Tired of Evolving? Try Involution Instead

We leaders have been on the path of self-improvement for as long as we can remember!

Instructed by early caregivers, taught by teachers, ranked by recruiters, and given feedback by peers and superiors alike. We’ve been benchmarked, profiled and psychometric-ed. Our habits analysed and codified, improvement plans drawn up, then diligently worked hard on ourselves ever since. Inch by inch, year by year, we climb the spiral of personal evolution.

Exhausting huh?

Ever find yourself screaming ‘why can’t I just be myself’? Succeeding from the outside, imploding inside. Dreaming about a different way. So, what if you stopped beating yourself up about being you for once?

What if, instead of battling that 20 (or more!)-year-old habit of trying to restrain the urge (that always seems to slip through anyway), you eased yourself into it? What if you relaxed with it, embraced it, even exaggerated it (safely, in isolation or with a coach), just to explore its contours? Imagine instead seeing the humour in it, laughing with it, at it, and yes, at yourself—for slipping into the same old pattern yet again. What if, instead of frustration, you approached it with a sense of curiosity… even, dare I say, pleasure?

🙋‍♀️ ‘Yeah, I’ve truly mastered the art of being invisible’
(Nods proudly - hell I can fade into the background like a pro.)

🙋‍♀️ ‘I see the world so clearly… through the eyes of a victim’
(Puts those glasses tinted with why me? on)

🙋‍♀️ ‘Honestly, I excel at blaming others and dodging responsibility’
(Cheeky grin - and the best part is they keep taking it from me!)

🙋‍♀️ ‘I'm such a good girl, just like Grandma wanted’
(Straightens imaginary skirt, age 5 vibes fully activated.)

🙋‍♀️ ‘It’s always my way or the highway’
(Oh yeah, pass me the Queen of Control crown so I can rock that 3-year-old tantrum energy!)

🙋‍♀️ ‘I’m such a giver. I give so I don’t have to receive… oops, did I just say that out loud?’
(Smiles awkwardly, the truth is already out.)

Dare you acknowledge and own your own shadows?

Not to fix them, fight them, or hide them - but to sit with them. To get curious. To understand the story behind each one. Giving yourself an opportunity to practice everything other than what you’ve been doing by default for years (with buckets of self-compassion) creates space inside your being. And only when we own our shadows can we stop being ruled by them.

Have you heard of the term Involution? I’m borrowing it from spiritual practice - but stay with me, because it has everything to do with leadership…

While evolution is often seen as reaching higher, improving, striving upward toward better versions of ourselves, involution is the opposite movement. It's the quiet, grace-filled arrival of something deeper, wiser, and more whole into our being.

It’s not about going inside to analyse or fix yourself. It’s about creating space - clearing the noise - so that a new part of your soul, your deeper intelligence, can actually enter. Think of it like creative inspiration: it doesn’t arrive when you’re tense, overthinking, or trying too hard. It comes when you soften. When you stop clinging to perfection, receivership activates inside.

Involution invites this receiving. It’s what happens when we stop pushing and start allowing—when we drop the armour of constant self-improvement and let something greater roll in. Fittingly, the word involution comes from the Latin involutio, meaning “a rolling in” or “envelopment.” That’s what it feels like: being quietly enveloped by a deeper presence.

In leadership, this isn’t just poetic - it’s practical. Because the most powerful shifts often happen not when we strive harder, but when we finally get out of our own way.

As a coach, here’s what I see happen when leaders allow involution to do its work:

✅They loosen their grip on long-held habits and begin to see them not as flaws, rather as once-loyal companions that kept them safe

✅They’re able to bow the farewell with gratitude, reclaiming authorship of their life stance and leadership

✅They grant their past experiences permission to stay in the past, no longer being triggered in the now

✅Their neural pathways soften, which increases capacity and allows them to take on so much more of what is unfolding in front and ahead of them

✅Their presence becomes magnetic to the market, their teams, and their true authenticity comes out

That’s the psychological capital that every top-tier leader wants. Yielding to the involution of presence means cultivating resilience, emotional flexibility, and grounded self-assurance to lead.

I meet my clients beyond right and wrong - in that open, honest field where real transformation happens and co-created breakthroughs take place.

If you are ready to shed your armour and create space for something new to enter, let’s talk.