Doctor's Orders

To inoculate against CIO burnout: No CIO can suffer burnout if he awakes in the morning to clear and achievable goals. What CIOs must do is break the job down into components and appoint subheads for each department that reports to them. This does several things to remove ambiguity - and it makes the value of the work more obvious. In bureaucracies, naming and defining connotes importance. By creating a CTO who reports to you and oversees IT planning, you explain what you are overseeing. Similarly, having a head of IT operations who is there so you're not pulled from a board meeting the next time a snafu occurs lets the world know you're more than a technician. You can say: "Fenton's my guy for system breakdowns." The other thing to do is advertise how you cannot do things without departments. If you see a demand coming - that is, if a new, potential stressor is about to be put on your plate ("Say, Jacobs, my buddy at Systek is outsourcing his IT jobs offshore. Can you look into that?"), be certain to say: "We'll need a department of Offshore Employment to do that given the legal, economic and governmental issues involved. If you tell Kane in HR, I'd be glad to set that up."

To treat CIO stress: From what I know of CIOs, those currently experiencing stress most likely believe they should have more control than they actually do. This belief often comes from self-imposed pressure to legitimize their role. Many CIOs believe that if they are not Superman - if they cannot handle whatever they're asked to do - they will somehow jeopardize the status of their department. Poppycock. Lou Gerstner parachuted into IBM and gained points by saying: "Hey, I'm a brilliant manager but I don't know about computers." Roberto Goizueta (former CEO of Coke) gained respect when he said: "Hey, launching New Coke was a big disaster, my fault and I'm sorry!" Vulnerability can be a sign of strength. False bravado is a sign of childish machismo. If more CIOs asked for help, empowered their staff and got work done more efficiently, their departments would flourish. It would prove they are great leaders.

The One-Eyed Man

You may wonder: "Where's the ball-squeezing exercise for stress?" or "How about getting closer to my staff on a retreat to end burnout?" Stress and burnout do not get treated with "toys" or "quick fix" interventions; situation-specific strategies arrived at through a thorough analysis of your situation work best.

It's not just walking on eggshells that has you upset. After all, most CIOs can solve the problems they're called upon to address. What gets your goat is not being understood in time to fix those problems or, if you do, not being seen as a hero. Even if you escape the axe, you might want your career to be over rather than living with a Sword of Damocles over your head all the time. But if you tell yourself you're a one-eyed man in the land of the blind, that the blind will one day appreciate you, and that on some days you won't kill yourself to meet all the demands foisted upon you and instead you'll let the blind bump into walls and suffer contusions, you're coping. No squeeze balls, no tricks, just what Epictetus said: a different view.

Dr Steven Berglas, a psychiatrist, is an executive coach and consultant based in Los Angeles. He spent 25 years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. His most recent book is Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout