Skip to content

12 August, 2022

Subscribe Advertise About Us
  • My Account
  • Register
  • Log In
  • Log Out

Board Agenda

  • Governance
  • Strategy
  • Risk
  • Ethics
  • News
    • Categoriess

      • View All
      • Board Moves
    • News round-up: this week in governance

      PwC fined for BT audit; greenwashing sanctions; cost of living crisis; $300m pay deal; US...

    • Twitter Elon Musk Twitter drops due diligence bombshell

      The high-profile lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk raises an issue close to all...

    • short selling investors How to beat short selling activism

      What would you do if your company was targeted by short-selling activist investors? Communication is...

  • Insight
    • Categories

      • View all
      • Governance
      • Strategy
      • Risk
      • Ethics
      • Board Expertise
      • finance
      • Technology
    • short selling investors

      How to beat short selling activism

      What would you do if your company was targeted by short-selling activist investors? Communication is...

    • ESG debate

      The ESG debate needs to be more nuanced

      The issues boards face are rarely straightforward, and ESG is no exception. It is time...

    • AI

      How to ensure governance of artificial intelligence (AI)

      An ISO standard issued this year gives guidance to boards on the governance implications of...

  • Comment
      • View all
    • global warming

      ESG is not a ‘distraction’

      We must not let ESG become a scapegoat for the systemic failure of our society...

    • Man with magnifying glass The 30-year itch: time to ditch the UK Corporate Governance Code

      Now that governance has come of age, businesses should be able to innovate within the...

    • notebook on boardroom table The UK needs a code of conduct for company directors

      A formal code of conduct for company directors would signal their willingness to apply high...

  • Interviews
      • View All Interviews
      • Podcasts
      • Webinars
    • Board members discussing ESG Stakeholder pressure increases urgency on ESG

      Experts say pressure to act on ESG is coming from regulators, investors and a new...

    • Empty boardroom Many executives ‘fail to understand the role and value of boards’

      A recent webinar on board effectiveness discussed the mix of competence and courage required from...

    • Businessman looking at stormy sky Disaster or disruption? Crisis management requires clear definitions

      Identifying and categorising crises, and developing a methodology to deal with them, can help boards...

  • Careers
      • View all
      • Selection
      • Board Moves
    • News round-up: this week in governance

      PwC fined for BT audit; greenwashing sanctions; cost of living crisis; $300m pay deal; US...

    • US boards diversity US boards slow diversity with poor retirement policies

      Only 6% of organisations have term limits for directors, and there is reluctance around mandatory...

    • News round-up: this week in governance

      Tory leadership contest; Grant Thornton fined; Norwegian insider dealing; virtual AGMs; US environmental disclosures; diversity...

  • Resource Centre
      • White Paper Downloads
      • Book Reviews
      • Corporate & Advisory Services
    • Stakeholder Engagement: A Roadmap for UK Plc Boards

      This guide aims to provide directors and their colleagues with advice on how to ensure...

    • Board Duties in Ensuring Company Engagement with Affected Stakeholders

      This guidance note gives a brief overview of the role of corporate boards of directors...

    • C-Suite Barometer 2021

      At the end of 2021, Mazars surveyed over 1,000 executives around the world for its...

  • Events
  • Search by topic
    • Governance
    • Strategy
    • Risk
    • Ethics
    • Regulation
    • ESG
    • Investor Relations
    • Selection
    • Board Expertise
    • finance
    • Technology
  • Magazine
      • View All
      • Sustainability Works
      • Tomorrow's Leaders
      • Renumeration Tightrope
      • Governance Ascendance
      • Sense In Sustainability
      • Invisible Enemies

Feeling drained? Why leaders must learn to manage their energy

by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Pay attention to your personal “energy barometer” and restructure your life to focus on energy-boosting activities that will pay dividends at work and home.

Stressed employee at his desk

Image: Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com

When I ran into Dirk, a banking CEO whom I had known for some time, I asked him why he looked so down. After a short silence, he responded with an avalanche of words. He had been feeling exhausted. At work, he had too many meetings, often with people he didn’t like. Given his position, Dirk felt his only option was to masquerade as a positive person. But it wore him out. He was also suffering from insomnia and the little sleep he managed to get was filled with nightmares. Clearly, Dirk wasn’t in very good mental shape.

