When Thomas Droge realized he was having a heart attack, he drove himself to the hospital and left the car running in the parking lot. He's a doctor. About fifteen minutes into it, he understood that this could be the moment three generations of men in his family had gone through; he was six months from the age his father was when he died, and his grandfather before him. And he still drove himself. If you've built a career on being the person who handles things, that reflex p

The bonus clears, and for a few weeks, you can stop asking yourself if this is really what you want. Then the check settles into the account, time passes, and the question comes back.

In midlife, many of us begin to feel a tension between seeking comfort and security—staying with what we know and what feels predictable in our work and lives. Another part of us desires growth and change, not just for novelty but to live and work more in line with who we truly want to be. What seems responsible is often simply what feels safe. The real challenge is recognizing when responsibility shifts from a genuine choice to a way of choosing security over alignment.

We spend our lives chasing success; climbing the corporate ladder, making more money, and proving ourselves. In midlife, we question what to do once we achieve it, or why we keep pursuing it when we haven’t.

How the identity gap impacts your leadership and what to do about it What if the biggest barrier to your leadership impact isn’t what you...