You’re leading a high-stakes meeting. The room gets tense. A colleague challenges you. Your heart rate spikes.
And suddenly your brilliant, thoughtful brain feels… foggy.
You’re not imagining it. Neuroscientists and psychologists have found that when stress hijacks your system, it can feel as though your brain has lost 10–15 IQ points in that moment.
The amygdala, (your brain’s threat center), floods your body with stress hormones, narrowing your focus to survival instead of strategy. It’s what Daniel Goleman famously described as the “amygdala hijack.”
Think about that: the moment your clarity and decisiveness are needed most, your brain literally makes it harder to think clearly.
A TEDx Lesson in the Hijack
I learned this firsthand during my journey to TEDxBuckheadAve. One of the last things the speaker coaches teach you is this: expect your brain to blank.
And it happens. Even after countless run-throughs. Even after hours of practice. Once you step on stage, under the lights, with all eyes on you… the brain can just decide to shut off.
Their advice? Don’t panic. Be still. Breathe. Let it come back. The editors can fix it later, but the deeper lesson is this: those moments aren’t failures. They’re simply your amygdala and prefrontal cortex doing what they do under pressure.
We are not perfect and, with practice, we can learn to notice the hijack faster, steady our presence, and bring our brain back online.
And here’s what struck me: this coaching isn’t just for the red-dot stage. Leaders face their own versions of that spotlight every day: high-stakes meetings, board presentations, tough conversations. And just like on a TEDx stage, the brain can suddenly freeze or flood with stress.
The Hijack Is Real. And It’s Contagious
The difference? There’s no “edit” button in a meeting room. What you do in that moment – how you reset, how you recover – is what your team will feel, absorb, and mirror back.
And the research backs this up. Decades of studies show that emotions are potent, pervasive, and predictable drivers of decision-making. In fact, Stanford researchers note that as much as 90–95% of our decisions and behaviors are shaped non-consciously by the emotional brain system (Stanford GSB).
In a leadership setting, this has ripple effects:
- Fear leads to tunnel vision.
- Control squeezes out creativity.
- Self-doubt shows up in our micro-expressions, and our teams feel it instantly.
That’s why the hijack isn’t just a personal struggle; it’s contagious. When you lose clarity or presence, your team doesn’t just notice… they mirror it back.
The Differentiator: Emotional Mastery
Here’s where the story shifts. Leadership studies consistently show that emotional mastery – not IQ – is the hidden driver of success.
IQ explains only about 25% of variance in job performance (EIQ Consortium). Emotional intelligence fills in much of the gap, with leaders who demonstrate higher EQ showing stronger decision-making, more effective communication, and better overall performance.
The leaders who rise above chaos are not the smartest in the room. Instead, they are the ones who can steady their emotions, reset their presence, and reclaim clarity when it matters most.
What This Means for You
If you’ve ever left a meeting thinking, “Why didn’t I show up the way I wanted to?” you are not alone. That’s the hijack at work.
The first step isn’t to muscle through it. It’s to notice it. To name what’s happening without judgment. To create space – even a breath – before reacting.
This is the practice at the heart of Living a Prioritized Life: learning how to catch the hijack, reset, and return to clarity.
Because here’s the truth:
The chaos isn’t going away.
The pressure won’t stop.
Yet, your ability to lead with presence, (to recover faster, to think clearer, to project steadiness), is what separates good leaders from extraordinary ones.
As you reflect on this, ask yourself:
Where did I feel hijacked and what did my team see in me when that happened?
Notice without judgment. That awareness alone is the beginning of reclaiming those 15 IQ points when you need them most.