Most of the senior leaders I work with say yes too often, and they're paying for it in ways that don't show up on any quarterly report. I recently had Erin Holland-Collins on the Midlife Remix podcast, and one of the threads I keep coming back to is what I've started calling the "half-yes": agreeing to something not because you want to do it, but because the no felt harder than the yes.

You have established credibility, effectively led your team, and achieved steady results. However, if you aim to advance further, whether as a CEO, in any executive role, or to gain true enterprise influence, the same strategies that brought you success could now be limiting. Constant execution and the need to be involved in every detail, fueled by a desire to demonstrate your value, might become obstacles to your growth.