Many people do not understand why CEO stress has anything to do with CEO health. In fact, the two are closely connected.
Recently, the health of Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, has raised a national discussion. Many people think that his health is not his private matter because so many others depend upon him. Some even have raised a stock security issue. Forbes has pointed out that the Apple CEO turned to cancer removal surgery eight months after the diagnosis. Would there be less unfortunate issues to begin with if leaders could take better care of themselves?
When talking about how to be a CEO, people usually do not think about sustainability at times of unexpected change, intense stress, illness or injury. Unfortunately, life is full of unexpected challenges, which can disable our mind, or even take away our success. It takes a different set of skills to sustain our optimal creativity and health than to utilize them. It is important to have both. An unfortunate outcome affects not only the key person, but also his/her family, partners, colleagues, employees and more.
People tend to count on doctors for their health. However, how we handle illnesses before and after seeing doctors can mean life or death, recovery or disability. Although I had excellent medical training, I could have lost my mother had I not questioned the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) physicians after a tragic auto-accident. My mother suffered a cervical-2 fracture. Even after five weeks of intensive care, she could not get off of the ventilator. Her ICU physicians “concluded” that she would be ventilator-dependent for the rest of her life. My mother refused to live on a machine. I never doubted the ICU physicians. But at the last moment, I chose to do my own assessment and found that she did not breathe efficiently. Through a new way of breathing I taught her, my mother was taken off the ventilator successfully after only three days!
In another example, a prestigious rehab center had some very well-known experts in Traumatic brain injury (TBI). These experts concluded that the poor impulse control secondary to TBI was incurable since they could not find the cure. A resident physician with a history of TBI had one unfortunate incident. These experts linked the incident with her past injury and concluded that she had a poor impulse control and could not handle stress. They took away her residency training at the last minute even through her references from clinical training prior were excellent. Instead of telling her their reasoning, they told her something else, which has caused her a huge waste of time and money. In fact, the victim had found a way to correct the impulse control. But to these experts, if they could not find the cure, no one could! And they abandoned their own victim when their support was needed most!
Not everyone needs to go to medical school. However, we need general and systemic health knowledge about ourselves and different health systems, for example, what costly health mistakes to avoid, and how to select specialists. We need to stay in charge, especially when it is a matter of life or death, recovery or disability. A part of our 4-day Executive Synergy Program provides hands-on training in this area.
According to a survey of Vistage (an international organization for CEOs), 100 percent of 2,400 participating CEOs are suffering stress. CEO stress can come from external sources, like an uncertain economy. CEO stress can also come from our body and mind, such as the examples described above. Stress, while a great motivator, can disable our thinking and creativity, which are the keys to leadership. Stress can also harm our health and emotions. To some extend, a par of how to be a CEO is how to manage CEO stress. An exceptional CEO usually manages stress at another level.
Stress management to many people is limited relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing, brisk walking, meditation, Yoga and breaks. These are not enough to handle intense CEO stress. We need to build up our personal relaxation hierarchies for different levels of stress. At The Prince Synergy, we call it “overarmed.” We need a clear mind to look into underlying causes and figure out solutions. Different people need different relaxation hierarchies.
Another common definition of stress management is “coping with stress” and “positive thinking.” We don’t have to “live with stress.” We can prevent, utilize, reduce and transform stress. We can manage stress in many ways, business, medical, legal or even “technical” ways. A CEO suffered newly onset insomnia due to insecurities of her business. None of her relaxation methods or sleeping pills worked. Sleep is very important to productivity and wellness. She could not have a real sense of security until her business thrived, which could take time. However, she could use her faith as “the sense of security” by placing it into her unconscious level. Afterward, she has been sleeping like a log every night. In addition to faith, law can also help to eliminate stress and subsequent insomnia.
Strong stress management training is even more important at times of extreme crisis, where the level of stress is highest. Some CEOs tend to check themselves into the hospital. I had a crisis in 2007, and started crisis management immediately. I used my relaxation hierarchy to keep a clear mind, and in the meantime, kept telling myself that the crisis was not the end of the world. Instead of going to the hospital, I worked on my solution to turn the crisis into an opportunity the same night.
Our beliefs, perceptions, standards, visions and expectations can also affect the outcome. The cases of my mother and the rehab center are also good examples of blindly following authority figures (such as the ICU physicians) and assumptions.
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What we can see in society and ourselves determines how we act and what we can achieve. I did not value Eastern medicine at medical school. After being through family injuries and personal challenges, I have appreciated its recovery and relaxation power more and more. I sometimes acupuncture myself and pick up my own herb tea for certain types of tiredness and stress. I did not know about the internet or computers in high school. What I want and can do today is different from what was possible back then. There are many ways to sustain our optimal levels. We won’t “see” them until we are open to them.
How we act can also affect our health and potential profoundly. A star athlete from Fargo High School joined Stanford on a four-year football scholarship. After he ran into bigger and meaner competitors, he chose to focus upon his economics major. He has since built a multi-billion-dollar investment firm. What if he had chosen steroid for temporary gain, or used drugs for temporary high like many others? He would have to face more problems down the road, such as systemic injuries or various issues related to addictions, such as cirrhosis and gastric mass.
Our mind, body and stress management are one integrated system. We can be limited internally and externally. The limitations can lead to stress issues in business and health if we do not take care them efficiently. We can and need to, utilize our full internal and external resources efficiently, and prosper in business and life. Leaders should not settle with how to be a CEO, but how to be an exceptional CEO.
In summary, the skills to utilize our creativity and health and to lead are different from those to sustain the potential from unexpected change, intense stress, costly health mistakes and injury. In this age of intense competition, CEOs need these skills to stay at their optimal level and save subsequent agony from CEO stress. To identify your “missing software” or alternative and help you build a firewall for your leadership is included in all of our leadership programs. This is not only about how to be a CEO, one key individual, but also about your family, partners, colleagues, employees and more.
About the Author
Bin Yang is the Founder and CEO of The Prince Synergy, a worldwide leading resource that focuses on Level 5 leadership and health recovery from unexpected change, stress, illness and injury. Its services have been featured in Forbes and Euroinvestor. Yang possesses a strong background in medicine, Law and Business. For more info, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
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