How to Design Executive Presence Through Healthy Choices
- Dilek Süzal
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
For years, I believed I was functioning well. I delivered, decided, coached, led.
From the outside, no one would have guessed that my system was slowly failing.
Chronic fatigue and insomnia didn’t arrive overnight. They accumulated quietly. First, my cognitive sharpness declined. Then my emotional regulation followed. I remained efficient, but my clarity suffered. I stayed active yet felt less grounded. I was present, though increasingly impatient.
When I decided to take back control of my health and performance, everything changed.
Over the past five years, my regular medical check-ups started telling a different story than the one I once lived.
Despite ongoing pressure and complexity while growing a business and raising a family, my health markers improved.
That experience reshaped how I see performance today.
Problem: We treat health as an accessory, not infrastructure
High-performing professionals, especially technical and functional leaders, often sacrifice recovery for output. More hours. More pressure. More mental load.
In architecture, no serious structure is designed without load calculations, airflow, light, and recovery margins. Yet many careers are built as if the human system can operate endlessly without recalibration.
The result is slower thinking, emotional reactivity, reduced executive presence and performance.
Solution: Health as a non-negotiable design principle
Sustainable performance is about designing systems that allow cognition, emotion, and decision-making to stay sharp over time.
Instead of treating health as something to protect after performance, we need to design it into performance.
I applied the same thinking to my own system.
I made healthier food choices.
I understood that what I eat matters as much as when I eat.
I committed to my sleep hygiene that protects my immune system.
And I had regular movement that integrates cardio, flexibility, and muscle strength.
Today, performance feels different. My decisions are clearer. My reactions are steadier. My presence is available again.
Research-backed perspective
Andrew Huberman’s work highlights how small, consistent regulation practices restore cognitive clarity more effectively than occasional rest or long vacations.
Here is his podcast episode: Essentials: Improving Health With Stronger Brain-Body Connection
The World Economic Forum increasingly links leadership effectiveness to resilience and physiological sustainability, not motivation alone.
3 non-negotiable design principles for executive performance
💎 Healthy choices for psychology
Keep your system aligned through nutrition, sleep rhythms, and emotional regulation.
💎 Healthy actions for cognitive capacity
Movement, recovery, and metabolic balance directly support focus, memory, and decision-making.
💎 One non-negotiable for executive presence
Integrate mental, emotional, and physical fitness into one coherent system.
Executive presence is something you design and maintain over time.
This is the kind of work I do with professionals and leadership teams.
Not quick fixes, but thoughtful redesigns. Through recurring conversations, reflection, and integration, we build aligned performance that holds.
If this perspective speaks to you, consider it an invitation to start a dialogue.
Good systems are rarely built alone.
Warmly,
Dilek
Official Collaboration Partners:
★ Lead Coach at the global coaching platform BetterUp based in USA.
★ Executive Coach and Trainer at SparkUs based in Turkey and Netherlands.
★ Impact Partner for coaching, training & facilitation projects at leadership experts Think Beyond Group based in Austria.
★ Leadership Coach at Percoms AG, based in Switzerland.
Click to Learn More and Reach Out:
