The call came on a Tuesday morning. Patricia had just walked out of what she described as "the most uncomfortable performance review of my career." Her directness—once her greatest strength—had become a barrier to her team's innovation. Across boardrooms in Tokyo, Singapore, and Frankfurt, I encounter brilliant women whose careers have stalled not because they lack talent, but because they've unknowingly stumbled into silent career stoppers. These aren't dramatic failures; they're the quiet erosions that happen when core strengths calcify into career-limiting behaviors. Three critical derailers consistently emerge, each stemming from the very qualities that initially propelled these women to leadership.

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