---
title: "Calm the Chaos: High Performance Leadership, Laura London"
description: Leadership advisor Laura London on the difference between high achievers and high performers, and how leaders can calm the chaos to build great teams.
image: https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ep-24-Laura-1.png
---

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Activating Greatness Podcast Episodes April 27, 2026 | Episode 24

# Calm the Chaos: How to Turn High Achievers Into High Performers — with Laura London

## Most High Achievers Aren't High Performers: Laura London on Calming the Chaos

**In this post:** *Calocedrus Founder Laura London explains why most high achievers are not yet high performers, how fear and a nonstop pace burn out leaders and teams, and how awareness, attention, and pacing help leaders calm the chaos.*

At McKinsey & Company, Laura London and her colleagues had a nickname for themselves. They were the "insecure overachievers."

"The type of people that landed there, so many of us were just wired for achievement," London said on Episode 24 of *Activating Greatness*, the leadership podcast from Velocity Advisory Group.

London, the Founder of Calocedrus, spent more than 20 years in leadership and consulting roles before opening her own coaching and advisory firm, which pairs virtual work with a nature retreat in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Her years among the overachievers produced the distinction at the center of her work: Most high achievers are not yet high performers. From the outside, the two look identical. The difference shows up in what they leave behind.

## Two Leaders Who Look the Same

"We're smart, we're driven, we're capable, we're motivated, we're responsive, and we get results," London said of both groups. "The difference is the impact that we have on ourselves and the systems around us."

High achievers get results while "burning themselves and the systems and people around them out," she said. Constant fatigue and chronic stress are the tells. High performers keep the drive but operate with vitality. Their nervous systems are not stuck in fight or flight, and the people around them feel more grounded and clear. "They're calmer, but they energize," London said.

She learned the difference early at McKinsey from a team leader named Jim Scott, who she said is now the CTO of Vanguard. He was not yet a partner, but on a huge project with a huge mandate, he could calm the chaos and help the team focus on what mattered. "We felt it in our nervous systems," London said. "We didn't talk about it, but we felt it."

When his replacement tried to grind the team, they revolted and eventually got him replaced. Once people experience a leader who energizes them, London said, they do not want to go back. The problem, in her view, is that organizations have these leaders but "don't recognize and reward them," so people wired that way feel they need to wear a mask.

## Fear Is the Fuel, and the Problem

Why do so many capable people stay stuck in achievement mode? London's answer is fear.

Work is tied to identity, power, and the ability to provide for a family, she said, and now AI has landed on top of that. "We as humans, we are not built for this," she said.

> "We are not robots. We have a nervous system."
> 
> *Laura London, Founder, Calocedrus*

That is why she brings the nervous system into leadership conversations. "We are not robots. We have a nervous system," she said. Leaders, she argued, have both a responsibility and an opportunity to hold that complexity and calm the chaos in the systems they lead so their teams can make better decisions.

London spent time in Silicon Valley's move fast and break things culture. "It was fun and it was exciting," she said. "And it was also really dangerous." Running at one speed, she said, does not produce the sustained high performance organizations need now.

## Awareness Comes First

Host Alec McChesney admitted his own burnout episodes tended to arrive right after his best month or quarter. London said the first step out of that cycle is always awareness.

One of her clients, the head of talent at an energy company, recently told her, "I kind of feel like I'm in AA. But for people who are high achievers." London recognized the pattern. Achievement feels powerful until it leaves you feeling out of control. Looking back on her McKinsey years, the word she uses for herself is "fragile."

She draws on Otto Scharmer's Theory U, which holds that the quality of a leader's results comes from the leader's inner state. Awareness, even after the fact, lets you ask what your pace cost you, your team, and the system you work in. The goal is not to lose the drive. "We don't lose the achievement orientation," London said. "We go beyond it." Parry Headrick made a related case for moving [beyond hustle culture](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-9-beyond-hustle-culture-parry-headrick), and Lisa Calicchio explained how leaders can [fix the way work gets done](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-28-fixing-broken-work-lisa-calicchio).

FREE ONE-PAGE CHECKLIST

### The Sprint-and-Recover Pacing Checklist

Use it to name your sprint days, schedule time to integrate and recharge, and notice the signals you usually push through.

[Get the free checklist](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/sprint-and-recover-pacing-checklist)

## Pay Attention to Your Attention

Attention is where the pattern plays out every day. On social media, London said, the nervous system enters a state of hypervigilance, "constantly scanning for what's next. Is there a comment? Is there a like?" She decided having LinkedIn as an app on her phone was "not good for me or my system," and deleted it.

