Addressing the Issue of Stress on CEOs

The stress that many CEOs feel these days is tremendous. There is great pressure to maximize earnings, shareholders’ value and various financial targets, as well their concern for keeping their clients and their high performing team members happy. 

The demands on their time and attention are continuous – endless meetings, constant stream of emails and other forms of communication, client meetings, and then, of course, the media, analysts, industry obligations, and desire to be a presence in the community.

And this does not factor in time to be with the people doing the work of their companies, which for certain, must be a top priority. We must consider our people as our internal clients. They produce our results. We must not take them for granted, and even if we do not, we must invest time staying connected with them so they realize we do value and appreciate them.

Each CEO’s circumstances differ and so each has to develop a customized plan and set of boundaries or the stress will continue to mount, could become seriously unhealthy and could lead to actions and decisions which could well not be ideal.

A CEO should only do what she or he must do personally as CEO. Delegate everything else. Learn to trust people and they will try to live up to your level of trust. Cut down the number of meetings – for you and for everyone. Ask the people in these meetings how to reduce the frequency and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the meetings. They will know. Then you and the other senior executives can be out with your people who are doing the work of your company, connecting with them, asking such questions as: 

• How are you doing?
• How can we help? 
• What could we improve? 
• How could we save time? 
• What are you learning from our clients? 
• What are your ideas?
• What could we do to make working here more enjoyable?
• What do you feel should be our priorities going forward? 
• What advice do you have for me?

Half of us, i.e., 50% of the workforce, feel significant stress. Is the percentage higher for CEOs? Likely. Yet a great many of their colleagues are under undue and unhealthy stress, as well. There is stress that comes with the territory of being a CEO, and yet there can be great stress that others face, e.g., when one has a bad boss, poor working relationships, unrealistic goals and expectations, more work than can be done in a work day, internal competition, incivility, constant top down directives, not asking for people’s ideas, few professional development opportunities,  a negative organizational culture, and other adverse issues. 

The source(s) of stress is not only our workplace. Often it is personal, e.g., abusive personal relationships, divorce, health and other problems with children and or aging parents, financial issues, and there are a host of other possibilities.

Also, in today’s world, it seems social pressures affect a lot of people, e.g., the rat race of having the newest car, a large house, the latest iPhone, the coolest clothes, and the charities we serve. It’s the “keeping up with the Joneses.”

What can we do to relieve at least some of the stress?

Here are myriad of simple steps, while not solutions, likely each will help. These are not listed in order. We could use them all, and we must realize that we alone control our state of mind and attitude. We each definitely do have some internal control of the stress we feel.

In general, to help us be even keeled:

• Try to get eight hours of sleep
• Always be interested in others, genuinely interested
• Think about our values, what truly matters to us
• Listen with an open mind to understand and learn
• Stay in touch with longtime friends and love ones
• Journal about being the leader we want to be, how we’ll handle things
• Be highly organized, which can help control stress for all of us

When a situation, confrontation, significant decision, or any circumstance arises and we feel stress, we can: 

• Breathe deeply and exhale slowly
• Pray and meditate about what to do
• Slow down, smile
• Maybe take a break, a walk outside, or even just look out our window
• Maintain our composure and ask people for their ideas
• Allow ourselves to be vulnerable, ask for help, everyone knows we do not have all the answers
• Maybe call a good friend just to relax for a few minutes
• Take a few minutes to visit with our God or higher power (does wonders)
• Find someone we can help, do a good deed for (does wonders)
• When ready, make a decision. And remember, a mistake only becomes an error if it is not corrected. So, admit to making a mistake and then make the appropriate change

We must be concerned with our own wellbeing and also the wellbeing of our people, all of them. 

Let’s make this our mission, to reduce the stress we – all of us – feel.

I recommend that the increasing problem of stress, which is becoming epidemic, be acknowledged, put up on the table for discussion, rather than keeping it the elephant in the room. 

This means identifying problems and addressing them promptly, and holding those who are the causes accountable to change.

In the book, StressCount, there is a self-assessment which helps us understand the causes and effects of our stress and contains a list of basic action steps we could take. It gives us a score of our level of stress, and we can commit to ourselves to lower our score in the next week or month. What gets measured gets improved is an adage that usually works.

This is such an important topic. Stress does affect CEOs and certainly many others, and we cannot let it become overwhelming. We need to be composed and always ready to lead effectively, to have positive influence.

Yes, stress has become epidemic and this is sad. Let’s realize it and help not only ourselves, also our family, friends, and colleagues.

Good leadership saves time, reduces stress, and improves morale and organizational culture!