"The most dangerous people in a company are stressed leaders. I say that with full self-awareness. I've worked for a few and came uncomfortably close to becoming one myself. I've always had an impulsive temperament. On good days, it made me decisive. On bad days, reactive. Add long hours and the pressure of scaling a startup, and my emotional state began to spill onto the team."
"We must stop seeing ourselves only through an operational lens. Gantt charts and product roadmaps matter, but not if you walk into a room as an emotional thunderstorm. Once you understand that, you start to see the full scope of the CEO role, including taking responsibility for the emotional climate of our workplace. The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 69% of employees feel their manager impacts their mental health as much as their spouses."
Stressed leaders undermine team well-being, reduce inspiration and support, and weaken intellectual stimulation. Impulsive temperaments combined with long hours and startup pressure cause leaders' emotions to spill onto teams. Prioritizing mental health, rest, and mindfulness transforms leadership and enables emotional regulation and grounded energy. A CEO role should include responsibility for the workplace emotional climate, acting as a "chief energy officer". Managers significantly influence employee mental health, with 69% of employees reporting equal impact as spouses. Stress spreads like a domino effect: stressed leader, loss of psychological safety, diminished innovation and creativity, and reduced proactivity.
Read at Fast Company
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