It’s striking how much of a business leader’s identity is tied up in the business, though it’s understandable. Business leaders, especially owner/founders, often started their businesses because they were passionate about an idea or were committed to addressing a frustrating problem in the market. The time spent building the business, and the sacrifice, can lead to significant achievement that can create success such as status and wealth. By most standards, this person would be considered a winner in business. However, there’s another side to the coin.
As a CEO, there are always fires to put out and a near-constant need to strategize to keep the business moving forward. Hours could be irregular and time outside the office is often required in order to continue to develop key relationships to improve the business — on the golf course, at dinner, even during kids’ sporting events. On the surface, it seems like a productive, admirable trait. But, it could ignore a critical element.
Job stress is a killer. And there’s proof. Harvard Professor Tom Nicholas tracked the status and mortality rates of more than 1,000 managers and other employees at General Electric. He found that high-level business executives died three to five years earlier on average than the lower-level workers and linked the cause of these earlier deaths to work-related stress. Studies have also linked CEOs to higher cardiac risk as well as a litany of stress-related ailments, such as headaches, digestive problems such as ulcers, and insomnia. CEOs also reportedly consume as much as three times the alcohol of their non-executive peers. It’s also reported that female CEO have double the divorce rate as their non-executive peers.
It is important, as business leaders, for us to recognize the value of winning not only in business, but in life. Many of us have families who rely on us not just to pay bills, but to be present for them both physically and emotionally. Most relationships don’t end from a blow out, but a slow leak. With so much going on at work, it can be easy to drift on the home front, which creates an imbalance between work and home life. If too much of our focus is on the business, it can also mean a lack of personal peace — an inability to feel the joy and energy that life has to offer.
If you feel this column is speaking to you and you are feeling disconnected, consider doing a 360-degree review of your life. How is the family doing? Relationship with your spouse, significant other, your kids? How is your health? Are you making time for friends? Are you taking time to enjoy activities that have no relation to the work you do? Examine where you are at in your life. Be sure to find things that fill your spirit, and take the time to re-energize. It’s never too late to make change.
As driven people, we need to remind ourselves that work is what we do and not who we are. Learn to compartmentalize that aspect of our lives. Otherwise, one day we are going to wake up and realize we are a winner in business, but not a winner in life. ●
Fred Koury is an Entrepreneur and investor
