Executive Stress: It’s Tough at the Top

Last year I posted a blog about work-related stress management (click here). Today, I’m focussing on a specific sub-section of it called ‘executive stress.’ If you are a director or CEO, you know that being in charge is hard. Hiring and firing, and helping everyone else below you isn’t easy. It’s no surprise that C-suite executives come with their own special brand of work-related stress. But, what can you do about it?

You’ve heard the expressions. “It’s lonely at the top,” and “it’s tough at the top.” Quite often it’s both. Sure, there are pleasures and rewards. But there are also trials and tribulations. If not correctly handled, they can lead to that particular brand of nasty known as ‘executive stress.’

It’s not a buzzword. It’s not an exclusive ‘my stress is better than your stress’ term. Instead, it encompasses the hazards that can come with the C-Suite territory. Do you feel the need to be there all the time? Are you on hand and in control of everything? Have you lost the subtle art of delegation? Does your management style vary from passive to aggressive and all the way back again, usually in a nanosecond? Do you hate firing people? Do you resent the fact that, on a daily basis, the buck inevitably stops with you? Perhaps you have imposter syndrome? The fear that you don’t quite know what you are doing and are in danger of being ‘found out’ and more?

All that pressure can accumulates. And quickly too. However, research has shown that CEOs who are less prone to stress and who are more focussed on personal development make for much better leaders.

That’s all nice in theory, but what about the practice?

 

It Takes Two

Both Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and hypnotherapy are highly regarded and highly effective tools. They help manage stress, build emotional and mental resilience, and focus on personal development. They can help you to be the type of head who can keep their head when all others around you are losing theirs.

CBT takes the premise that it is not the events in life that disturb you, but the beliefs that you hold about those events. It teaches you how to identify and dismantle those unhealthy beliefs and how to replace them with more healthy and functional belief systems, thereby leading to a much happier captain of industry.

CBT is a rational approach to problem solving that is good for you, good for your state of mind, good for your staff and good for your business.

Hypnotherapy meanwhile, whilst not just being an awesome tool for relaxation. It can also change, focus, develop and improve your leadership skills.

 

For Example

Jonathan was a typical case in point, it all went wrong for him when he was promoted from head of department to executive director.

“I felt pressured by the managing director, who was my immediate superior,” he said. “She had unreasonable expectations of my immediate performance and undermined me in front of other department heads. They used to be my equals but were now, technically, my subordinates. I felt that certain individuals were not respecting me. Sadly, I wasn’t behaving in a way that garnered respect. I became surly and uncooperative at work and was short and snappy with my wife when at home.”

CBT helped him understand that he had a fear of confrontation with his director and rigid demands about how he should be treated by other people. As he worked on these beliefs he developed a much better management style. He became less passive-aggressive and more authoritarian, but also more calm and fair.

“When I decided to have a word with my director about how I felt when she talked to him, she apologised,” said Jonathan. “it turned out that she too was feeling pressurised by her position. I even recommended CBT and hypnotherapy to her.”

 

If this post resonates. If you are a C-suite exec who needs stress-management skills; you can contact me at info@danielfryer.com. I offer a free 15 minute discovery call.