Managing just fine
A new Harvard study explodes the commonly held image of the stressed-out boss, revealing that leaders actually have lower stress levels than lower-ranking individuals, likely because they have greater control over their office lives. The study, published online in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared stress indicators, including levels of the hormone cortisol and self-reported anxiety, between groups of leaders and nonleaders. Researchers from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Decision Science Laboratory, led by Jennifer Lerner, a professor of public policy and management, conducted in-depth surveys to understand respondents’ leadership status and also collected saliva samples for hormone analysis. “The conventional wisdom is it is very stressful to be the top dog, the CEO or the military general. There are an increasing number of popular press books stemming from the idea that the top dog needs help managing stress,” Lerner said. “Our results indicate that the top dog has less...