Stress Management For Leaders

Stress isn’t always about the thing itself. It’s about our relationship to it. Two leaders can face the exact same challenge — a missed deadline, a difficult board meeting, a team conflict — yet their experience of stress is entirely different. Why? Stress often has less to do with the external event and more to do with the lens through which we view it. 👉 When we label something as unbearable, it grows heavier. 👉 When we approach it as a problem to be solved, it becomes manageable. 👉 When we see it as an opportunity to grow, it can even become empowering. This distinction matters because leaders carry tremendous weight. If everything feels like a “threat,” stress compounds. But if we learn to reframe — to shift our relationship to the pressure — we not only reduce stress, we increase our capacity to lead with clarity and resilience. As an executive coach, I work with clients on this every day. Here are a few practices that make a difference: ✅ Name it clearly. → Is it the situation itself that’s stressful, or the meaning you’ve attached to it? Naming the difference is the first step in reframing. ✅ Shift the narrative. → Instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?”, try “What is this asking of me as a leader?” ✅ Control the controllable. → Stress escalates when we fixate on what’s outside our power. Refocus on the small actions you can take. ✅ Build in recovery. → Even the strongest leaders need rituals that restore — whether that’s exercise, mindfulness, or simply 10 minutes of stillness. The goal isn’t to eliminate stress. The goal is to reshape our relationship to it so it serves us, rather than overwhelms us. Coaching can help; let's chat. Book Your Coaching Discovery Call Today  ↳ https://lnkd.in/eKi5cCce Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Joshua Miller for more tips on coaching, leadership, career + mindset. #executivecoaching #leadership #mentalhealth #coachingtips #wellness

Burnout is rampant in the legal profession. But most law firms are approaching it all wrong. They think yoga classes, meditation apps, and mandatory vacation days will solve the problem. Spoiler alert: they won't. Don't get me wrong - those things can help. But they're not addressing the root cause. Burnout isn't about individuals needing to relax more. It's about toxic workplace cultures. As an autistic lawyer who burned out at a big firm, I can tell you firsthand: - No amount of deep breathing would've fixed the stuff I was dealing with - Meditation couldn't cure the way I was being treated (not to mention that sticking to a meditation routine is also especially hard if you have ADHD like I do) - I wasn’t burning out because of the amount I was working (I work way more now, and I’m the opposite of burned out) Burnout happens when: - Workloads are unsustainable - People feel a lack of control - There's insufficient reward for effort - The workplace community is dysfunctional - Fairness is absent - Values are misaligned The problem isn't lawyers who can't handle stress. The bigger problem is when you’re being poorly managed, not being treated with respect, and being worked to the bone. Want to actually address burnout? Try: - Autonomy over how (and where) work gets done - Building supportive team cultures (with actual psychological safety) - Transparent decision-making processes - Aligning firm actions with stated values All of this is possible in a law firm. We run Renno & Co this way. It’s not easy, but it’s all doable. So why not do it? (although perhaps it’s because burnout is a feature, not a bug, of most firms!) #lawyers #lawfirms #burnout #mentalhealth

Leaders need to have reserves of resilience to deal with crises as they arise. If as a leader you are depleted and running on empty when a crisis occurs, it's very hard to operate at your best. The world got a lesson in the value of supply chains and the consequences of what happens when they break down during the pandemic. But for supply chains to be always on, the people who run them can’t be. And that goes for all of us, even if we don't work in supply chains!   Here is some advice I shared with supply chain leaders at the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM)'s Connect 2024 conference. ➡️  Most important: You have to put on your own oxygen mask first. Too many leaders still buy into the misguided notion that urgent or chaotic times require them to be in constant motion and always on, or that they somehow have to match the frenetic pace of the moment. In fact, the opposite is true. Because it is judgment that we need from leaders in moments of crisis, not just stamina. So it starts with prioritizing well-being for yourself, and being a role model for well-being to give others the permission to do the same. ➡️ Technology is a double-edged sword: Technology accelerates burnout when we try to be always on. What's funny is how much better care we take of our technology than ourselves. But unlike machines, humans have to unplug to recharge. In the human operating system, downtime is a feature, not a bug. ➡️ The qualities that define a successful leader: Empathy, being able to listen, being open to new voices. Not just being a broadcaster all the time, but being a receiver as well. It first requires not constantly being in fight-or-flight mode. We can’t be open to others and their creativity and innovation when we’re marinating in stress hormones and just trying to get through the day or through the next hour. ➡️ To create a Thriving Culture: Communication is key! One of our core values at Thrive is Compassionate Directness, which empowers team members to surface feedback or any problems and challenges they’re having in real time. That allows not only team members to course-correct and grow, but the company as well. In any company, and certainly in supply chains, there are obstacles to growing the bottom line. There are challenges with engagement and innovation. Wouldn’t you want to know those sooner rather than later? Knowing them — and getting to work in solving them — in real time as they arise has huge benefits to all the metrics that go into the bottom line. ➡️ And finally: Well-being needs to be embedded into the fabric of company culture and into the workflow. A company is only as resilient as its people so an investment in the healthy future of your employees is an investment in the future of your company. To build resilience into your industry, you have to build it into your people.

