Almost 85% of the CEO’s we have met admitted to us that they felt lonely. Even though great and effective CEO’s surround themselves with good people and have built strong relationships, they still do feel isolated. Yet this still remains an out-of-bounds subject.
Whether your organisation is a small, a mid-sized or large one, being the boss can be an isolating experience. The job comes with lots of stress and lots of responsibilities and these more than double when times are tough. The boss always has to make real compromises between work commitments and family activities. The boss may not be the best leader nor the most effective one BUT the boss is the one who wants success and excellence the most and is prepared to make the biggest sacrifices. The boss may always be busy and in constant demand. The boss may be interacting with the team and 3rd parties all the time. This can give a false sense of being connected. Bosses have plenty of people to talk to, but few with whom they can really share. It’s that inability to share what they really feel, that can create a huge sense of isolation.
As the boss do you feel that there is upward-delegation to you?
Do you feel that you are constantly the “Chief Decision Maker”?
Do you feel that there are always things for you to do and approve, material and e-mails to read and endless work?
Do you feel that because of your position there is a distance between you – the leader and your team?
Do you feel that you are constantly taking your issues home and unburdening on your partners?
What can we do for you?
You can turn to the The CFOO Centre as your safe heaven and communications adviser. As we have a large network, have good links and interest in the views of the outside world, we are a reliable source of advice. We have an established peer group and we are the people who are most likely to understand the pressures that you come under. Because we spend so much time with leaders from different organisations and walks of life we will provide you with the best advice. You can talk to us and (in addition to 100% confidentiality) we assure you that we will ask the right questions and can help hold a mirror up, so that you can start to see for yourself how you are viewed and how to reconnect to your people and your organisation. We will provide you with a dependable place to think, where you can have a proper reflective conversation so that you can start to see for yourself how you are viewed. The boss is inevitably more isolated than those they lead. Accepting this as the normal state of affairs rather than trying to gloss over it can help to make the loneliness easier to bear. Being an off-limits subject and the related issues of stress and work life imbalance this topic will not come out into the open and become a socially acceptable topic very soon.
But we are here to support you!