The Health of a Leader by Szymon Janiak

The post was originally published in Polish on Szymon’s LinkedIn profile. Szymon kindly agreed to republish what we think is of great value to our readers.

In business, sick still means weak even today. It struck me recently when the CEO of a large company decided to make a kind of coming out, admitting to a long battle with an autoimmune disease. When asked why they hid it, they said that today’s leader must be impeccable.

Acknowledging will cause some people to show understanding initially, maybe even compassion, but in the long run, the sick person will lose a lot because of it. A person struggling with health problems is not an object to follow, he is not an authority that people follow.

While I might understand why someone thinks this way, this type of approach is sick. Looking at hundreds of friends over 40, surprisingly many people struggle with something, but hardly anyone in the professional environment talks about it. Such are the facts.

For me, a person who, for example, despite a serious illness is able to achieve great results in their field is inspiring. Because they have to put in much more work than someone healthy to get to a given point. They have to fight through situations or activities that others barely notice.

I put physical and mental problems on an equal footing – both can break a person. Still, people don’t give up, they fight, they act. This determination makes them achieve more.

What I also fundamentally disagree with is that in business someone’s health condition is often overlooked. How could you not come to this meeting? Why didn’t you meet the deadline? How will you be absent for 3 weeks? For someone in good health, this may be unthinkable. However, when you consider that someone, due to a recurrence of an immune disease, cannot get out of bed because of pain and it happened overnight – the meeting drops in priorities. A long absence may be necessary to return to strength, the person’s certain norm.

However, if we are afraid to talk about such things, nothing will change. We are not robots. Many people begin to face certain health challenges as they age. Let’s not pretend that all is well. Of course, it’s not about suddenly shocking your whole environment with problems. The point is to adapt everyday life to your capabilities.

Almost any situation can be managed if you know and understand it. Hiding the topic under the carpet because of shame, fear of judgment or consequences should have long been a thing of the past.

The comment section was quite eager to share some experiences and opinions:

But is it necessary to speak? Seriously, I don’t feel the need to pull out my private life to show… that I’m awesome at my illness.

Apparently, you have to separate the ‘scene’ from the ‘backstage.’ And I like my privacy.

– Rafał Skarżyński, Co-Owner and Head of Strategy at DO IT crew sp. z o.o.

As long as business is based only on economic cannibalism and financial profit in itself, it will not be good because it dehumanizes. I am physically challenged myself and what I used to be able to do physically at 60% power, today requires 150% power, painkillers, and 3x as much time. Still, I’m creating a social economy startup to the best of my current ability, which isn’t easy with a severity of recurrence of symptoms that most people would bedridden.

– Piotr Kędziora, Founder at Optymalista

For as long as I can remember, the saying has always been the same. ‘But will you get this report?’ Ok cool, I can’t walk, but Excel doesn’t require feet, only finger, and not even all 10, so I can deliver. ‘Leaders’ don’t want to have problems, everything must work like clockwork.

– Piotr Ziółek, Accountant Analyst at Cargill

Three years ago I was fighting for my life as a result of a medical error. It was a time where almost all private doctors refused me because they said directly that they saw no chance of survival, I was just unlucky.

I persisted and won the war for my life. The symptoms subsided gradually, and once I got back into the workforce, I had to deal with it, and I coped. But there were conversations where I wanted to shout ‘what is this question, of course I can handle it, if I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be here, and I don’t mean the office.’

The patch does its job, but those who are in managing positions – and have undergone or are going through all kinds of troublesome diseases – know what a huge strength is associated with it – not weakness. Strength is not judged by appearance or anything that can be seen on the outside.

– Marzena Pawelec, Founder and Business Consultant at Blask Consulting

In practice, there is often no one to replace you. Imagine a situation where a startup runs out of money and is just closing the investment round, the company’s CEO falls ill and will not be able to ‘deliver’ this round on time – a tragic situation for all parties. 

There are plenty of such situations in the life of a CEO, especially in a startup, and it is often very destructive for the person running the company. Today’s technology, fortunately, helps to run a company from anywhere, even from a hospital bed. I’ve heard of situations where the CEO had to be in touch from his wife’s delivery room. I, for example, also took part in an online conference with a severe fever. Working on vacation, during illness, during important family events is a standard for such companies. The question is whether it is possible to change this form? In startups, probably not. This is often due to the provisions of the investment agreement as well as the Company Code, where the appointed chairperson is not entitled to ‘sickness’ or any leave.

– Paulina Sołtysiak, Founder and CEO at Higgsone

You probably also notice that especially here on LinkedIn, where the community vividly observes your every step, but also often in live conversations, we don’t share weaknesses, we do not share mistakes, because it will weaken our image. 

However, once you say something on a ‘forum,’ you share. First, a huge burden comes off of your shoulders, and second, people will often come up and thank you, because they are going through the same thing! And your coming out was refreshing!

– Waldemar Wiśniewski, Founder at DUEXSO

Indeed, here in Poland, the subject of indisposition, illness is often swept under the rug. There are situations where the disease excludes availability, which is required in the modern world, such as frequent, long flights, work for 10+ hours a day. Time is money and we will not change that.

But fear also exaggerates things, whereas in real life, by getting to know the life of a person, you can learn to live with their limitations, if you want. Often, people don’t want to. Maybe this is due to fear, but also from overstimulation in the style of ‘I have so much on my shoulders as it is.’

I worked for over a year with people with disabilities,moderate and severe, and some of them needed so much attention and adjustments from the employer that it was difficult for me to imagine that someone would hire them, because they would have to delegate an employee to care. But I also know cases of people with disabilities who are independent, who study and work – or not, because nobody wants to employ them. We lump everyone together, and as usual, it depends on who we are dealing with. It takes some time and attention to recognize this. And in the case of important people we do it, in the case of less important ones, we often let go. Such a life.

– Ewa Waszkiewicz, Psychologist and Consultant at Pracownia Waszkiewicz

It’s all a matter of normalization, which is a process. Just as treating depression with understanding won’t happen overnight, neither will it with other illnesses. I think that here there is also the issue of individual consciousness – there are no perfect people, and the image imposed on leaders is only a source of frustration and unfulfilled expectations (of those who have leaders over them).

Facing reality without idealization is not an easy task, especially when we live in a time when the marketing strategies of the capitalist market exploit the fears (of course, the unconscious ones) of people building their value based on not what they should. People try to have control over life, over relationships, and in fact the only thing that is certain is change.

Similarly with the topic that you bring up – you can have a ‘beautiful life,’ but the disease isn’t picky, and then the question is whether it changes the value that the leader brings to the organization or only changes the prism through which they look at themselves, because suddenly they are in a crisis and the people around them cannot look at them differently. But then again – they can’t, or simply nobody showed them that it can be done differently because they are stuck in a certain thought pattern?

– Magdalena Malinowska, CEO at Malachite Minds