This is the first article of mine to be published on the American Express Open Forum…

Hope you enjoy it…

I’d love your comments on their site – and suggestions for future articles you want from me there too.

May 18, 2010 -

This article is about the emotional intricacies of being a CEO or entrepreneur and the emotional roller coaster you’ll ride, or are already riding.  Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, once wrote:……

Many extremely successful entrepreneurs are even clinically diagnosed Manic Depressive or Bi-Polar (Bi-Polar Disorder is nicknamed, “The CEO Disease”).

Francis Ford Coppola has it.  So does Ted Turner. Jim Clark, cofounder of Netscape, was described in Business Week by Netscape’s other cofounder, Jim Barksdale, as someone “who has his mania only partly under control.  He’s a perpetual motion machine with a short attention span, forever hurtling at unsafe speeds. When his forward motion is impeded, Clark becomes irritable and bored.  In his search for the stimulation of the ‘new, new thing,’ he quickly loses interest in the companies and ideas he starts and tosses them into the laps of his bewildered employees.”

Bill Gross, CEO of Idealab, was written up by a Fortune editor who apologized and said, “I believed him because I was dazzled by him. He had an infectious boyish enthusiasm that was charming and irresistible. He spoke so rapidly—jumping from topic to topic as if he were hyper-linking.  It was hard to keep up with him.  He had so much energy he seemed constantly on the verge of jumping out of his skin. He bubbled over with optimism.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been described as “hypomanic” and “unable to think outside the box – because he doesn’t even see the box.  He’s also been described as quick to fly off the handle emotionally.

Here’s a note from a CEO’s blog:

“Today is Wednesday, and I haven’t been able to accomplish anything so far this week. It’s not that I don’t have plenty to do – I just can’t shake this depression long enough to do it. Last week I was a whirlwind – this week I’m a slug. My insomnia has been bad the past week or so, and it’s only when my body can’t go on any longer that I sleep. This lack of sleep makes my mind sluggish too…and it takes a great deal of time and effort to accomplish even the simplest of tasks. Intellectually I know what needs to be done…but emotionally I just don’t have what it takes to get a move on….

I’m trying to take things one day at a time, but it’s so hard to keep from thinking of what the future holds in store for me.  I’m sad that I didn’t do more to keep in touch with friends I have known for years. I guess I could attempt to re-connect with some of these folks, but the embarrassment of my current situation is just too much right now…. sigh.

Something needs to change pretty soon or I’m afraid I won’t be able to crawl out from under my rock and I’ll end up in a home, or worse. This is not a good day at all. Perhaps tomorrow will be better. “

It’s not about what’s in your head, it’s about what’s in your gut.

How will you use what you’re feeling to help you become really successful??

I hope you are seeking the answer.  This is one of the many areas I mentor the CEOs I do in our bi-weekly coaching sessions too.

Entrepreneurship puts you on an emotional roller coaster unlike anything else on earth.

You will flip from being convinced you will own the world, to being overwhelmed by doom and ruin, and back again. Over and over. And over.

There is so much uncertainty and risk around everything you are doing. Will the product ship on time? Will anyone use it? Will your competitor beat you to market? Will anyone invest in the company? And on and on and on…

The level of stress you are under as an entrepreneur magnifies those data points into extreme highs and lows at whiplash speed and huge magnitude

Sound like fun?

Most entrepreneurs have at least five of these traits.  Do you?

• Are you filled with energy?
• Does your mind get flooded with ideas?
• Are you driven, restless, and unable to keep still?
• Do you often work on little sleep?
• Can you be euphoric?
• Do you easily get irritated by minor obstacles?
• Can you burnout periodically?
• Do you act out sexually?
• Do you feel persecuted by those who do not accept your vision?

Don’t worry, but the reality is, this is what happens to stable entrepreneurs. This is one of the many areas I regularly coach & mentor entrepreneurs so they learn how to overcome and leverage each stage of.