Stop Managing Stress, Start Building Bonds

Reader,

If you could design your perfect ordinary Tuesday...

What are three feelings you are having?
What's your primary focus?
Who are you surrounding yourself with?
What's your impact?
How would you describe the day in great detail?

This is a meaningful reflection exercise to ground you and pull you from what might provoke stress this week.

Because here’s the reality:

7 out of 10 people are currently living in a chronic state of stress.

This was shared by Dr. Aditi Neurukar, a physician at Harvard Medical School and author of The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience.

7 out of 10 is staggering.

I used to be one of them.

Stuck in perpetual fight mode, toggling between autopilot on my best days and exhaustingly spinning on the hamster wheel to nowhere on the roughest days.

Your goals, dreams, best self, and ability to be patient and nonreactive…it all gets forgotten and put on the back burner when we are under chronic stress.

We try to brush it off. "It’s just the way it is."

According to The Workforce Institute at UKG, work is the #1 cause of life stress for most people - and your manager has as much impact on your mental health as your spouse. [WTF]

If you are a manager or a leader…

If you are someone who is being managed…

A rethink is required.

It’s vital to transform toxic workplaces into thriving communities where genuine connection fuels both personal growth and organizational success.

It starts with building self-awareness of yourself. Then,

Ask for what you need.
Ask for what you want for yourself and from others.
Bring understanding to: How I work best. How do I work best for you.

When you understand others better - their strengths, weaknesses, capabilities and capacities:

You become more understanding.

You are more patient.

You feel more connected to yourself and others.

And when you do…

The organization works better.

Leaders often say: "Why don’t they just do their jobs?"

I also hear from leaders that their CEOs don’t fully understand them or the work required.

A void that runs both ways.

How do we move from a culture of chronic stress to one of support, collaboration, and trust?

Leadership coach Dan Sullivan offers a powerful framework in his book Who Do You Want to Be a Hero To?

Instead of simply managing people, he urges leaders to ask: Who do I want to be a hero to? It’s a question that reframes leadership from a transactional role to one of service, impact, and purpose.

Imagine if every boss turned to their direct reports and asked, “How can I be a hero to you?”

What if you asked your team members to ask you the same in return?

There would be understanding in both directions.

Suddenly, work wouldn’t feel like a relentless uphill climb. It would feel like a place where people genuinely care about each other’s success and well-being.

Sometimes, being a hero is as simple as listening without judgment, offering support in tough moments, or clearing roadblocks so someone else can thrive.

If you’re a leader, ask your team: “What’s one thing I could do that would make your work and life easier?”

If you’re an team member, ask your boss: “What’s one way I can support you in leading us better?”

Work doesn’t have to be the leading cause of stress in our lives. It can be a place of inspiration, collaboration, and—heroism.

Who do you want to be a hero to?

For Success Sake!
__________________________

Ways to work with me…

Organizational Development

At The Kite, we work with teams to integrate Awareness and Imagination across the organization. This is where leadership development and organizational planning converge. This Convergence Model accelerates engagement, trust, performance, and growth across the organization. Leaders and teams grow not in isolation but as a unified force tackling extraordinary challenges and opportunities. It's an inside-out approach where Leaders and Teams rise together.

Keynotes & Workshops

Setting and Achieving Impossible Goals: Leaders learn to dream bigger and systematically reverse-engineer their path to extraordinary achievements, turning ambitious visions into actionable plans.
Building A 10X mindset: What it is? What it is not? Building an action plan where 20% of effort impacts 80% of results.

1:1 Possibilities Coaching

Your thought partner. Your co-pilot to success. A place to explore outrageous success, allow new possibilities, and create a plan from your desired future.

EMAIL me back, and I’ll take you through the success roadmaps.