The Doctor will see you now!

Today´s business environment has become highly demanding and the pressure to deliver is upon senior executives 24/7. This seems to be one of the biggest leadership challenges of this century where managing stress is crucial, especially amongst members of the C-suite. And along with the pressure to meet increasing demands due to changing global economies and political uncertainty, there is a constant need for keeping a satisfied workforce.

To sum up; CEO´s are likely to have three areas of severe stress in contrast to others; “isolation, the pain of downsizing and pace of work” (Kneale , 2009). This seems to have pushed senior executives onto a destructive path of poor health, even though corporate wellness programs are implemented. These programs often becomes a part of the problem, having the opposite effect due to increased pressure and invasion of private life. 

So, the health of the general CEO is worse than one might think, and almost 60% of CEO´s are at cardiac risk while over 80% is medically obese. Therefore, there is an indication that to become a high performing top executive individual physical and mental health needs attention, in order to keep up with the pressure.

Today´s business environment demands not only leaders, but leading “athletes”, due to the rapidly changing environment, high pace and increasing pressure to meet expectations. “Athletes” refers to being on top of the game, staying physically and mentally fit, equipped to win by having a good balance. The word “success” has become associated with pain, stress, lack of enjoyment and the pressure to perform. If nothing is done senior executive health is no longer jeopardised; it will soon have reached rock bottom.

This is why I have dedicated my life to helping others and embark on this journey, doing a Doctorate of Business Administration - focusing on improving senior executive, physical and mental, health to increase work and organisational performance, and create a better work/life balance.

by Ole Petter Anfinsen, Founder and Chief Executive

References and sources
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Berinato, S. (2016). Corporate Wellness Programs Make Us Unwell: An Interview with André Spicer. Harvard Business Review, Issue 6, 29-28.
Kneale , K. (2009). Forbes. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/16/ceo-network-management-leadership-stress.html [Accessed 29 June 2017].
Paliwal , D. (2016). Harman CEO: 5 Ways to Avoid Burnout.. Fortune, 759-759.
Pyrillis, R. (2014). Embracing Wellness: CEO to CEO.. Workforce , 93(12), 16-16.
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S. Khan, K., Kunz, R., Kleijnen, J. & Antes, G. (2003). Five steps to conducting a systematic review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96(3), 118-121.
Tutton, M. (2010). CNN. [Online] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/03/12/ceo.health.warning/index.html [Accessed 26 July 2017].