What Every CEO Needs to Know About Mental Health

May is Men­tal Health Month — and while men­tal health is always impor­tant, this felt like the right time to bring some­thing deep­er to the sur­face. I recent­ly host­ed a webi­nar specif­i­cal­ly for CEOs and senior exec­u­tives: to talk open­ly about men­tal health, burnout, and build­ing sus­tain­able resilience.

This Affects All of Us

I’ve been there. I burned out at 24, and again dur­ing COVID, even while teach­ing this stuff. And I’ve worked with some of the most capa­ble lead­ers in the world — many of whom have qui­et­ly hit their own walls. High per­for­mance doesn’t make us immune to burnout. It often makes us more vulnerable.

Under­stand­ing the Signs

In the ses­sion, I walked through the Men­tal Health Con­tin­u­um—a tool to help you spot when you’re slid­ing from ​“thriv­ing” to ​“melt­down.” It hap­pens grad­u­al­ly, and most peo­ple don’t see it com­ing. I didn’t. But if we under­stand the signs, we can take action soon­er — and get the help we need.

Resilience Can Be Built

I believe resilience isn’t just some­thing you have—it’s some­thing you build. Through sim­ple dai­ly habits — what I call resilience rit­u­als—you can strength­en your body, clear your mind, and stay inspired. These rit­u­als are what fuel long-term lead­er­ship with­out los­ing your­self along the way.

Free Tools to Help You

I’ve made some help­ful tools available:

• YOMF Self-Assess­ment
• A free dig­i­tal work­book and audio­book copy of Your Oxy­gen Mask First
• Inter­view with CEO, Michael Wend­land shar­ing his own expe­ri­ence with men­tal health and what it took to come back

Watch the full webi­nar below:

Final Thought

I’ll leave you with this: What’s one resilience rit­u­al you need to start or bring back into your life? You can’t lead well on an emp­ty bat­tery. Take care of your­self first — not because it’s nice, but because it’s necessary.