CEO Stress on the Rise

By: Gary Hirsch - Tucson Group Chair, Vistage International

It’s not surprising. As costs increase you’re working longer hours to get everything done. Your employees are under increasing financial pressure outside of work, which can show up as incomplete tasks or poor work quality.

Credit is scarcer when you may need it most. At times it may seem that if you weren’t there every minute to manage the business, even more would fall through the cracks.

You’re in good company. In the most recent survey of CEO’s by Vistage International, the world’s leading CEO membership organization, half of the 2,400 CEO’s surveyed said that they are more stressed than they were a year ago. Only three percent said that their stress level was lower than it was last year.

What’s the Problem?
Stress has its place. It can be a powerful motivator—or a warning sign. On the positive side, it helps you perform to stellar levels. It helps you make decisions and meet deadlines. In a life-or-death situation, your "fight-or-flight" instinct is rooted in your ability to feel the stress of an adrenaline rush. That's acute stress. On the flipside, chronic stress—lasting four months or longer -- can shorten your life.

Stress, unrecognized or untreated drives people to harmful behaviors. We eat or drink too much, smoke more, lose sleep, all of which can often lead to health issues. Chronic stress robs the joy from your life and lowers your body’s natural ability to fend off illness. As if that weren’t enough, stress is also linked to increased abdominal fat.

The way you handle stress can affect your health. It certainly affects your mental outlook and some studies show that chronic stress affects your ability to learn and to access what you already know. So when you're unduly stressed, the business decisions you make may be compromised by cloudy thinking.

How Do I Know If I am Stressed?
One of the best ways to monitor stress is to “listen” to your body. Notice how your body reacts at work, at play and at home to different circumstances, and tune in to your mind's self-talk.

Try “listening” for:
• When your hands get clammy.
• What makes your stomach grind in agitation?
• What it is that you are losing sleep over?
• When you tell yourself, "I can't take this anymore"?

These are all indicators that something is bothering your mind and your body is screaming for you to pay attention to it, to get control of it. Your job is to act on your own behalf. The best news is that, whatever the source, stress can be controlled -- with attitude adjustments and a reserve of helpful techniques to keep stress working for you instead of against you.

Strategies to Reduce Stress
Each of us has a stress "cup." Once that cup overflows symptoms begin to appear. The trick is to recognize when your cup is reaching “full” and have a method for pouring out some of the stress. The following strategies can help.

• Monitoring system. Give your spouse, children, friends, peers and employees permission to tell you when they see the signs of stress getting out of control. If you get angry and defensive, they’ll never tell you. Give them permission to speak the truth.

• Thought control. Avoid focusing exclusively on the worst that could happen. Rather, imagine what the best scenario could be. Then consider what’s most likely to occur, and grab hold of that. Let your mind find a reasonably positive outcome and it will release your anxiety.

• Exercise. This is one of the best ways to immediately reduce stress. Moderate, comfortable exercise generates the relaxation response.

• Nutrition and supplements. The higher your stress level, the more vitamins and minerals your body needs. Eat healthy and supplement appropriately.

• Meditation. More than 1,300 scientific studies have documented the benefits of meditation. Slow down your thoughts so you can have feelings in between your thoughts. Amazing neurochemical changes happen during meditation.

• Getting outdoors. Time alone, spent in nature is a way to refocus on the moment. Hiking on your local trail or sitting by the river (or wash) can help clear your mind.

• Relationships. Feeling connected to other people plays a major role in reducing stress. Isolation from others increases stress. Many studies show a correlation between the nature of our relationships and the strength of our health and immune response.

Thoughts from the Front Lines
We asked Vistage CEO’s to share some of their stress reduction strategies and here’s a sampling of what we heard.

“I stay focused on my highest priorities and don’t worry about what isn’t getting done since it’s not my highest priority.”

“I relieve my stress by exercising every morning. I also make sure my assistant schedules me in a hotel with an excellent fitness center when I'm on the road. I stayed at a hotel last week that had a treadmill in the room!”

“I focus on bottom-line issues, prioritize constantly, and pray every morning.”

“Running immediately after work helps me compartmentalize the day and self-reflect, and it prepares me for my number one job, my family.”

“My mind can usually see things worse than they are. I daily need to anchor my thinking in reality, not fear of what might happen.”

“Three things work the best for stress relief for me--reading, family time and volunteering.”

As a business owner or executive stress is practically inevitable, but manageable. Learn to use stress in a positive way as an indicator and a motivator and be sure to take steps to ward off its harmful effects.

Gary Hirsch is a leading executive business coach and group chair with Vistage International. He leads a group of Tucson CEO’s, company presidents and business owners who meet monthly to become better leaders, make better decision and achieve better results, typically growing up to three times faster after joining a Vistage group. For more information contact Gary at 520-225-0373 or gary.hirsch@vistage.com.

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