Consultant and author Andrew Horsfield explains how to support an executive who’s under pressure without making it worse.
You know the signs before anyone else does – the calendar shifts, decisions that used to take an hour now taking a week, the exec who is usually decisive suddenly asking for more information, more time and more options.
Plus, the energy in the room when they walk in has changed. Something is different and you felt it before it showed up in a meeting. This is what it looks like when a leader is in ‘the messy middle’.
According to the 2026 AlixPartners Disruption Index, 72% of senior executives say it’s increasingly difficult to determine which disruptive forces to prioritise. Nearly half admit to fearing for their jobs.
But they’re not struggling leaders – these are experienced, capable executives who have built careers navigating hard things. Yet they are finding it hard to sit inside the difficulty without it affecting how they lead. The EA who understands becomes something very valuable.
What the messy middle looks like
The messy middle is the disorienting space between where things are and where they need to be. It’s where most of the real work of leadership happens – and where most of the real pressure accumulates.
When a CEO is in it, the effects are predictable even when the cause is not. Priorities become harder to hold and what felt clear on Monday is contested by Wednesday. Reactive decision-making replaces strategic thinking because the cognitive load of sustained uncertainty is exhausting.
The same AlixPartners research found that 85% of CEOs say they need greater professional and personal support. Most are bearing the weight of the messy middle alone. This is where the EA’s proximity becomes an asset that most people in the organisation do not have.
Support without rescuing
An EA working closely with a stretched leader in the messy middle is managing the conditions under which a person is trying to think clearly, decide well and lead effectively under pressure.
The EA who treats this as a problem to be solved (rushing to fix, smooth over or protect the executive from the difficulty) often makes it harder. The EA who understands that the struggle is part of the process can support without rescuing.
What a leader in the messy middle actually needs is clarity. This is harder to create than comfort but it’s far more useful.
Three ways to create clarity
- Protect thinking time, not just meeting time.
When a leader is under pressure, the diary fills with reactive commitments. Every urgent request gets a slot. Time for reflection disappears. So, guard that time deliberately. Not every meeting is urgent and not every request deserves immediate access. The space between commitments is where good decisions are made. - Name what you’re observing, carefully.
An EA who has earned trust has permission to say, quietly and without drama: “You seem to have a lot on. Is there anything I can help you think through or clear?” This is the kind of honest, low-key support that the AlixPartners data tells us most CEOs are not getting. You don’t need to solve the problem, you need to make it slightly less lonely. - Reduce the friction on everything else.
When a leader is navigating something hard, the cost of every small decision adds up. An EA who anticipates and removes the minor obstacles (scheduling conflicts, the document that needs finding, the briefing that needs preparing) is freeing up cognitive capacity for the decisions that matter. This is performance support.
The messy middle is where success happens – for the leaders navigating it and the people who support them. You’re closer to it than almost anyone and that proximity is a meaningful opportunity.
- Andrew Horsfield is a consultant, author of Better and host of the Messy Middle podcast | andrewhorsfield.com
