Home Concepts Managing Stress & Challenges Ignoring the Personal Stress of a Key Executive Could Cost You Millions

Ignoring the Personal Stress of a Key Executive Could Cost You Millions

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If you build your life around your career and you have no one to fall back on to put things into perspective in a crisis, it will cause a major disruption in your life. As a very dramatic example, when ABN AMRO merged with Royal Bank of Scotland, my colleagues who had built their lives around the bank felt betrayed. Some openly wept. There were no doubt other stressors in the private lives of two members of the Board and a VP who committed suicide.
Former VP, ABN AMRO and Director, Royal Bank of Scotland

Will I be seen as weak?

You need to keep up appearances. Everything is under scrutiny. There is a fear that acknowledging you are under stress will be used against you. The fear is that it makes you look weak and incompetent. That you will be judged. You’re supposed to be strong and self-reliant. People will think less of you, respect you less.

Who can I trust?

You have to be careful of what you say for fear of misinterpretation. Who can you talk with about what is going on without it circling back to bite you?

Who can you trust? Who can you talk with about challenging problems? Who can you confide in? You are not allowed to share your vulnerabilities, even from a business perspective.

It’s unlikely that colleagues you run into at association meetings will keep it real. When you get together with peers, they’re more likely to tell you how great things are, how successful their company.

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6 Comments

  1. Brent Green

    October 3, 2018 at 1:18 am

    What Harvard and Yale documentation can you provide? Thanks

    Reply

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