Let's talk about your email inbox

I promise, this will help

Picture this: You're checking your inbox, and a certain person's name pops up. Suddenly, your stomach flips. You have a strong physical reaction. Maybe you slam your laptop shut and walk away, or put the email on infinite “snooze.” Do you fire off a reply-all nastygram? Do you smile and pretend nothing’s wrong even though your insides are screaming? Or, maybe you drop everything and spend the next hour crafting the perfect response? I was definitely the kind of person who wants to drop everything, because otherwise I'd feel anxious and distracted. But now, I have the skills to pause and ask myself, “how do I want to respond right now?” And this simple shift has made all the difference in my life.

I have posed this scenario to thousands of people, and every single one of them has that email in their life-- a name or subject line that causes a big reaction simply by seeing it. But a lot of us have never had the opportunity to stop and think, why? Why does this person’s name in my email inbox cause such a big reaction? And how would things be different if that email didn’t create so much upset, distraction, or pain?

Here's the thing: the ability to ask yourself why and choose how you respond is the secret to great leadership. This is a skill that we can all learn; it just takes some practice tuning in. The best leaders I work with share one thing: they understand what's happening inside themselves. They know their triggers. They recognize when their dysregulated nervous system is driving the bus. They've stopped trying to hide the very parts of themselves that make them effective.

For 18 years, I’ve been researching and practicing a different approach to high performance—one that doesn’t require us to work harder or pretend our strong emotions don’t exist.

I’ve been trying to understand why work just doesn’t work for so many of us, and how we can fix it. And let me tell you: for almost a decade, work REALLY did not work for me. They say all research is “me-search,” and that’s what started my journey! I’ve interviewed almost 1000 people, many of whom you can hear in my award-winning podcast, The Anxious Achiever. As I’ve traveled, giving speeches and conducting interviews, themes keep popping up in people I talk to. Many of them have diagnoses. Autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, major depressive disorder. Life long anxiety. Trauma. They have learning differences that made school difficult, like dyslexia or again, ADHD. They knew they were smart but struggled academically or often felt like they didn’t fit in. They still battle negative self talk and years of negative feedback, even though they’re also successful and confident.

Many of the leaders I’ve interviewed found traditional work environments as challenging as school. It just felt like work wasn’t made for them. And yet, they have excelled in their professional lives. Some by leaving traditional, corporate work or academia and some by staying in. They have common threads: they know how to work in the best way for them. And they identified their strengths and channel those strengths into the work that made them indispensable and happy. I tell their stories and share their wisdom.

Here’s my vision: A world where ambitious professionals get comfortable with their feelings and use them for good. Where every leader understands how their autonomic nervous system affects everything from daily meetings to AI transformation. Where we stop hiding pieces of ourselves to “fit in” and instead access our greatest source of strength.

Through The Anxious Achiever, books, keynotes, workshops, coaching, and consulting work, I help organizations build the skills that matter most right now: self-understanding, emotional intelligence, and nervous system literacy.

Because when leaders lack inner capacity, everything else becomes harder. And when leaders understand themselves, they can navigate unprecedented uncertainty.

This work can’t wait. If you’re leading into the unknown—or helping others do the same—let’s connect.

I deeply appreciate your attention. Attention is one of our most precious resources.

With Feeling,
Morra

P.S. As a proud neurodivergent leader, I’m never happy working on just one big thing, but here’s where I’m focused for the next few months:

I’m obsessed with… AI Anxiety. My SXSW featured talk this year is about managing AI Anxiety- and I’ve been going down some pretty provocative and even downright terrifying rabbit holes to prep. I’ve written a two-part series on AI Anxiety for leaders and teams in Harvard Business Review: Why AI At Work Makes Us So Anxious, and Your Team Is Anxious About AI, Here’s How To Talk To Them About It.

Let’s rethink what strong leadership looks like. Here are my speaking topics for 2026, and we can do keynotes, workshops, executive education, and fireside chat formats together. The sessions are fresh, relevant, useful, thought-provoking and fun. (Is that enough adjectives for you?) Visit my speaking page for details.

1. How Leaders Can Manage AI Anxiety

2. “Anxiety Is My Superpower:” How to Build a Better Relationship With the Most Misunderstood Emotion at Work

3. Healthy High Achieving: How Top Performers Sustain Excellence Without Burning Out

4. Mental Health at Work: Real Talk Beyond Benefits and Buzzwords

5. What Introverts Can Teach All Of Us About Becoming Phenomenal At Our Jobs

I’m almost done with the first draft of my forthcoming (2027) Harvard Business Review Press book, Sparks: How To Lead and Thrive When Your Brain is Wired Differently. The book is informed by some pretty cool research I conducted on how professionals with different brains navigate work and career success. Download (free) The “Neurostrength” survey: Insights from 1,286 professionals navigating ADHD, anxiety, depression, ASD, AUDHD, bipolar, learning differences or other brain differences.