I asked Dirk if he had ever used a diary to record his daily activities. Perhaps such a diary would illuminate what drained—and energised—him. He could even identify salient positive and negative themes on this self-created “energy barometer”. Awareness of the situations that affected him negatively would help him find ways to pre-empt them.

My encounter with Dirk made me consider the bad habits and situations that often drain our energy. They can beset all of us. But do we recognise the symptoms and are we willing to do something about them?

Common energy drainers

To find out more about what can zap energy, I have been asking the executives in my annual CEO seminar at INSEAD about the habits, situations or mind-sets that affect their mental health. The list was an interesting one.

Addiction to the internet and other passive media

Unsurprisingly, most of the executives complained about being addicted to the internet. Not only did the endless stream of communications stress them out, they also admitted that they spend a considerable amount of time on social media and other online activities, distracting them from their primary tasks. In the same vein, some said that they spend hours mindlessly watching television or streaming services.

Inability to master one’s own time

Many executives confessed that they were ineffective at setting priorities. They had a hard time deciding what was important and sticking to their schedule. They also had problems setting boundaries and felt their time was at the mercy of other people’s priorities. Interestingly enough, while some executives complained about a lack of structure in their lives, others said that their lives were overstructured – with little freedom to pursue energy-giving endeavours.

Excessively high expectations

Some of the executives often felt like they were trying to please everybody. Yet an even greater number of executives succumbed to perfectionism. They were very tough on themselves and unable to accept the idea that they could make mistakes (as a way to grow and develop). Instead, some of them were masters at tormenting themselves, stressing over things they couldn’t control.

Continuing unproductive relationships

Another common complaint was having to deal with negative people. Some executives explained how exhausting it was to play the role of a “bin” in which everyone dumps their problems. Others noted they were oversensitive to certain people who knew how to push their buttons and were difficult to avoid, like a boss or a family member. This observation led some to realise that they had stayed too long in an unhappy relationship. Although it drained them, they didn’t necessarily know how to get out of it.

Poor eating habits

Given their constant pressures, many executives found themselves with poor eating habits. They ate too much fast food or ate excessively to soothe themselves. Indeed, quite a few of them had serious weight problems. Others told me that they self-medicated (e.g. by taking drugs and drinking excessively) to numb the pain of their taxing emotional labour.

“Hurry sickness”

Many executives shared that their workload and hectic business travel schedules made them prey to “hurry sickness”. Just like White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, they always felt frantic, like time was running out.

Frankly speaking, a number of executives admitted that many of their energy-draining activities served to avoid bigger issues in their lives. They preferred to resort to “manic defence”, a behaviour pattern whereby people try to distract themselves with a flurry of activities or by faking the opposite of the thoughts or feelings plaguing them. Some added that they had a tendency to bury unpleasant issues into mental “boxes”. Of course, these issues tend to resurface in uglier, even more energy-draining ways, at the most unexpected time.

Correcting the imbalance

Aside from sapping your energy, all the activities and situations mentioned take up the days, hours and minutes that could be devoted to invigorating ones. What does your “energy barometer” look like? Do some of the themes above resonate with you? If so, what are you doing about it? You could restructure your life to focus on energy-boosting activities, such as:

  • Creative endeavours
  • Spending time with family and friends
  • Exercising
  • Walking outdoors.

According to the executives, another major pastime that fell by the wayside was reading. It is a pity, as reading is an activity that can build empathy and comes with many other psychological and neurological benefits.

Aristotle wrote about eudaimonia, a concept referring to the “highest human good” and describing a life aimed at maximising happiness through virtue. A deeply meaningful life is achieved by engaging with others—family, friends and fellow citizens—in mutually beneficial activities. The Greek philosopher further drew a distinction between eudaimonia and hedonia, which is the pursuit of subjective wellbeing via the pleasures afforded by food, sex and social interactions. He suggested that both hedonic and eudaimonic pathways are crucial to living a happy, fulfilling life.

