HBR Guide to Better Mental Health at Work (HBR Guide Series)

CHAPTER 14

Being Anxious When You’re the Boss

by Morra Aarons-Mele

Anxiety has a purpose. It protects us from harm. Psychologist Rollo May first wrote in 1977: “We are no longer prey to tigers and mastodons but to damage to our self-esteem, ostracism by our group, or the threat of losing out in the competitive struggle. The form of anxiety has changed, but the experience remains relatively the same.” In other words, even though humans today aren’t chased by predators, we are chased by uncertainty about the health of our loved ones, whether we’ll have a job next week or next year, whether our company will go bankrupt—worries that provoke the same neurological and physical responses.

The good news for those of us who have managed anxiety for a ...