Comments on: Stressed Creative Tension

By: Jekyll

Jekyll — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:27:54 +0000

“Question ?
Do you believe that a hired general manager typically experiences identical stresses to an entrepreneur?”

I think so, I’ve seen it happen to many other people in positions of responsibility. Their responsibility becomes a part of their identity, and when s**t happens to that responsibility, they respond negatively. They get stressed. They panic. I even knew one executive who when his company got into legal trouble, had a nervous breakdown! They won the case and life went on, but the stress was too much for him!

By: Worsel

Worsel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:29:39 +0000

This is what I was talking about when I said that the emotional attachments that entrepreneurs form to their enterprises. It’s much more difficult to deal with that kind of stress. The business becomes another child to you and you get panicked and stressed when it gets into trouble.

By: notDewey

notDewey — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 23:45:15 +0000

My only comment is that a lot of general managers may not get this kind of attachment. It almost sounds like sliding into workoholicism and a lot of people try to keep their job at arm’s length from their identity (often because they hate their job!)

By: Pilot

Pilot — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:35:32 +0000

I like the input. Jekyll, I’ve heard similar stories about executives at companies responding like that to stress. To me, they’re kind of the oddities at their company. They are often very vital and also prone to burnout, especially in a rigid corporate environment.

Worsel, I never disagreed with you, and I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.

notDewey, I know that I had developed that attachment as a general manager, and I did become a bit of a workaholic. It happens when you have a great deal of responsibility and you want to do your job well