Sustainable Success Diagnostic

Why it Matters

Those who achieve peak performance often find they can only sustain it for so long. Every time they step up their effort and their results, they are faced with even higher expectations, more demanding people and seemingly unrelenting workloads. These brilliant people, with strong work ethics and a passion to succeed, are not willing to give up. They work harder. But at a cost.

We've noticed that those leaders who sustain peak performance over the long-term have mastered the toggle between Exertion and Recovery. This is the balance between working on the right things with maximum energy, then reliably replenishing that energy.

Exertion

The deliberate investment of effort and energy to maximise performance.

Burning out

High performance, but unsustainable.

Sustainable Success

Operating at peak performance and maintaining this over the long-term.

Checking out

Disengaged and depleted.

Chilling out

Sustainable, but underperforming.

Recovery

The deliberate restoration of physical, mental and emotional energy required to sustain performance.

What it measures

Sustainable Success is a self-assessment - a focused, honest look at the toggle between Exertion and Recovery. It measures how you think, what you do and the routines you build in across both - because the leaders who sustain peak performance are deliberate about both halves, not just the effort.

	Exertion	Recovery
MindsetsHow you think	Buffet Mindset	Recovery Mindset
BehavioursWhat you do	Prioritise Triage Delegate	Switch Slow Stop
Systems & RoutinesWhat you build in	Boundary Time Balcony Time Time Blocking	Breaks Transition Space Sleep

Metrics

Quantity. Is the leader engaging in specific behaviours with enough frequency and consistency?

Quality. Are these behaviours having a positive impact on their results and their recovery?

Performance Profile

AI-Enhanced

Senior Leader · Q3 2025

Performance Output 82

Energy Management 54

Focus & Clarity 69

Sustainable Habits 47

AI Insight

"Your output is impressive, but your energy and sustainability practices are creating a ceiling on your long-term performance."

4 development priorities identified

What you get

Diagnostic report

For the individual leader

✓Report – a beautifully presented, clear, detailed and practical report accessed through the Influence Engine portal (or exported to PDF)
✓Future state – a clear vision of what great looks like
✓Current state – a precise picture of how you're balancing Exertion and Recovery currently
✓Gap – identification of the gap between the performance you want and what's currently sustainable
✓Insight – AI-powered insight informed by benchmarking data and personalised to your profile
✓Roadmap – specific behavioural development priorities for sustaining high performance across Exertion and Recovery
✓Reinforcement – periodic behavioural nudges delivered to your inbox to reinforce and encourage specific, practical, continuous improvements

Dashboard

For the organisation

✓Clarity – a clear, beautifully presented dashboard depicting patterns across a cohort (individual identifiers removed)
✓Current state – see the spread of specific leadership behaviours and their impacts at a glance
✓Trends – track behavioural trends over time: the shifts in leadership behaviours and leadership impact
✓Insight – AI-powered insight informed by benchmarking data and personalised to this cohort
✓Roadmap – development priorities across the cohort, and the actions the organisation and executive can take

Leadership Cohort

63 Senior Associates

⚠ Low Recovery

Exertion84

Recovery52

Key pattern: this cohort runs at high exertion with low recovery — a burnout risk. Recovery is the lever with the most headroom for sustainable performance.

What you also get

Guidance from experts

Each personal profile is debriefed in a group workshop setting by Shaun Kenny or Michelle Rushton. This is usually part of a leadership development program, team offsite or at a leadership conference.

Shaun and Michelle are co-founders of the Influence Engine platform and the leadership consultancy People of Influence. For over sixteen years, they have worked closely with executives and their teams, helping them perform at their best without burning out.

This diagnostic pairs with the Sustainable Success program that Shaun and Michelle deliver in leadership development programs, at team offsites and at conferences, helping leaders sustain peak performance over the long term.

Shaun Kenny

Co-Founder, People of Influence & Influence Engine

Michelle Rushton

Co-Founder, People of Influence & Influence Engine

Who's it for

This diagnostic is powerful across the entire organisational hierarchy.

Executives Team Leaders People Leaders Individual Contributors

How it Works

Assessment Sources

Self-assessment