Stop exporting stress and build a workplace people enjoy

The most dangerous people in a company are stressed leaders.

I say that with full self-awareness. I’ve worked for a few and came uncomfortably close to becoming one myself.

I’ve always had an impulsive temperament. On good days, it made me decisive. On bad days, reactive. Add long hours and the pressure of scaling a startup, and my emotional state began to spill onto the team.

Focusing on mental health, rest, and mindfulness fundamentally changed how I build my company and how I see my role today.

I’m still a CEO, but I’ve also become something else—the “chief energy officer.”

What follows is everything I wish I’d known earlier about leading with emotional regulation and grounded energy.

WHY EVERY CEO MUST ALSO BE A “CHIEF ENERGY OFFICER”

We must stop seeing ourselves only through an operational lens. Gantt charts and product roadmaps matter, but not if you walk into a room as an emotional thunderstorm.

Once you understand that, you start to see the full scope of the CEO role, including taking responsibility for the emotional climate of our workplace.

The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 69% of employees feel their manager impacts their mental health as much as their spouses.

Stress spreads in a domino effect, and the leader is the domino that knocks all the others over.

Domino 1: Stressed leader. Research in organizational psychology shows that under stress, leaders are rated as less inspiring, less supportive, and less able to provide intellectual stimulation.
Domino 2: Psychological safety. Teams sense tension and stop bringing ideas, feedback, or early warnings. They don’t want to add to your load or trigger a reaction.
Domino 3: Innovation and creativity. Managing your emotional state drains the resources your team needs to experiment.

Domino 4: Proactivity. When employees don’t feel safe, they avoid ownership and only wait for direction.

HOW I LEARNED TO LEAD WITHOUT BRINGING STRESS WITH ME

Culture is shaped by what leaders practice, not what they preach. Small, daily actions help you stay regulated and create a team environment that feels safe and energized. These habits made the biggest difference for me, specifically the Mind → Heart → Body method.

I rely on this three-pillar system, which I call the “religion of awakening,” to reset before and after stressful moments.

1. Mind → Notice the tension

I pause and look for micro-signals of stress: a tight jaw, shallow breathing, a sudden urge to move faster without any real reason.

2. Heart → Understand the emotion behind it

I ask:

What am I actually feeling—irritation, fear, fatigue?
What is this reaction trying to tell me?
Is this about the situation or about me?

3. Body → Move to reset your state

Our nervous systems respond to movement faster than they respond to logic. A 10-minute walk or a few stretches can pull me out of fight-or-flight mode.

DEVELOP MICRO-HABITS TO RESET YOUR ENERGY

Micro-habits are simple, require no major cultural shifts, and have an almost immediate impact. These three have been a game-changer for me.

1. Set aside time to pause throughout the day

Start meetings with one minute of breathing or quiet reflection. It helps everyone disconnect from whatever they were doing before and step into the conversation with a clear mind.
Take regular two-minute reset pauses to notice your breath or posture. This calms your nervous system and prevents stress from building throughout the day.
Pick one time block a day to step back from multitasking. Constant context switching keeps you in a low-level state of stress.
Close your laptop for 30 seconds between tasks to reset your focus.

2. Set an energy baseline for the week

Every Monday, I map out my energy like my schedule. This helps me spot red flags before they become stress triggers and make space for recovery.

What’s likely to drain me this week?
Which meetings require my best energy, and which ones can be lighter?
Where do I need to build in recovery time?

3. Model healthy urgency

Every Monday I label tasks by priority: what needs attention today, what must happen this week, and optional things that can easily roll into next week.

This simple system forces me to prioritize intentionally instead of throwing everything into one “important” bucket. For the team, it removes unnecessary pressure and gives them the mental space to concentrate on what actually matters.

WHAT A PEOPLE- AND ENERGY-FIRST WORKPLACE CAN LOOK LIKE

When something helps me show up better, I bring it into the organization so everyone can benefit. As a CEO, I try to model the energy I want my team to feel. I lead Pilates sessions, share mindfulness tools and meditation techniques, and talk openly about moments when I need to reset.

But to make well-being work at scale, we’ve also built structure around it. We rely on the same methods that underpin our BetterMe Business solution, a platform that supports practical wellness habits in the workplace, to make things like emotional training, mindful breaks, and movement part of our day-to-day routines. Here’s how that looks for our team:

Office spaces for movement, like walking paths for meetings
Training access, with in-office and online options
Running clubs, tennis meetups, and outdoor activities instead of bar events for team-building
Regular check-ins that create space for feedback and honest dialogue
Access to a corporate wellness platform that provides stress management tools

I believe that the future of work isn’t about squeezing more out of people. It’s about taking care of the energy that keeps them going.

Victoria Repa is the CEO and founder of BetterMe.

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91475101/stop-exporting-stress-and-build-a-workplace-people-enjoy