If wellbeing and happiness are eluding you, remember to put on your oxygen mask first before assisting others, just like you would on a plane in an emergency. In terms of energy, we must all take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. Martyrdom or always keeping up a brave front are not the way to go. There is nothing weak about being “less than perfect” and asking for help. Opening up about your unhappiness, as Dirk did, is the courageous first step towards replenishing your precious energy.

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organisational Change at INSEAD and the Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus. He is the programme director of The Challenge of Leadership, one of INSEAD’s top executive education programmes.

This article originally appeared on INSEAD Knowledge. Read the original version here.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

Related Posts

  • How to hold businesses to account on carbon? Include their supply chains
    January 27, 2020
    smoke from coal-powered plant stacks

    Supply chains contribute significantly to a firm’s carbon footprint and can amount to four times the organisation’s own operational emissions.

  • Directors need to ‘up their game’ on ESG strategy
    April 4, 2022
    Board members looking at corporate reports

    Study says 70% of board directors say they are “not at all” or only “moderately“ effective at integrating ESG concerns into company strategy.

  • UK CEOs 'not incentivised' to focus on their environmental impact
    December 13, 2019
    executive pay, pay, remuneration, pay ratios, corporate governance, finance

    Just 6% of UK chief executives have a KPI related to the environment, with less than 1% having long-term incentives linked to this area.

  • Larry Fink: companies must make a 'positive contribution' to society
    January 17, 2018
    Larry Fink, BlackRock

    Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, says it will step up its engagement with boards in an effort to forge a "new model of shareholder engagement".

For thoughtful journalism, expert insights on corporate governance and an extensive library of reports, guides and tools to help boards and directors navigate the complexities of their roles, subscribe to Board Agenda

board expertise, executive stress, INSEAD Knowledge, leadership skills, Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, mental health

Search


Sign up to our Newsletter

Receive independent news, thoughtful journalism & expert insights about leadership, corporate governance & key boardroom issues straight to your inbox every week.

SIGN UP

Follow Us


 

 

 

 

 

Most Popular

  • Twitter drops due diligence bombshell
  • ESG is not a ‘distraction’
  • Ben & Jerry’s governance tested in court
  • Virtual AGMs fall out of favour
  • The ESG debate needs to be more nuanced

 


 

Featured Partner Profile

Diligent

Diligent

Diligent Corporation, which was founded in 2001, is headquartered in New York, NY with a European HQ in London. Diligent’s modern governance platform empowers leaders and teams at every level of the organisation to digitally transform and create ...

Featured Partner Resources

Board Transformation 2021: Leadership in Transition

There can be little doubt that the global Covid-19...

Digital Boards: How Technology Adoption is Driving Culture Change and Resiliency

Digital tools proved their worth to boards during ...
EQ 2021 AGM Season report

2021 AGM Season: Successful AGMs in the Pandemic and Beyond

With the impacts of Covid-19 hitting just as the s...
Leadership in AI report

Leadership in AI 2021

This report from Board Agenda and Mazars, in assoc...
Creativity in a Crisis: a Boardroom Map for Innovation

Creativity in a Crisis: a Boardroom Map for Innovation

In the uncertain times at the height of any crisis...
Board Directors Guide to D&O Liability Insurance - November 2020 - AIG & Board Agenda

Board Directors' Guide to D&O Liability Insurance

Directors face liability over a range of new threa...
Leadership-in-Risk-Management-Board-Report

Leadership in Risk Management: Board Report

Board Agenda, in association with Mazars and INSEA...
Director's Guide to Internal Investigations

A Director's Guide to Conducting Internal Investigations

An internal investigation must be handled meticulo...

Global Business Complexity Index 2021

The Global Business Complexity Index 2021 provides...

 


 

ADVERTISE – FREE CORPORATE LISTING

FREE - Add your company profile to our Corporate & Advisory Directory.
ADD

ADVERTISE – PROMOTE YOUR REPORTS & WHITEPAPERS

FREE - Add your company profile to our Corporate & Advisory Directory.
Add Resource

Register Free

Register to receive free article views, selected resource downloads, and all the latest news alerts straight to your inbox. Register


  • Editors & Contributors
  • Corporate & Advisory Services
  • Media Marketing Solutions
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Board Director Network
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Sitemap
|