Your energy is currency. Spend it well.
Adrienne Bosh, Entrepreneur & Philanthropist
We have to address what’s hiding in the shadows. There’s trouble lurking at the top.
The business environment has been fundamentally altered by a severe global pandemic and subsequent economic fallout, a war in Europe, an uncertain geopolitical landscape, rising global inflation, and fears of a worldwide recession. In addition, CEOs are navigating the onslaught of digital disruption, supply chain challenges, ESG improvements, and ongoing pressure for corporate performance, as well as shareholder returns, to name just a few.
Executive stress is an accepted part of any leadership role, however, in the past few years executive stress loads have increased exponentially, reaching an all-time high. A study by Deloitte and Life Worksi reflects a crushing amount of distress amongst high-level executives that has the potential to upend company C-Suites. The study shows very sobering figures:
An eye-opening finding is that in almost of areas of the study, the consequence of mental strain affects senior leaders more than it does employees and mid-level managers. A staggering 63% of respondents said they don’t make time for their own personal well-being, and more than half said they are not comfortable expressing their mental health situation to the board.
It is not surprising that senior leaders are very apprehensive discussing their mental health issues with the CEO, nor the CEO with the board. Doing so requires not only a gargantuan show of personal vulnerability, but also a willingness to put one’s career on the line. While boards are there to support the CEO in their work, boards and investors are less receptive to their personal needs, and with the increased demands and expectations placed upon CEOs, coupled with an ever-shortening tenure, it is not conducive to showing personal frailty.
CEO and executive burnout is a serious issue for all stakeholders, and if boards continue to be unaware of the rising tide of tension, or disregard signs of disquiet, it will set in motion ramifications at the peril of company employees, customers, and shareholders.
With unprecedented challenges and unknown variables still playing out, it’s become vital that the personal physical and mental well-being of CEOs and management teams are considered a priority by their board of directors. Superhuman qualities are often expected, with no room for the stark reality as to the personal cost of leadership. “It’s tough at the top” is not just a cliché. Brook no hesitation when it comes to the welfare of your leadership.
All Work & No Play = Disharmony & Depletion
Those who lead the way must be prescient, to always reach first for the oxygen mask, in order to help others. An executive may feel it’s high risk to put too much attention on their wellness if it appears to be time consuming, self-indulging, at odds with their rigid work ethic, or out of alignment with the accepted organizational culture. But lack of self-care is far more consequential. As the saying goes, “if you don’t make time for your wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness.”
Must leaders have to sacrifice what personally matters most in order to gain ground within their workplace? Does the top job need to be a form of punishment in order to be considered productive? Executive lifestyle overflows with destructive patterns of extensive work hours, sleep deprivation, frequent travel, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets, sedentary habits, and lopsided work-life balance. These factors expose executives to exhaustion, stroke, heart disease, depression, diabetes, anxiety, isolation, and loneliness.
Mayo Clinic data reflects realities of the executive lifestyle.ii
According to the Journal of Applied Psychology,iii burnout has been shown to lead to a prolonged physical and mental response, which primarily manifests as energy depletion, physical and emotional exhaustion, reduced efficacy, and increasingly negative feelings towards the role. Other symptoms associated with burnout are cynicism, negativity, and irritability; mood swings; low internal enthusiasm and motivation, sleep disturbance, and loss of perspective.
A well-known NBER study revealed that the impact of CEO stress shortens the life of a CEO by 18 months or more.iv It’s the runaway excess of overdoing in relation to workload while under monitoring personal work habits, thereby failing to ward off blowback on the health front.
Let’s also acknowledge that adverse physical and mental health challenges migrate into the executive’s home life which often have out-of-sight, unassessed, and damaging ripple effects. This is especially true of female executives, so-called “Power Moms” whose multiple life roles are an acrobatic art and “Mother guilt” is an undercurrent throughout their day. Meanwhile, “Father guilt” is rarely discussed but also part of the stress equation of dividing attention between work and family. Given that a slice of senior executives is also in an age group tied to the Sandwich Generation, they have both children and aging parents to oversee in various ways that can substantially add to their personal responsibilities. Extraordinary global situations such as the pandemic, subsequent shutdowns, and rebound efforts only further exacerbated tension at the executive level.
At the best of times, there’s an expectation of sacrifice built into the executive leadership hierarchy; time and energy investment translates to long hours and eternal on-call duties, personal relationships ranking second, pressure of carrying company performance, taking the blame for failure of others, and relinquishment of personal autonomy on behalf of the organization and mission.
Wellness for the Sake of All
How we as a culture look upon leadership is brought into sharp focus when seen from an entirely different perspective. According to author Tanya Talaga, “In Ojibwe and Cree culture, leadership doesn’t mean power, it means caring.” How intriguing! When in your business life has that definition ever crossed your path? No need to answer. The cold hard stats starkly reflect how our longstanding leadership doctrine has never been defined by caring. Should it be? At the very least, we must consider a move further to centre so that leaders feel less on their own in dealing with unreasonable workloads causing increasing enervation and lassitude. Why drain your talent when it’s infinitely more efficient to foster and inspire them?
In viewing the burnout stats, obviously something has to give. Transformation is underway, albeit by degrees. There’s a shifting loyalty in the extent of how much to give on the work front with a growing number of today’s top tier managers drawing deeper lines between the personal and the professional as they come to espouse an approach of “rest as hard as you work.” To that end, sage advice is offered by Betsy Jacobson, ForAffect Co-Founder, who states, “Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management.”
In an attempt to mark these boundaries, more and more executives are throwing down the gauntlet and demanding change to their schedules and workloads, while others are simply throwing up their hands in defeat to the machine and fleeing for the exit. We’re now in a transition period where we see ongoing stagnation regarding executive wellbeing in many companies but also evidence of progressive mandates slowly sweeping through our corporate world. There’s reason for some optimism as germinating resources and services are forming to help create space for dialogue that ventures into long neglected oversight of self-care mechanisms in the C-suite.
Currently, many organizations are embracing employee wellness programs led by human resources departments. With the advent of the Chief Wellness Officer, the welfare of staff is finding its way to the priority list within corporations around the globe. Evolving workplaces are gradually offering flex time, encouraging boundaries, and being clear on expectations of both sides. “Life-work sway” is a relatively new term reflecting the impermanence of our daily world, leaving space for changing priorities by swaying in and out of a moment, embracing the ebb and flow of work and life. Traditional ways of functioning in business are clearly in flux and a subtle revolution is advancing as both staff and management are seeking a more fluid framework in which to perform, guided by authentic, self-aware, plugged-in leadership.
The bottom line is boards must be proactive and allow for leaders to freely show their need for support without it being labelled as weakness or negatively impacting their performance reviews or careers. Championing a “new world” work environment for all employees can bring about an array of positive outcomes with greater productivity at every level. Protect and promote the well-being of your CEO and key leadership team by designating their welfare as a prime responsibility of your board. It will pay more dividends than you can count.
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i Deloitte and LifeWorks, “Inspiring Insights: Well-being and resilience in senior leaders.”
ii Source: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/infographic-health-risks-of-executive-lifestyle/
iii Maslach, C. and Leiter, M. P. (2008) “Early Predictors of Job Burnout and Engagement.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 498-512.
iv “CEO Stress, Aging and Death” Working Paper 28550, http://www.nber.org/papers/w28550