Don’t let the words anabolic and catabolic scare you but allow me to geek out here. Remember these words from biology? They are process of metabolism and biochemistry within your body. But I want to apply them to our energy field as leaders and to have you remember that an organization is a living organism. Make sense? Keep reading to see what I mean.
This week I walked out of a meeting where everything technically went well, and despite this, I still felt oddly depleted! No conflict. No drama. Clear agenda. Decisions were made. Yet, the room felt like it had less air when we left than when we entered. And more importantly, I felt tense and stressed.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also felt the opposite of this feeling before. I’ve been in conversations where very little was said, but something shifted. People sat up straighter. Questions got better. The room was electric. Basically, the energy changed.
That contrast has nothing to do with intelligence, credentials, or even experience. I believe It has everything to do with how energy moves through a leader. Some leaders build it (anabolic). Others quietly consume it (catabolic). And most surprisingly of all, leaders often don’t realize which one they’re being in the moment!
Direction
Anabolic leaders orient toward expansion. Not reckless growth, but sustainable capacity. They ask questions that open up the field, “What’s possible here? What are we not seeing yet? Where is the leverage?” Solutions become expansive.
Catabolic leaders orient toward containment. Their focus is protection, of outcomes, reputation, and certainty. Conversations narrow quickly. Options collapse into urgency. Decisions are framed as risks to manage rather than opportunities to shape.
Over time, teams learn the difference. One environment invites creative thinking. The other rewards compliance.
Speech
Listen beyond the content and pay attention to cadence. Anabolic leaders speak with intention. Even when delivering difficult messages, there’s a steadiness to their tone that signals calm safety.
Catabolic leaders often sound clipped or compressed, especially under pressure. The message may be reasonable, but the delivery carries tension. People hear the subtext before they hear the words.
Language doesn’t just convey information, it sets the emotional rules of engagement. Teams calibrate their contributions accordingly.
Stress
Pressure doesn’t change leaders, it reveals them. Under strain, anabolic leaders slow themselves down. They breathe while genuinely listening. They become more precise, not louder. They ask fewer questions, but better ones.
Catabolic leaders accelerate. They jump in faster, interrupt more, and default to urgency as a management tool. The intent is momentum. The impact is that everyone’s nervous systems become on edge.
One approach stabilizes the system. The other destabilizes it, often unintentionally.
Confidence
Anabolic leaders assume competence as a starting point. They coach others toward capability rather than policing performance. When someone struggles, the question they ask themselves is, “What support is missing?”
Catabolic leaders assume reckless risk. Trust must be earned repeatedly. Oversight increases. Autonomy shrinks. The message is subtle but clear for everyone, “Don’t mess this up!” People still perform, but they stop experimenting. Initiative gets replaced by caution.
Correction
Feedback under anabolic leadership feels directional. It helps people adjust without questioning their worth or standing. Mistakes are addressed, but they don’t linger around and aren’t brought up again.
In catabolic business environments, feedback feels evaluative. Even well-intended comments carry an edge that cuts. People start managing perception instead of improving performance. When correction outweighs development, learning slows, and resentment grows quietly.
Control
Anabolic leaders know when to loosen their grip. They understand that control has an expiration date and that over-involvement eventually signals distrust.
Catabolic leaders tighten control when uncertainty rises. Processes multiply. Approvals stack. Quality may improve briefly, but creativity disappears. People wait to be directed instead of acting autonomously. What starts as protection becomes paralysis.
Responsibility
Accountability in anabolic environments is clean. Expectations are very explicit. Ownership is shared without drama or shame.
In catabolic environments, accountability feels personal. Mistakes are remembered. Wins are normalized. People become careful about visibility rather than focused on results. Energy doesn’t leak through failure, but through the fear of it!
Aftermath
This is the quiet tell for all leaders. Ask yourself, “What’s the emotional residue people feel after interacting with me?”
Anabolic leaders leave people clearer, calmer, and more capable, and empowered. Even difficult conversations are resolved with direction.
Catabolic leaders often leave people replaying the exchange, wondering how they landed, what they missed, or how to adjust next time. The drain is subtle, but it accumulates, and there doesn’t even have to be raised voices.
Complexity
Anabolic leaders simplify. They remove friction. They make decisions that reduce noise and clarify ownership.
Catabolic leaders unintentionally complicate systems in the name of safety. More rules. More exceptions. More layers. Complexity becomes the price of control. Over time, trust erodes, not because people aren’t capable, but because they’re not trusted to be.
Awareness
Here’s the uncomfortable truth, this isn’t a personality trait. It’s a state. It can be either intrinsic (inside this leader as an operating system) or situational (dependent on the circumstances).
The same leader can be anabolic in one meeting and catabolic in the next, especially when tired, triggered, or under pressure. Believe me, I know this one well. Not only have I been this leader, but I’ve also seen it in others.
The difference is self-awareness and figuring out if this is a chronic way of showing up. Leaders who evolve learn to notice when fear has replaced purpose and pause before the energy shifts.
Problem-Solving
This is a big one.
Anabolic leaders resist the instinct to take it over, even when they could solve it faster themselves. Instead, they ask the question that shifts thinking back to the room, knowing that how a problem is handled matters as much as the solution. As I said earlier, they create the expansion for solutions!
Catabolic leaders move in quickly. They absorb the issue, fix it, and keep things moving. In the short term, it feels efficient. Over time, it quietly trains people to wait, defer, and bring problems upward instead of working them through themselves.
One approach builds potential into the system. The other steadily drains it.
The Real Choice
This isn’t about labeling yourself or anyone else. It’s about impact.
Anabolic leadership builds reserves, trust, resilience, confidence, that compound quietly over time. Catabolic leadership spends those reserves faster than most leaders realize.
Based on this then, the most powerful leadership reset isn’t a new strategy or goal. It’s choosing to leave people stronger and more energized after interacting with you. And that is felt longer than any measurement of numbers or metrics.
Have you recently encountered an anabolic or catabolic leader? How did they make you feel? I want to hear from you. Like or comment below with your thoughts. Please share this article with anyone you think would love to read it. As always, I appreciate you reading!
#Leadership #ExecutivePresence #ProfessionalGrowth #SelfAwareness