Upcoming Webinar:
Presence Over Performance: How to Stay Grounded When Things Get Hard
Tuesday, December 9th 12:30 PM EST / 11:30 AM CST
When life or work becomes hard, most people slip into performance mode.
They push. They over-function. They try to prove their capability or control the outcome. They speed up to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
But performance is not presence.
And performance cannot regulate your nervous system, protect your clarity, or support real leadership.
This 25 minute webinar is a thoughtful, grounded conversation about how to stay connected to yourself in hard moments instead of disappearing into pressure, perfectionism, or emotional reactivity.
We will explore how presence becomes a stabilizing force in your life - one that reduces reactivity, strengthens communication, and allows you to lead yourself with clarity instead of fear.
You’ll Learn:
✓ The difference between presence and performance
✓ Why stress, pressure, and overwhelm push you into automatic patterns
✓ How perfectionism and overachieving disconnect you from yourself
✓ What grounded presence feels like in your nervous system
✓ How presence improves communication, boundaries, and emotional steadiness
✓ Practical steps to return to yourself when things get hard
Who This Is For: Anyone who wants to move through difficulty without losing themselves in the process.
Sign Up For the Free Webinar Now
The Paradox of Pressure: Why the same drive that fuels you can also drain you
A free mini eBook for high-performing leaders who want to stay sharp without burning out.
You can love your work and still feel exhausted by it.
You can deliver results and still wonder how long you can keep the pace.
That’s the paradox of pressure - the same traits that make you effective as a leader can also erode your energy, clarity, and focus when they go unmanaged.
This short guide breaks down what’s really happening beneath the surface of high performance and how to turn pressure into something sustainable.
What’s Inside:
The neuroscience of pressure and decision fatigue
Why drive and depletion often coexist
A simple model to recalibrate focus and recovery
Practical reflection prompts for everyday leadership
A five-minute read for leaders ready to perform without running on fumes.
This guide is free - no sign-ups or forms.
Discover Your Leadership Stress Signature
High-performing organizations are built on leaders who can stay clear-minded, emotionally intelligent, and grounded under pressure.
The Strategic Mental Fitness Assessment (Lite) is a free, accessible version of our full organizational assessment - designed to introduce your team to the principles of sustainable performance and mental fitness.
This introductory version helps leaders uncover their individual and collective Stress Signatures - revealing how stress, decision fatigue, and emotional dynamics influence communication, performance, and culture.
It’s the first step toward the deeper, data-driven insights available through the full Strategic Mental Fitness System, which supports leadership teams in building measurable, resilient, and emotionally intelligent organizations.
About Rae Francis
I’m Rae Francis - Executive Resilience Coach, Therapist, and Author. For over 16 years, I’ve helped leaders, founders, and teams strengthen the way they think, lead, and recover under pressure.
My approach blends deep clinical expertise with real-world leadership experience. Before founding Rae Francis Consulting, I spent 14 years in senior leadership, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President - so I know firsthand the weight of high-stakes decisions, competing demands, and the pressure to perform without pause.
Today, I combine neuroscience, psychology, and business strategy to help leaders sustain performance without sacrificing themselves in the process. Through my Strategic Mental Fitness Methodology™, I teach leaders how to optimize pressure, protect cognitive capacity, and lead with grounded emotional intelligence.
Credentials:
M.A. in Psychology & Counseling
MBA, NYU Stern School of Business
Certified Trauma Therapist
Life Coaching Certification, ICF
Featured in Associated Press, CBS, Women’s Insider, International Press, TedED