Depression is a signal of change necessary for adaptation, as explained by Mas and Garcia-Rivera (2012). The examples of adaptation of big bosses after a burn-out open up avenues for the adoption of new behaviors and organizational models.
This article only aims to sketch some ideas on the development and success of leaders by analyzing the processes that led them to be victims of burnout and subject to severe processes of change and adaptation. Let us cite, for example, Christian Streiff (former Chairman of the Board of PSA), Arianna Huffington (CEO of the Huffington Post), Guy Birenbauhm (publisher, journalist, etc.). In general, the stress, the depressive states of the bosses remain a taboo subject probably due to the injunctions of society. This does not prevent some from testifying to it. This can also be part of their new learning including sharing and transmission.
What have these big bosses learned?
- " Life is beautiful " becomes Christian Streiff's daily mantra. After a stroke and a burn-out, he operates a complete rebalancing between the satisfaction of a personal ambition and his professional role and putting his time at the service of the company; also he experiences being in the present and less in self-representations.
- " another look at his profession " says journalist Guy Birenbauhm, a transformation that leads him to take a step back from the media buzz, immediacy, permanent connection,
- " from hyperactivity to slow life ", Arianna Huffington has transformed herself and her business by taking into account human capital and well-being.
The crises suffered were moments of profound transformation. They had to go as far as burnout to achieve these. What maintained a refusal to see certain symptoms until complete exhaustion? What are the opportunities in terms of education or reading signals to reinvent oneself before the chaos of psychological and physical collapse? How to link these changes, or better, any personal changes, to collective transformations or organizational change.
Let us note, from now on, that one of the common features of these transformations is the taking of freedom in relation to the injunctions received in terms of self-image, these injunctions being issued either by ourselves (the construction of our own reality), or by others or by our submission to society. It is this rediscovered freedom that allowed them to reinvent themselves. This constitutes a first line of thought: freeing oneself from representations.
Take the case of Christian Streiff. He has a brilliant track record in the industry. He becomes Chairman of the Board of PSA. However, it doesn't go exactly as planned. "At PSA, unlike previous jobs, I no longer completely dominated the situation" (ref 3. Article from Le Monde).
His (over-)activity, the way he has (not) managed his stress lead him first to a stroke, then to an exhaustion from which he will take 3 years to recover.
“Every leader carries within him the desire never to submit, to want to overcome the obstacle.” This insubordination to the event was a driving force that enabled him to succeed in the companies in which he invested. Not to undergo, to dominate the event or the obstacles, this will to control, to reduce uncertainty by its own strength (“I must invest myself even more for …”) until seeking to dominate the own physical manifestations and emotions becomes an ineffective solution, which ends up aggravating the problems, going as far as, paradoxically, the loss of control.
The construction he has made of his role and of how to assume it implies that he refuses to see the signs and adds control to control until he loses control.
After phases of resistance to stress, then depression, he enters a phase of overcompensation. "It hit me," says Christian Streiff, having been blinded by the construction of his own reality and deaf to the bodily and emotional signals received. His wife corrects “for me, it was not a huge surprise. He had done a crazy job, and so much accumulated stress… ”. She adds “at the time, I was scared, of course. But at the same time, I was relieved. I said to myself: that's it, they stopped the horse at a gallop, we'll be able to take care of it”. This corresponds to the overcompensation phase described by Mas and Garcia-Rivera (2012). They tell us: "we can say that overcompensation is a real headlong rush, the drift towards a loss of hindsight". At this stage "people are really going into the wall", their attempts at solutions aim to find an ultra-solution to change without changing, "how to hold on" even more and always more? Of course, he can only remain deaf to his entourage asking him to slow down, to take a step back. At this stage, unless a subtle intervention is developed (Mas and Garcia-Rivera, 2012) it will be difficult to stop, as the illusion that everything is possible for it is anchored. On the other hand, at the “chaotic bifurcation point” (see the curve below), there is a sudden depressurization which leads to an abrupt change, “with a quest for a new order or emergent adaptive properties”.
Today, Christian Streiff's adapted construction is expressed through his new mantra of “life is beautiful”!
The model “I am infallible” or “I must be infallible” was also that of Ariana Huffington. It collapsed in 2007.