Leaders waste more energy on divided focus than any other activity. I learned this the hard way in the SEAL Teams. During a training evolution, I was juggling radio communications, coordinating multiple teams, and making split-second calls. And I wasn’t doing any of it well. My commanding officer pulled me aside: "Mac, you're everywhere and nowhere. Focus or you'll miss the critical moment." He was right. I was spread so thin I couldn't see the patterns emerging right in front of me. This isn't just a military problem. I see it daily with my executive clients: → Scanning emails during strategy discussions → Mentally rehearsing a presentation while their team shares crucial updates → Attention bouncing between five urgent problems, solving none completely The cost isn't just productivity. Your leadership presence evaporates. Your team's trust erodes. In high-performance environments, attention isn't just a resource. It's your competitive advantage. When you focus fully: → You notice micro-expressions that signal team tension → You spot connections between seemingly unrelated data points → You make decisions from clarity rather than reaction Most leaders know this. Few practice it consistently. The difference isn't knowledge, it's discipline. The solution isn't complicated: 1. Practice intentional monotasking. Whatever deserves your attention deserves your FULL attention. 2. Create attention boundaries. Block time for deep work with zero notifications. 3. Build a daily mindfulness practice. Even 5 minutes trains your focus muscle. 4. Batch-process inputs. Schedule specific times for email and updates rather than letting them hijack your entire day. In my 17+ years as a SEAL, the leaders I trusted most weren't just the smartest or toughest. They were the ones who could maintain complete presence amidst chaos. They showed up fully. Their attention wasn't divided. Their focus created a gravity that pulled teams together. What deserves your full attention today? ——— Follow me (Jon Macaskill ) for leadership insights, wellness tools, and real stories about humans being good humans. And feel free to repost if someone in your life needs to hear this. 📩 Subscribe to my newsletter here → https://lnkd.in/g9ZFxDJG You'll get FREE access to my 21-Day Mindfulness & Meditation Course with real, actionable strategies.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐲 𝐉𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲. You’re juggling three balls, it feels you’ve got this. Now you’re juggling four, it’s tough but you manage. Now you’re juggling five, chaos builds. Now you’re juggling six, you drop all of them! That’s exactly how cognitive load feels. When your brain is juggling too much information and too many decisions at the same time. As a psychologist, I see this all the time. People think they’re indecisive or unproductive, but the truth is, their mental bandwidth is maxed out. 𝐂𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. When your brain is overwhelmed, even small decisions feel monumental. That’s why you might spend ages picking a restaurant after a day of big meetings. Your brain isn’t lazy—it’s overworked. But it’s not just about feeling tired. Cognitive load impacts the quality of your decisions. The more overwhelmed you are, the more likely you are to choose what’s easy, familiar, or convenient, not necessarily what’s best. Sounds scary. Right? I’ve worked with clients who felt stuck, unable to decide between career moves, new opportunities, or even personal goals. Most of the time, the problem wasn’t indecision. It was the sheer amount of information and options clouding their minds. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? → 𝐋𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬: Be selective about what you consume. Your brain wasn’t designed to process infinite notifications or social feeds. Filter and focus. → 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Make decisions in clusters. Planning your week’s meals in one go is far less taxing than deciding every day. → 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Not every choice deserves endless time. Give yourself limits. Trust your instincts and move forward. One client came to me overwhelmed by decisions, from strategic career moves to daily operations. We simplified her processes, grouped her tasks, and gave her decision-making space. Within weeks, she felt clearer, more confident, and far more in control. Cognitive load isn’t something you can escape entirely, but you can manage it. By reducing the mental clutter, you create space for clarity, confidence, and focus. If this clicks with you, I’d be delighted to share more insights into the psychology of decision-making with your team! Let’s get talking! #decisionmaking #team #mentalhealth #career #psychology #personaldevelopment

I got a faster treadmill. Last Friday I hit a wall mid-afternoon: generating output, skimming AI responses, missing errors I'd have caught an hour earlier. My RAM was full. I closed the laptop and went for a run. Turns out there's a name for it: AI brain fry. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, MD and team at BCG define it as "acute cognitive overload from marshaling oversight beyond capacity." It's not burnout, I'm actually pretty excited about the potential–but it can take me past my limits. 14% of US workers are already experiencing brain fry. They're the heaviest users of AI, and they're 39% more likely to be thinking about quitting. The types of people Cisco research says are 40% more likely to be "critical to retain." Want to make it worse? They're also 39% more likely to be making major errors: not typos, but customer-facing, safety-critical and outcome-altering mistakes. As Melissa Painter put it: "We designed a workday that's too busy, our tech enabled it, and now we're adding more tech and wondering why people are burning out." The fix isn't resilience training. I interviewed Gabriella and Melissa, and here's what I heard: 🔹 Cap the agent load. Adverse effects start at three simultaneous AI agents. Map your team's oversight load before adding more. 🔹 Make managers AI coaches. Workers whose managers actively engage with their team about how and where to use AI experience 15% lower fatigue. Going it alone adds a measurable "AI orphan tax." 🔹 Shift the adoption metric. Move from individual usage rates to team-level integration. When one "builder" embeds AI into shared workflows, the whole team benefits, without everyone bearing the overhead. Huge bonus: reducing toil is the one place where burnout goes down—for everyone! 🔹 Model taking breaks. Past Slack research showed that only 38% of people take breaks during the day. If leaders don't role model stepping away from devices to recover, that won't change. As Gabriella told me: "Being there to help humanize the experience of work, to help make it feel like a collective effort — that's what managers should be doing right now." 👉 Read on, my latest linked in comments! [Special added bonus: insights from Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s Julie Bedard's interview with Casey Newton & Kevin Roose on Hard Fork!] Are you feeling the faster treadmill?

Many teams tell me they’re overwhelmed. For some, it’s true: there’s simply too much to do. But for many others, the overwhelm is not the result of volume. It’s driven by the fact that too much of their brainpower is going to the wrong things. In the 1980s, Peter Kraljic created a simple 2×2 to help companies decide which suppliers were truly strategic and which just needed efficient management. It gave leaders a clearer way to focus. Inspired by that thinking, I built a version for teams. It has two dimensions: (1) Value Creation. Does this meaningfully move results? (2) Cognitive Load. How much mental energy does this consume? Those questions, of course, are not perfectly precise. But, I've found, they’re clear enough to start a different conversation. When teams plot their actual work on this matrix, here’s what shows up: - The standing meetings - The Slack threads - The AI pilots - The reporting deck - The “quick” requests - The big strategic initiative And four patterns emerge. A. Impact Multipliers: The automation that saves five hours a week. The clear decision rule that eliminates three meetings. The AI tool that drafts the first version in seconds. These create disproportionate return. Scale them. B. Strategic Bets: The new direction. The capability shift. Embedding AI into real workflows. Hard and worthy. Protect these from distraction. C. Energy Drains: The meeting no one owns but everyone attends. The manual process everyone complains about. The project that lingers because stopping feels harder than continuing. This is where burnout happens. D. Hygiene Work: Admin. Formatting. Status updates. If AI can take it, let it. In my experience, this framework helps because teams rarely choose their cognitive load: It accumulates. One request, one meeting, one workaround at a time. When you map the work visually, you see how much energy is leaking, and how little is going to multipliers. You clearly see that “busy” and “valuable” are not the same thing. High-performing teams are busy, yes. But they are ruthless about where their brains go. And they spell out clear and shared ways of working to ensure that happens. #teams #collaboration #focus #effectiveness #leadership #learning