Tools that block distractions can help, she said, but the deeper goal is to "build trust in ourselves," which "comes from listening to your own internal wisdom, not overriding it." Too many leaders leave an abrasive meeting, pour more coffee, and push through five more.

Her answer is pacing. "Nature has many speeds," she said. "The one constant maximum speed is just not how this world works." Pacing, she stressed, "does not mean going slower." It means naming a sprint day as a sprint day, then slowing down afterward to integrate what you learned and recharge.

## Change the Question

For leaders ready to act, London offered a reframe rooted in systems thinking. Stop asking only how to drive performance. Ask instead what conditions will allow both people and performance to thrive and sustain.

She points to systems thinker Donella Meadows, who identified mindset and goals as the highest-impact places to intervene in a system. Rethinking feedback systems and what gets rewarded matters, London said, but it starts at the top: "Is the mindset just burn and churn, or is the mindset help profits and people flourish?" If the leadership team is not ready, she said, "start by experimenting with yourself."

Her rapid-fire answers pointed the same way. The habit she relies on every day is forest therapy and mindfulness, which she jokingly calls a gateway to meditation for high achievers. The one thing great leaders should stop doing: "Overriding their nervous system."

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is the difference between a high achiever and a high performer?

According to Laura London, Founder of Calocedrus, high achievers and high performers look alike: smart, driven, capable, responsive, and results-oriented. The difference is their impact. High achievers get results while burning out themselves and the people and systems around them, with chronic stress and fatigue as warning signs. High performers deliver the same results with vitality. Their nervous systems are regulated, and their teams feel calmer, clearer, and more energized around them.

### How can high achievers avoid burnout?

London said the first step is awareness. Notice what your pace and intensity cost you, your team, and the system you work in, even if you only see it after the fact. From there, practice pacing: Name sprint days as sprint days, then slow down to integrate and recharge. Most of all, listen to your body's signals instead of pushing through them.

### What does it mean to stop overriding your nervous system?

In London's view, many leaders ignore signals of stress, such as a meeting that felt abrasive or a day that left them depleted, and simply push through. Overriding those signals erodes trust in yourself and leads to burnout. Leaders who pay attention to what regulates or dysregulates them, including social media and constant notifications, make calmer decisions and help their teams do the same.

### How does nature help leaders perform better?

London practices forest therapy and mindfulness daily, connecting to the natural world through all five senses to regulate her nervous system and build resilience. Her advice is simple: On your next walk, take your podcast off for five minutes and notice what you see, hear, and smell. She argues this is not wasted time. It builds your capacity to show up for others.

HOW VELOCITY HELPS

### Velocity Executive Coaching

London's path from achievement to awareness starts with a leader stepping back to see what a relentless pace costs, and that is hard to do alone. Velocity's Executive Coaching gives leaders confidential one-on-one work with a Velocity Coach, a place to examine habits, attention, and pacing. Leaders who have mastered getting results can use that time to build the calm, energizing presence that turns a high achiever into a high performer.

[Explore Executive Coaching](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/executive-coaching/)

## The Takeaway: Human Beings, Not Human Doings

London's favorite leadership advice is Simon Sinek's *Start With Why*, and she stretches it past work to ask why you show up the way you do in life. "We're human beings," she said. "We're not human doings."

That is the case for high performance over high achievement. Results still matter, but leaders who deplete themselves and their teams to get them are borrowing against the future. Give yourself five minutes outside without a podcast. As London put it, "Just know you're not wasting time. You are building resilience."

## Listen to the Full Episode

Hear Laura London's full conversation with host Alec McChesney on *Activating Greatness*. [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/EstR-wscXSw), or listen on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4LcgAut0KyYiGyDhFvMjPD) and [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1868386871). Follow Laura on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralondon/).

FREE GUIDE

### The Nervous System Check

London argues that the quality of a leader's results depends on the leader's inner state. This short framework helps you notice when you are overriding your nervous system and shift from high achievement to sustained high performance.

[Get the free guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/nervous-system-check)

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## Ready to activate greatness on your team?

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## Related posts

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## [Episode 36: Employee Engagement: Fixing the Survive Work Problem — with Patrick Manigault](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-36-employee-engagement-patrick-manigault)

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 Jul 6, 2026, 4:00:00 AM

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## [20 Episodes into the Activating Greatness Podcast: The Leadership Lessons That Stuck](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/activating-greatness-podcast-leadership-lessons-that-stuck)

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 Apr 8, 2026, 1:31:54 PM

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