The Little Book of Big Management Questions

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago I heard a story about the chief executive of a multi-billion pound organisation who was asked by an interviewer ‘Do you suffer from stress?’ ‘No, but I’m a carrier,’ he replied.

I don’t know if the story is true or merely apocryphal. But it contains a deep truth about management. It’s not those at the top who suffer the most stress; it’s not even those at the bottom. It’s the people in the middle who endure the highest stress levels – the much-maligned middle and senior managers, who are the meat in the stress sandwich. They are the ones who have to somehow reconcile the contradictory demands of staff and the board while trying do their job, build and maintain a life outside work, and avoid strangling the next person ...