These are valuable notes on CEO/leadership stress, from a recent BCG article, ‘The Physically and Mentally Fit CEO’.
* When a CEO burns out, entire companies feel it, with thousands of livelihoods hanging in the balance.
* “Lots of cognitive studies show decision making gets poorer when you’re fatigued or burned out or mentally stressed…If you don’t have the mental space, the clarity, the conviction, and the energy to do the job, you are hamstringing the enterprise.”
* Media glare only compounds the pressure, turning leadership into a 24/7 performance watched by investors, employees, and the public.
* There are actions CEOs can take to help them spot the signs of burnout and build greater physical and mental resilience.
* “Corporate environments typically lack structured debriefings after highly stressful events”. “In the military, personnel debrief after missions, or in hospitals, teams may debrief after traumatic medical events. These sessions help individuals process what happened by sharing the experience with colleagues, which further reduces stress, and fosters resilience.”
* “It’s rare for almost any human being to spend significant time in a flow state.”
Five Actions for Building Physical and Mental Resilience
1. Get enough sleep.
2. Manage your energy—as well as your time.
“..research suggests that when CEOs use even a few of those resources in their personal lives they can be more intentional about the time they free up for sleep, for exercise, for friends and family-as well as for more effective work”
3. Ruthlessly delegate.
4. Make time for reflection.
5. Establish peer networks.
“..feel less isolated, more energized, and gained an advisory group of peers…”
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Source:
The Physically and Mentally Fit CEO; BCG; James Brownsell; August 5, 2025
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There are some valuable notes from neuroscience research for leaders on how to improve responsibility and accountability in their organizations. The article is ‘Latest From the Lab: Ownership drives responsibility’ from the NeuroLeadership Institute, published on July 28, 2025
(Image- Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)
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” While 91% of managers and employees say accountability is important at work, 97% of managers say they struggle to hold their teams accountable.say they struggle to hold their teams accountable.
* A recent study suggests that our sense of responsibility, and the brain activity that supports it, can emerge from having a sense of control or agency in our work, as opposed to merely following orders.
* In a newly published brain imaging study, researchers showed that the act of merely following someone else’s orders, or not having ownership of our decisions, reduces our sense of responsibility for the actions that follow. In other words, how responsible we feel, stems from having a “stake in the game,” or some degree of ownership in the work.
* This study builds on a growing body of work into how accountability happens in the workplace. Taking responsibility for the work done and the impact made is one of the characteristics of accountability, a concept that…is a current challenge facing many.
* Prior research has shown that when we lose our sense of control, such as when we’re obeying orders or being told to do something, this immediately reduces our perception of responsibility. We feel less responsible for an outcome if someone else, especially with a higher status or rank, told us to do it. This poses a major challenge to organizations…
* Behaviors that managers could engage in to drive their team towards accountability:
– reminding a team member during a weekly check-in of the reason their work is critical, whether/how it’s aligned with an organizational goal or a team goal (will increase engagement of the networks in the brain associated with the “why” behind the work).
– managers can help employees feel a greater sense of ownership over their work by making the work meaningful to the individual or align it with their career goal. (will act to increase the person’s sense of agency, and ultimately, responsibility for the work.)”
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From a recent CNBC article (listed below):
“A Google executive told employees last week that in the past year, the company has gotten rid of a third of its managers overseeing small teams.
…said the idea is to reduce bureaucracy and run the company more efficiently.
The 35% reduction refers to the number of managers who oversee fewer than three people, according to a person familiar with the matter. Many of those managers stayed with the company as individual contributors, said the person, who asked not to be named because the details are private.
CNBC previously reported that the layoffs hurt morale as the company was downsizing while at the same time issuing blowout earnings and seeing its stock price jump. Alphabet’s shares are up 10% this year after climbing 36% in 2024 and 58% the year prior…”
Few questions that come to my mind:
Is this a part of a broader trend of restructuring, where companies across the board are actively trying to reduce management layers? More and more companies seem to be announcing reduction of managers and layers.
How do organizations get here in the first place? As they grow, do uncontrolled inefficiencies naturally creep in?
How does this impact feelings of loyalty and commitment (internal), among employees who still remain employed with the organization?
How does AI progress influence these changes and decisions?
If the nature of work or the environment hasn’t really changed, then such cuts may not really help the companies in the longer run (other than improving short term costs). Well designed and planned manager roles are normally intended to help efficiently deliver outcomes and the cuts without proper planning and foresight lead to confusion, inefficiencies and frustration over time.