“The price that our vision of success makes us pay is far too high and, in the long term, it is not sustainable. Our conception of success, which puts us on the ground, not to say in our grave, was invented by men. But it doesn't work. “, she explained in May 2014 (ref. 4 article Le Figaro Madame). “I worked eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, to develop my business. (...) According to the current definition, I had succeeded. But in reality, that was not true. If you come to the point of collapsing, what does that mean? »
Like Christian Streiff, she remained prisoner of the injunctions on the success that she gave herself or that she received and accepted from society. She wanted to control everything before losing control by collapsing.
It also clearly posits the notion of success. To try to answer his question: 'this collapse what does it mean?' Let's take another perspective on the notions of success. From our interactions we seek to satisfy two types of relationships (see R. Dilts ref. 2):
- one being our contribution to something bigger than ourselves (Bateson was talking about the 'larger mind'),
- the other being our relationship with our personal ambition, for us, for the satisfaction of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.
A common feature between the different examples is that the action of these leaders nourished the satisfaction of the second type of relationship. There was no or no more balance between the aspect of contributing to society, to our environment and the aspect of building one's career, one's success or the success of one's organization. The way out of the crisis by freeing oneself from injunctions will allow a new, more virtuous balance between these two poles. It is the separation between the two that is the problem; the integration of the poles, the search for a new balance is one of the results of the transformation.
For A. Hufftinton or C. Streiff, it is not a question of rejecting the professional world, or any ambition. But to reinvest in another type of relationship, of contribution to the world. Thus, for Christian Streiff his “life could not be limited to the discovery of the planet and the friends it bears. and “I would have to find a role among men again”. So he made the decision to "no longer give everything to a company" and to build a life "without urgency, without adrenaline, without the need to make an immediate decision, big or small, that would have reassured me on my importance”. Thus he is no longer a providential man on whom everything rests, but a professional in the service of a few large boards of directors.
The real choice is not between health and profession, but to put a (legitimate) ambition at the service of something that contributes to others, or to something greater than oneself. Similarly, Arianna Huffington has changed her conception of a successful professional life. "I thought about my priorities, this led me to what I call the "third metric", the 3rd criterion of success, beyond money and power. It incorporates the notion of well-being and the pleasure of giving back. She transformed her company in tune with her own inner transformation like a lab: "We tried to change the culture of the company by making employees understand that it was better to know how to recharge their batteries rather than to show up while being exhausted. ." Thus his new vision, his contribution to the world concerns the balance between personal life/development of well-being and professional life.
“What this stroke gave me was freedom”
Both, in extreme control to respond to the injunctions of society and their personal ambition, give themselves freedom, much more flexibility in their relationship to others and to the world by balancing their vision of their contribution to the world with their personal ambition and being. in the acceptance of uncertainty and the unwillingness to control everything. “What I learned during these four years is this: I don't know what will happen to me, assures Christian Streiff. That's what this stroke gave me, which first robbed me of everything I had built professionally. He almost took my family away from me, almost destroyed my head. But he allowed me to build another one. What he gave me, by taking all these aspects of myself, is freedom”.
As a provisional conclusion on the subject, we propose a few principles:
- Maintaining a good regulation rather than controlling, makes it possible to lead firmly without risk. The denial of signals (physical and emotional) of stress and the relationship to control ("Too much control leads to loss of control") have common traits that maintain and fuel the march towards burnout and put long-term development at risk. .
- Include in leadership education and development:
- The way to free oneself from mental constructs and social injunctions, particularly on the role of leader, the one who must be the fighter.
- How to take advantage of time for yourself and the consideration of emotions.
- Become an authentic and sustainable leader as a priority. The work to align motivation, vision of one's own contribution and ambition - for the organization and for oneself, must be a priority for the leader. What follows follows from this alignment: to build a market, an organization and the path of one's own personal development.
You can get information from the authors for setting up workshops on these themes.
References :
- Ref 1: MAS, Sylvie, GARCIA-RIVERA, Teresa, Depression, A signal of change necessary for adaptation, Hypnosis and Short Therapy, n 27, 2012.
- Ref 2: DILTS, Robert, NLPU Master Trainer, Consultancy, Facilitator, Transformational Entrepreneur Certification, 2011;
- Ref 3: Article from the world http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2013/02/07/christian-streiff-la-vie-d-apres_1828547_3234.html#gs3ocfBcFJTwLUzZ.99
- Ref 4: Article Le Figaro Madame http://madame.lefigaro.fr/societe/ces-patrons-infaillibles-qui-se-sont-reinventes-apres-un-accident-de-sante-070715-97363
- Ref 5: Terrafemina article http://www.terrafemina.com/article/arianna-huffington-comment-elle-a-reussi-a-surmonter-son-burn-out_a275797/1
