On paper, my career was a success. I'd held roles across engineering, finance, and general management in major corporations like ExxonMobil and DSM. I was smart, capable, and driven. But beneath the surface, I was running on a flawed operating system. My leadership was more performative than integrated, my self-worth was tied to approval, and I was skilled at meeting everyone's expectations but my own.

I saw the same pattern in the companies I served: brilliant strategies would stall, not from a lack of talent, but from hidden friction. There was a gap between the plan on the wall and the reality in the halls. I was living in that same gap—externally successful, but internally adrift.