Organizations and leaders have to think deeply about their optimal organization design and structure, without needing to revisit the same topic frequently. Otherwise, constant organization disruptions consume a lot of attention and energy from members which inevitably end up taking focus away from the core topics – differentiated business impact, customers, stakeholders, the marketplace.
There seems to be at least two clear perspectives in these shifts – companies working on becoming more efficient on one side
(with constant investor pressure) and, employees figuring out how to survive and thrive during times of such major changes.
Source: Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year, exec says; CNBC; August 27, 2025; Jennifer Elias
Sharing valuable notes for leaders on talent retention, from a recent RBL Group newsletter, with helpful research references…
* Data shows that 97.4% of employees cite personal interaction with leaders as crucial to their decision to stay (De Araújo Oliveira & Hansch, 2024).
* Leadership capability gaps create retention crises that no amount of compensation can solve. When leaders lack the skills to connect, develop, and inspire their teams, even well-compensated employees leave.
* Your customers experience your leadership capability through every interaction with your employees. Disengaged teams deliver mediocre customer experiences. High turnover disrupts service continuity. Leadership failures cascade into stakeholder value destruction.
* Research across multiple sectors shows that organizations with structured leadership approaches consistently outperform those relying on ad-hoc interventions.
* From the oil contracting sector during economic crisis – companies that maintained strong leadership communication and personal interaction retained critical talent while competitors hemorrhaged expertise (García-Rincón & Parra-Machado, 2022).
* IT organizations discovered that transformational leadership created stronger retention impact than individualized financial benefits (Berettera et al., 2023)
* Healthcare organizations implementing inclusive leadership practices report these as “key for retention” (Martínez-González et al., 2023)
* Organizations that build leadership as an enterprise capability-not just individual skills-create sustainable competitive advantage through their talent.
Source: The Leadership Factor: Why 97.4% of Retention Hinges on Personal Connection; RBL Impact; August 20, 2025.
There’s a lot of information, knowledge and wisdom out there, easier accessible than ever before, probably a lot more than most can process.
In this scenario, the critical differentiator skill will start with the ability to understand and discern what’s more valuable, relevant and applicable. Knowing where to look, understanding the context/relevance, who you decide to follow, interpreting, applying/practicing in one’s own environment, reflecting on what worked/didn’t, figuring out alternative sources and approaches – all contribute to that differentiation.
If you think the approaches an AI agent suggests will resolve everything, there may be unpleasant surprises waiting. It may only be treated the starting point of an explorative journey.
A more impactful personal differentiation in a fast evolving world can only be possible through a combination of continuous learning, active reflection and diverse/enriching experiences.
This is why I think, even in an AI and information rich world, there is an important role/seat for real wisdom. It leaves an important question – is the number of people who can recognize wisdom reducing fast?
Could one recognize wisdom better as one becomes wiser?
In today’s world, there’s a tendency to glorify everything that an entrepreneur who is perceived to be successful does with their leadership approach. There are multiple risks in taking that approach.
The following notes from a recently published article remind us about it.
“…the most effective leaders aren’t radically transparent; they are strategically self-aware. They know when to adapt, how to filter, and which version of themselves is most useful in a given situation. If “being yourself” means ignoring feedback, resisting self-regulation, or broadcasting your every mood swing, it’s not authenticity, it’s self-indulgence. And when your decisions affect thousands of employees or millions of users, indulging your quirks becomes a liability, not a virtue.
In short, there is a fine line between charisma and narcissism, between vision and delusion, and between confidence and arrogance. When we admire entrepreneurs, we should separate their contributions from their character. Otherwise, we risk turning toxic traits into aspirational goals, and forgetting that success is not a moral justification for how you got there…”
-From “The four leadership qualities you should not admire in famous entrepreneurs”; Fast Company; August 5, 2025; Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup
The topic of friendship has been in my mind during recent days.
It got me to revisit some notes from a very interesting March 2022 Atlantic article, “It’s Your Friends Who Break Your Heart” (by Jennifer Senior).
Does it hurt more when a friend treats you badly or doesn’t live up to your expectation?
