Executive isolation is an ongoing challenge and one which I have not necessarily solved, more like “ongoing management”. Whether I have had 1 small start-up or 3 scaling businesses with an incredibly senior leadership team around me, I still struggle with the feeling ‘isolation’. Sure, I know to join different communities and forums and I know the signs when I need to release the pressure, but after 11 years as an entrepreneur and executive, the feeling of ‘isolation’ still hasn’t gone away.
My philosophy is to accept that while I may feel alone, I can tap into an untold amounts of communities, ask for help/guidance and also put a strategies in place which have previously worked well for me.
The three strategies which helped me;
Develop a new tribe - I refresh my advisory board every 1-2 years. I liken it to a coach, personal trainer or mentor who I outgrow over time. I learn different things from different people and it can most certainly help with the feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Work with and around others - My working conditions and who I did or did not surrounded myself with directly affected my productivity. There were times when I needed some quiet thinking times and others when I needed to be in hustle and bustle. I learnt early on which activities where perfect for which environments and tried to harness those working conditions.
Track/Document the emotions - After the first few years in business when the stakes were high and the pressures increasing, I started to document the feelings of isolation and found a pattern which I then found much easier to manage. For example, If I had less interaction with clients, customers or peers, the isolation would dis-portionately increase. Or if I had a busy weekend without much down time to reflect on the previous week, it would increase my anxiety and sense of isolation.