By Steven B. Wiley The Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg
If you are feeling stressed at this very moment, raise your hand. I’m guessing that if you are a “Type A” personality, as many leaders are, your hand — at least metaphorically — is up.
Now take a deep breath and relax because a new study published in the January issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests “One Type A Characteristic Lowers Stress.” — Read that article here.
Here’s how
Taina Hintsa and her colleagues at the University of Helsinki analyzed the relationship between Type A behavior and work stress in 752 Finnish workers. They broke Type A behavior into four areas — leadership, aggression, being “hard-driving,” and eagerness-energy.
Although these characteristics were linked to “effort-reward imbalance” — a key contributor to work stress—executives who scored high in terms of their leadership skills actually had lower work stress. And the reason seems obvious once you hear it. Researchers found that leaders have both high work effort and high work reward. They also believe that leaders have high job control and that that may help alleviate work stress.
So I encourage you to embrace your leadership skills and lower your stress level. My bet is that when you do, it’ll not only lower your own stress — but will improve the work environment for everyone in your office.
About Steven B. Wiley
Steve Wiley is an entrepreneur, author, and highly acclaimed speaker who has influenced and entertained tens of thousands of top executives from around the world. Without exception, he receives the highest ratings possible from his audiences.
His business experience includes the founding of three companies: two international franchise organizations and a national chain of fleet management centers. He has successfully negotiated multi-million dollar funding agreements for his own companies with some of the top venture capital organizations in the world. His strong leadership ability has earned him recognition in top publications including Venture magazine, USA Today, and Entrepreneur magazine.
Steve’s speaking experience includes three years as National Spokesperson for the Quaker Oats/Pritikin Longevity Centers for whom he has been featured in television commercials and advertisements in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Over the past ten years he has conducted thousands of seminars on negotiation, sales leadership and wellness for numerous public and private sector organizations.
Currently, he is the President of The Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg and the founder of the Institute’s Communicating with Executive Presence program as well as their Transformational Journey from Gettysburg leadership development experience. For more information, visit www.lincolnleadershipinstitute.com.
