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Mental health days exist for a reason.
- Christine Alemany is the CEO at TBGA, a brand and marketing firm.
- She always took pride in her dedication to her marketing business, working long hours and valuing her clients above all else.
- But when her parents hit different stages of Alzheimer's, she became their caregiver - and found herself having to open up to clients and employees about what she was going through.
- Doing so strengthened her relationships with the people she worked with and allowed her to better serve them - and to set more realistic expectations for herself.
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As the cofounder and chief executive officer of TBGA, I've always taken pride in my dedication to my marketing business. It was my priority - the thing I worried about at night and woke up thinking about in the morning. For years, I valued my clients above all else, and I expected my employees to do the same.
Courtesy of Christine Alemany
Christine Alemany.
But when my parents hit different stages of Alzheimer's disease, I became their caregiver and had to quickly shift my priorities. They needed a lot of attention, and it was clear they could no longer live independently. Meanwhile, I was trying to keep my usual work schedule without letting my personal struggles get in the way. In fact, my largest client had no idea what I was going through.
If you stay bottled up, you're eventually going to burst
One day, as I was with my parents to make arrangements for getting their furniture moved, a client called in the middle of lunch to iron out a few nit-picky details to finalize the launch of a new business line. I had nailed down all of the details, but the client had minor last-minute tweaks.
This was when I finally broke - I had been trying to give 100% to everyone, and I had nothing left.
I suddenly realized how work-focused I had been. I was obsessed with achieving outcomes to the extent that the thought of letting clients down was terrifying. There was no physical way I could take care of my parents and keep up the level of attention that my clients and employees had become accustomed to.
3 ways to replace transactional leadership with personal leadership
Previously, all my communication with clients and employees focused strictly on projects and results. But suddenly I realized that it was OK to have personal conversations with people in the workspace. Here's how you can do the same: