I watched a C-suite executive break down in our session last week.
Not from the workload or pressure. She was tough and could handle anything thrown at her. She broke down because she missed her daughter’s recital. Again. She found it hard to come up with a good excuse as to her absence. All she knew was that her daughter was the only one on stage whose parents weren’t in the audience.
Laden with guilt, this executive knew that this was the price of wanting both a career and being a parent. Despite knowing this at a mental level, her heart felt heavy, and the weight was just as heavy on her shoulders than some of the most difficult projects she’s had to lead
Here’s the thing people don’t talk about leadership: it doesn’t stay at work.
While we often try to keep our personal life private at work, your brain can’t compartmentalize the two parts of your life easily. Each side seeps into both worlds.
When you’re stressed at work, you snap at your kids over nothing. You’re impatient with your partner. Your mind is still replaying that difficult conversation at work while you’re supposedly watching a movie together on the weekend.
And when things are tense at home? You can’t focus in meetings. You avoid hard conversations because you’re already emotionally tapped out. You make reactive decisions you might regret later.
Most leadership advice treats work and life as separate problems. But your body doesn’t work that way.
You are like a two-sided coin: one side is work, the other side is home. And you take that coin wherever you go. Which is why it’s hard to compartmentalize stress. It follows you everywhere.
So here’s something to think about. Where is stress from one side of your life showing up on the other side right now?
At times, the sources of our stress can feel complicated and overwhelming to address. So what is one small shift you could make this week that will make you a better leader, colleague, or partner?