To make it to the C-suite, it helps to be driven and strive for excellence. But when leaders feel they must keep up a perfect façade and not let on that they’re struggling, their mental health can suffer. Sunil Deshmukh, global chair-elect and global board member of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), has seen this happen to many leaders he works with as an executive coach.
Deshmukh spoke with CFO Brew about executive loneliness at the IMA 24 Americas Accounting and Finance Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Below are his thoughts on the causes of such loneliness and what CFOs and other leaders can do about it.
The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What are some psychological or mental health challenges you see C-suite leaders struggling with?
The big one which I personally come across…is called executive loneliness. I personally feel this is a very neglected area in the C-suite across the world. Basically, C-suite executives are under immense pressure to excel. They have few avenues to vent out their emotions or frustrations…and this can cause them to be isolated. There’s fear of failure, there’s a fear of peer pressure, there’s a fear of frustration. And this can take them toward anxiety, depression, and other psychological dysfunctions.
If a leader feels like they are struggling with executive loneliness, what are some avenues they can take?
Someone who is struggling or going through executive loneliness…needs to accept that there is a problem. If you do not accept that there is a problem, then there’s a big problem. So accepting that problem is the first thing. I would say what they need to do is start talking to someone who they can trust—it could be a spouse, it could be a brother, sister, friends.
News built for finance pros
CFO Brew helps finance pros navigate their roles with insights into risk management, compliance, and strategy through our newsletter, virtual events, and digital guides.
The more you keep it inside you, the more it multiplies.
It’s very important that they accept vulnerability as a strength and not as a weakness. And ask for help…and obviously very important is if you think your problem is a serious problem, go to an expert.
Very important is how to identify that you have a problem…check your habits. Is there a change in your sleeping pattern? Is there a change in your food habits? Are you frustrated most of the time? Are you shouting at your children when you go home? These are the symptoms which will tell an executive in the C-suite that there are some issues.
Are there other important things to know about executive loneliness?
One thing I want to [talk about] is what happens when someone is going through executive loneliness. I call it a smiling depression…I know I’m going through a problem but I don’t want to show the world that I’m going through a problem. So I [put an] artificial smile on my face. That’s dangerous. My request to the audience who reads this: Please don’t fake it to make it.
Unfortunately, in the corporate world, psychological safety and psychological capital [are] the big terms, but they’re used for general employees, not for the C-suite. CEOs, CFOs, and C-suite [members]—they’re also human beings; they’re not superhumans. They should be seen as human beings, and respected.