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The Big Lie

The second typical response of CEOs who believe they're burnout-proof is "Can't my hobbies suffice?" Well, do the arithmetic. You get one hour's reward for every 20 hours of drudgery. Can that be psychologically gratifying? One weekend a month on your yacht does not compensate for four weeks of waking up and not wanting to go to work.

In my experience the CEOs who fight against challenge-infusion strategies are the ones who are most likely to ultimately need clinical interventions. Often, they push harder and harder on the course that brought them their success. That's a very normal behavior -- the reason they succeeded in the first place is that when adversity got in their way, they fought it. But there are times in life when it's counterproductive to keep pushing. One of those times is when you stay too long on a particular course, ignoring other options because you believe the strategy that brought you to the top is the one that will keep you there.

The reason denying the severity of burnout is so dangerous is that so many self-destructive behaviors can follow. I've developed a summary of the symptoms that I call "The Four A's": aloneness, arrogance, adventure seeking, and adultery. If you're a successful entrepreneur, you're usually alone at the top. But when you start feeling arrogant, negative consequences are inevitable. Rather than seeking challenges or opportunities to dare the devil, you seek adventure to spit in the devil's face. That, in turn, blinds you to the need for people as supports, sounding boards, and allies. With an arrogance-fueled sense of self, committing adultery -- professionally as well as romantically -- is a relatively easy thing to do.

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You can pursue a number of strategies to prevent burnout. The five I've seen entrepreneurs use most successfully follow.

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Strategy Number One
Diversify your skills
Pablo Picasso was a great role model for those who want to use their current skills to the greatest effect. Picasso, not committing himself to one product but, rather, to the principle of cubism, would have five or six projects in different mediums going at the same time in his studio. He'd have a sculpture, he'd have an oil, he'd have sketches, he'd have a collage. And when he felt frustrated with an oil that wasn't working out as he wanted, he might go bang out his frustrations on a piece of marble. Or he might do a sketch for another project. Picasso used diversification to counter frustration and burnout.

Diversification should be sequential, building on skills you've already proved you have. Metaphorically, when you diversify you build or place your self-esteem on a tripod rather than a pillar. The diversified entrepreneur has self-esteem that's more stable, more confident, more anchored. In short, you can more readily take a hit if you have multiple sources of self-esteem.

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Strategy Number Two
Teach
In teaching, you pass your skills along to others and see them rejuvenated and expanded upon. When you teach, you get feedback that reaffirms your competence and increases your self-esteem. Best of all, you can teach both within and outside your business with close to the same result for yourself.

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Strategy Number Three
Plan your succession
Every entrepreneurial dream should include the vision of passing the business on to reinvigorate it and yourself. Succession planning is really the ultimate form of teaching within your company. By planning your succession you recognize the need to move on to your own encore performances and recognize that new blood is essential to revitalize any enterprise. To be envisioning the future as you live in the present is psychologically beneficial -- unless, of course, you're lost in fantasy as an escape from a painful reality.

As you think about the future you can cut out what you don't like to do (or feel you don't do well) and give those responsibilities to someone else. You can also identify areas of your business that don't challenge you and try to rectify that.

What you're saying when you start succession planning is this: Whom do I trust to shepherd my baby? What qualities do I want in that individual? In asking those questions, you can't help engaging in self-analysis. Consequently, you can name a successor who can offset your weaknesses while the challenges you seek can and will exploit your strengths.

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Strategy Number Four
Network
As the CEO of a profitable company, you can't help finding yourself atop a pyramid, no matter what organizational structure you have in place. You're in a rarefied zone, and you're in a restricted circle of peers. That means, among other things, that you probably lack the intellectual stimulus that's so crucial to psychological and entrepreneurial health. (Who will tell the person at the top that an idea is inane or needs major reworking?) Networking with peers in groups like Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) will ensure you'll get feedback from people who aren't intimidated by your stature. Consequently, whether your intent is to schmooze or to solve problems, you'll be challenged by divergent points of view that your position and success often block you from receiving.