Why do smart leaders make worse decisions under stress—and fail to notice it happening?

Former C-level technology executive Lucia Hegenbartova explains how chronic stress, decision fatigue, and nervous system dysregulation can narrow strategic thinking, increase emotional reactivity, and make urgency feel normal.

Marko and Lucia explore the warning signs of overload, the connection between breathing and cognitive performance, and practical ways leaders can create enough internal space to make clearer decisions under pressure.

In this episode:

• How stress reduces cognitive capacity
• Why high performers miss the warning signs
• What overload looks like in senior leaders
• How unconscious signals influence decisions
• Why chronic stress starts feeling normal
• How to repair an emotional reaction
• Breathwork for regulation and resilience
• The “nose, low, slow” breathing practice

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Why stress changes your decisions
(06:52) From technology executive to breathwork
(08:58) How stress reduces cognitive capacity
(10:07) How to recognise decision overload
(10:39) Why high performers miss the warning signs
(13:25) Emotional reactivity under pressure
(15:03) Calm outside, overloaded inside
(16:08) How presence improves decision quality
(19:25) How unconscious signals shape decisions
(23:20) Signs of stress in a conversation
(29:20) Why leaders become addicted to urgency
(33:13) When chronic stress starts feeling normal
(38:05) How to repair an emotional reaction
(42:07) Breathwork for nervous system regulation
(45:11) The science behind breathing
(50:41) How regulation improves decision-making
(52:17) The “nose, low, slow” breathing practice
(55:07) Building long-term resilience
(60:23) When pressure impairs decision-making
(61:28) Where to find Lucia

ABOUT LUCIA HEGENBARTOVA

Lucia is a former C-level technology executive who works with founders, executives, and leadership teams on breathwork, nervous system regulation, cognitive performance, and clearer decision-making under pressure.

Connect with Lucia:

https://the-breath-lab.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucia-hegenbartova/

ABOUT DECISION LOAD

Decision Load is hosted by Marko Ladis and explores leadership, pressure, and why important decisions keep returning to founders and senior leaders.

Explore Decision Stability:

https://www.decisionstability.co/

Watch Decision Load on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@decisionloadshow

Follow Decision Load on Spotify for future conversations about leadership, decision-making, and executive pressure.

Manuel de Vits is a sales entrepreneur, operator, and conversation expert. His work focuses on helping people simplify sales by fixing the conversation before trying to fix the funnel.

In this episode of Decision Load, we discuss why sales can look busy from the outside while still being unclear, noisy, and difficult to trust from the inside.

We cover:

1. Why sales activity can hide the real problem
2. Why leaders often try to fix the funnel before fixing the conversation
3. How mindset changes the way salespeople listen, ask, and respond
4. Why more leads do not always solve a sales problem
5. How better questions simplify the sales process
6. Why funnels matter, but only when the conversation is real
7. Why simplicity becomes more important as pressure increases

The central idea:

Sales does not break only because the funnel is weak. It often breaks because the conversation is unclear.

When the conversation is weak, more leads create more noise, more activity creates false confidence, and leaders start optimizing a system they still do not fully understand.

Decision Load explores where companies get stuck when decisions, ownership, authority, and execution stop matching.

Where to find Manuel de Vits:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuel-de-vits/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manuel_devits/

Where to find Marko:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-ladis/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DecisionLoadShow

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/decisionload

• Website: https://www.decisionstability.co

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033vQlS...

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Intro

(00:50) Who Manuel de Vits is

(04:43) Why the conversation needs fixing before the funnel

(07:20) Why mindset changes the way people sell

(11:00) How to identify the real sales problem

(16:01) Why more leads are not always the answer

(20:45) How better questions simplify sales

(25:35) When the funnel matters — and when it does not

(30:12) Why simplicity wins under pressure

(40:47) Why the conversation still decides the outcome

(49:04) Stop fixing the funnel before fixing the conversation

(1:00:16) Why salespeople should not expect perfection

Explore the Decision Stability work:

https://www.decisionstability.co

Pia Lauritzen is a philosopher, author, tech inventor, and question expert. Her work explores how questions shape leadership, responsibility, technology, and human judgment.In this episode of Decision Load, we discuss how AI is changing the way leaders think about questions, answers, judgment, and responsibility.

We cover:

1. Why leaders rush to answers before clarifying the real question

2. The difference between prompting AI and asking a meaningful human question

3. Why questions are responsibility tools, not just communication tools

4. How urgency and pressure affect decision clarity

5. Why AI makes human judgment more important, not less

6. The hidden “shadow questions” leaders avoid asking

7. What humans still bring that AI cannot replace: context, emotion, ownership, and consequence

The central idea:

In a world flooded with answers, the real advantage may be knowing which questions cannot be outsourced.Decision Load explores where companies get stuck when decisions, ownership, authority, and execution stop matching.

Where to find Pia Lauritzen:

• Website: https://www.pialauritzen.dk

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pia-lauritzen/

• Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pialauritzen/

• Book: Questions: https://www.amazon.com/Questions-Brief-Books-about-Reflections/dp/1421447142

Where to find Marko:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-ladis/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DecisionLoadShow

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/decisionload

• Website: https://www.decisionstability.co

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Intro

(02:08) The mistake leaders make before asking the real question

(04:46) Why the pause is still a human advantage

(09:27) What philosophy sees that technology often misses

(12:49) The shadow questions leaders avoid

(16:44) How pressure changes the questions we ask

(23:09) Why urgency can destroy decision clarity

(27:14) Questions as a test of responsibility

(32:49) How questions move responsibility inside teams

(39:10) When AI makes curiosity more superficial

(45:19) The danger of outsourcing judgment to AI

(50:40) What humans still bring to hard decisions

(58:56) Expertise, experience, and the limits of AI

(1:04:11) Why leaders need clarity before they carry more

(1:08:42) The courage to ask difficult questions

(1:11:13) How to change the power dynamic in a conversation

(1:12:39) Where to go deeper on questions and leadership

Explore the Decision Stability work:https://www.decisionstability.co