While success has obvious perks, it sure doesn’t exempt you from the loneliness epidemic. We idealize the hustle to the top, but there’s an unspoken struggle many company leaders grapple with when the view isn’t coupled with feelings of connection and belonging. A 2022 survey from Deloitte found a third of the c-suite feels lonely. The researchers estimate that a vast majority—70%—of executives consider quitting their jobs in part due to the feeling of loneliness and poor well-being.
“CEOs can be constantly surrounded by people and still experience loneliness,” Ryan Jenkins, author of Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All In, tells Fortune in an email interview. After all, the higher you climb the corporate ladder, the more responsibility and stress rests on your shoulders to make decisions as an individual rather than as a team.
