Leadership in Action: In Focus—Managing Stress—Surviving the Pressure Cooker

CARRY THE LOAD

The problems associated with stress arise when the demands put on leaders outweigh the resources and coping strategies that leaders have available to meet those demands. Use a bridge as an analogy. One way to ensure that a bridge doesn't collapse is to reduce the load placed on it. Another strategy is to build the bridge out of stronger materials or to add supporting structures, or to do both. After all, a bridge can carry much heavier loads if engineers support it at several points along its length rather than simply anchoring it at its ends.

The problems associated with stress arise when the demands put on leaders outweigh the resources and coping strategies that leaders have available to meet those demands.

Unlike an engineer ...