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“He said, ‘I just want to figure out how to be happy.’
We had to reconnect with the parts of his world he had
neglected, discover his purpose, and create a new
career that delivered on this.
“Being a CEO is a damn tough gig that is flippantly
dismissed because people believe it goes with the
territory and the money compensates,” Dow says. “But
it’s lonely at the top, and the tougher it gets the lonelier
it becomes. The path from stress to burnout is
insidious. It starts with exhaustion and excessive
overuse of energy, leading to despair, negativity,
cynicism and feelings of hopelessness.
“The human body was only evolved for intense
fight or flight situations,” Dow explains. “Adrenal glands
release stress hormones such as adrenaline to help you
cope with the threat at hand, giving you quick access to
energy. Consistent, stressful workloads eat into the
time for the things that rejuvenate us, and this triggers
an imbalance and eventual damage as the neural
circuits and structure of the brain are altered.”
Stress, dubbed by WHO as the health epidemic
of the twenty-first century, is recognised as a global
phenomenon threatening productivity, retention and
healthcare costs. The Global Organization for Stress
reports that 60 per cent of workers in major global
economies experience stress. While the annual costs
of workplace stress in developing and Asian countries
are yet to be quantified, they are estimated to be
A$14.2 billion in Australia, US$300 billion in the US,
£28.3 billion in the UK, €600 billion in Europe, and
NZ$1.45 billion in New Zealand.
Springfox, founded by Stuart Taylor as The
Resilience Institute Australia, works with global
organisations, governments and individuals to help
senior management sustain their high performance.
“The CEO role isn’t really the taskmaster,” Taylor
explains. “They should be looking at the bigger picture,
being creative, being strategic, while others make sure
things are on time. To get to their level, they need to
have nurtured good resilience, but over time, after a
few setbacks, they can start to doubt themselves.
“Initially I was surprised that CEOs wanted to work
on their self-confidence, but it is pretty common. They
stop being innovative, which is key to being CEO;CHIVA-SOM,
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chivasom.comGAIA RETREAT,
AUSTRALIA
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