give everyone else permission to do the same, which is ultimately what makes a business innovative and sustainable.
If we start looking at boundary setting as a benefit to the shareholders rather than a cost to the business, we move toward a culture where excellence doesn’t require personal erosion. Coaching is a mechanism that can help leaders make that shift, turning governance from a set of rules into a lived, healthy practice.