Selected notes/food for reflection from the article:
* You lose friends to marriage, to parenthood, to politics-even when you share the same politics. You lose friends to success, to failure, to flukish strokes of good or ill luck. (Envy, dear God—it’s the mother of all unspeakables in a friendship) These life changes and upheavals don’t just consume your friends’ time and attention. They often reveal unseemly characterological truths about the people you love most, behaviors and traits you previously hadn’t imagined possible.
* …still left out three of the most common and dramatic friendship disrupters: moving, divorce, and death. Though only the last is irremediable.
* The unhappy truth of the matter is that it is normal for friendships to fade, even under the best of circumstances. The real aberration is keeping them.
* One could argue that modern life conspires against friendship, even as it requires the bonds of friendship all the more.
* This is how most friendships die, according to the social psychologist Beverley Fehr: not in pyrotechnics, but a quiet, gray dissolve. It’s not that anything happens to either of you; it’s just that things stop happening between you. And so you drift.
* Failures of reciprocity are a huge theme in broken friendships.
* Psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad discovered in 2003, when she had the inspired idea to monitor her subjects’ blood pressure while in the presence of friends who generated conflicted feelings. It went up-even more than it did when her subjects were in the presence of people with whom they had “aversive” relationships. Didn’t matter if the conversation was pleasant or not.
* Practically everyone who studies friendship says this in some form or another: What makes friendship so fragile is also exactly what makes it so special. You have to continually opt in. That you choose it is what gives it its value.
* Friendship is the rare kind of relationship that remains forever available to us as we age. It’s a bulwark against stasis, a potential source of creativity and renewal in lives that otherwise narrow with time.
* What do you do with friendships that were, and aren’t any longer?
By a certain age, you find the optimal perspective on them, ideally, just as you do with so many of life’s other disappointments.
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There also seems to be a neuroscience connection.
“Brain neuroimaging study revealed that the brain areas that are activated during the distress caused by social exclusion are also those activated during physical pain. Thus, we have an explanation for the feeling of physical pain that accompanies emotional loss-whether that be the loss of a loved one or rejection by one’s social group.”
– Neuroscience. Feeling the pain of social loss; Jaak Panksepp
There was a recent important article/topic from the Business Standard newspaper, titled “Age of Anxiety”. The article discussed increasing cases and patterns of anxiety and mental health issues in our work environments.
It has become critical for all parties to not ignore mental health. Physical and mental health are important elements of optimal performance. Having some form of support system is critical for every individual and benefits all parties, including the employer. Even if employers take a cost focused approach, this will end up in increased healthcare and insurance costs very soon (if not already). Therefore, proactive thinking to address this benefits everyone.
Highlighting couple of notes from the article that require attention.:
* “The real need is for organisations to empower their people managers to foster psychological safety, where employees feel seen, heard and supported, not just as professionals but as people navigating the pressures of work and life.”
* Despite efforts, much of corporate India still treats stress as an individual issue, not a systemic one. But the growing number of tragic outcomes suggests that the status quo is no longer sustainable.
It is a proud feeling to complete my sixth batch/year, facilitating annual leadership development sessions, and supporting high potential women managers in their leadership journey, at the Women Inclusive In Technology (WIIT) Accelerated Leadership Program. Participants actively understand what constitutes leadership, reflect on their leadership journeys and development focus.
Program participants come from various technology organisations in Kerala.
Sessions are normally conducted in Technopark, Trivandrum, Kerala.
This has also been an important and meaningful personal metric for myself, to positively impact our local ecosystem.
Sharing a recent article I wrote, titled, “The Call For Purpose-Centred Leadership In Indian Healthcare” for the Administrative Staff College of India, Post Graduate Diploma in Hospital Management (Hyderabad) program magazine.
Our healthcare sector requires transformational leadership that positively impacts our larger society and stakeholders, as it evolves.
About Tojo Eapen
Leadership Coach, Consultant, HR Leader with diverse, global experiences (U.S.A, Europe, APAC).
Master of Human Resource Management from Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.A. Recipient of the U.S. Garden State Council SHRM HR Leadership Scholarship.
Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India.
Certifications: MBTI, Hogan, RBL Leadership Code, SHL 360, Team Management Profile, NeuroLeadership Results & Team Coaching.
Facilitated coaching sessions, workshops and programs with multicultural teams in Helsinki, London, Berlin, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kerala, in addition to multiple Global/Virtual sessions.
Mission: Enable healthy, purposeful, and impactful organizations, through leadership knowledge and wisdom.
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