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Here’s what happened when I revealed my mental health struggles to my employees - Fast Company
This CMO started his new job by opening up to his teams—and the response was powerful.
When I accepted a job as chief marketing officer with a new company a few months ago, I wasted no time in opening up to my employees about my struggles with anxiety and depression. The results have been tremendous.As a way of introducing myself, I’ve held “ask me anything” sessions. Most recently, I did one when I met face-to-face for the first time with my team in Brazil. It wasn’t long before they were asking me about mental health.
I shared the story of experiencing bullying as a child, and trying to bury all the trauma deep in my psyche as I got older. I explained that when I reached a career goal by becoming a chief marketing officer at age 30, I looked around and couldn’t understand why I was unhappy. From the outside, it seemed that everything should be fine. It was only then that I began to realize career success was no antidote for what I had to reckon with. So I began the work—with therapy, medication, meditation, all of it.