New era – new leadership roles – more stress?

I guess it is clear to most that we are in the middle of a new “industrial revolution” – that is we go from today’s industrial society towards the future IT society. Well, really we are already there in many ways. Today’s young people have nothing to compare with – since most of them have not experienced the “industrial society”. This transformation will request a lot of new knowledge and skills from everybody dealing with it.



Is this transition from one system to another good or bad from a health perspective? Neither – nor – health doesn’t care what we call the society out there.

Stone age, bronze age, renaissance, agricultural, industrial or IT or whatever – it doesn’t matter for body and soul – as long as they get their basic needs satisfied. Biology changes endlessly much slower than society changes. Society changes are extremely fast for the moment. Really biology haven’t changed since man evolved hundreds of thousands years ago. Our bodies and minds basic needs are the same now as they were then.

Regular sleep, food and physical activity for the body and psychological and physical closeness (be seen and touched) for the mind. That is what is needed to keep us feel well and be sane. What does that mean in reality? We should take care of our bodies and souls as we always have done (or should have done).

Stress is, said in a simple way, the physiological process within the body that gives increased levels of stress hormones when outside pressure and our internal needs does not go in line. It is not about the number of things we do but about our feelings about it. This in return may cause concentration difficulty, memory difficulties, headache, stomach ache and in the long run it may cause risk for organic disease like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even death. To avoid this progress we need periods of rejuvenation and taking good care of body and mind.

Getting back to the initial question – does leadership in this new digitalized era create more stress? We know that changes in workplaces generally create new difficulties that we, at least initially, perceive as more stressful. In this situation it is even more important, according to the discussion above, to get frequent time for rejuvenation AND taking good care of the body between the peaks of stress.

To summarize it is “back to basics” that is to be applied – and it is even more important the more stressful your situation is. Regular sleep, regular food (and nutritious) and regular physical activity is the basis in good rejuvenation and in good health.

That is how easy …… and how hard ….it is!

What is your experience of system change? As leader or as personnel? Do you have a good rejuvenation tip? Please share your knowledge or questions in the comment field below.

In my book about stress you can read more about how all these things are connected and you will get a model to bring the best out of yourself. Click here and read more about it and get your own copy.

To your success – and keep smiling!