Regulating your nervous system is a career builder. Our brains were originally wired for survival. When we perceive a threat, our cave-person amygdala activates a fight or flight response. This mechanism evolved to keep us alive, not to help us reason through a tough meeting. In modern work environments, critical feedback or public disagreement can be misinterpreted as a threat to status or safety. Once that alarm is triggered, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for reasoning and self-regulation, goes partially offline. The result is an emotional reaction that can feel disproportionate to the “real” situation. Withdrawing under pressure is a natural instinct. When the nervous system is flooded, shutting down can feel like a safe option. However, in an important meeting or decision, withdrawal can create more problems. It can erode trust and leave conflicts unresolved. Over time, repeated cycles of this can create feelings of chronic stress. “I don’t want to go to this meeting.” Managing reactions to feedback and conflict is about regulating your nervous system in the moment. One effective strategy is to pause before responding. Even a slow breath can reduce physiological arousal enough for the prefrontal cortex. “You got this.” Another is cognitive reframing: consciously labeling feedback as information, not a verdict. Asking a clarifying question, such as “What would good look like here?”, can shift the interaction from threat to joint solving. Staying engaged during the heat is a learned skill. Over time, practicing staying calm and engaged can retrain the brain to handle workplace friction. The goal is not to eliminate all emotional reactions, but to respond more deliberately, especially when the instinct to withdraw feels strong.

Stress is not just “in your head.” It can literally change your brain. Read that again. When stress becomes constant, your brain starts to adapt for survival — not for growth. Memory weakens. Focus drops. Emotional reactions increase. Decision-making becomes slower. And the scary part? Most founders and executives wear stress like a badge of honor. But here’s the truth: Chronic stress shrinks clarity. It amplifies fear. It silently steals performance. Short-term pressure can sharpen you. Long-term stress damages you. If you are: ■ Snapping easily ■ Forgetting things more often ■ Struggling to focus ■ Feeling mentally exhausted even after sleep Your brain is asking for help. Stress management is not a luxury. It is a leadership responsibility. Here are 5 simple resets I teach high-performing leaders: 1. Controlled breathing (4-4-6 method) 2. Digital sunset (no screens 1 hour before bed) 3. Daily 20-minute movement 4. Weekly “no decision” block 5. Honest conversations instead of silent pressure Your brain is your greatest asset. Protect it. If you’re a founder or executive feeling stretched thin, send me a DM. Let’s build calm strength. Not silent burnout.

"War-Life Balance , Week 3" I wrote about this last week. I didn't think I'd need to write it again. Three weeks now. Sirens at 2am. Running to shelters mid-meeting. Endless nights watching the news instead of sleeping. Watching my team do it night after night. War-life balance isn't a concept from a leadership book. It's what happens when your calendar has a board call at 9am and a rocket alert at 9:03. And yet — deadlines don't know there's a war. Clients don't pause. The business keeps moving. So how do you actually keep a team together when the world outside feels like it's falling apart? Here's what I've learned (the hard way): 1. Empathy first. Everything else second. Not as a tactic. As a starting point. Before any agenda, before any update — ask how they are. Really ask. Then actually listen. 2. Ruthless focus on what truly matters. In chaos, everything feels urgent. Almost nothing is. Strip the to-do list to the core. Give your team clarity when the world isn't giving them any. 3. Flexibility isn't a perk right now. It's survival. Don't count hours. Count outcomes. If someone needs to disappear at noon because their kid needs them - that's the right call. 4. Patience. More than feels natural. Cognitive load during crisis is real. People are slower, more distracted, less creative. That's not weakness. That's human. Adjust your expectations - and say that out loud. 5. Words matter. Actions matter more. We've been sending food deliveries. Surprise packages to the door. Supporting team members who needed to get their families out of the country for a few days. Small gestures that say: we see you, and you're not alone in this. War-life balance isn't about finding perfect equilibrium. It's about leading with enough humanity that your people can keep going - even when you're all running on empty. Week 3. Still standing. Still building.