![]() ![]() 474), it is thus important to understand how CEOs experience the challenges of their job and how they cope with the stress involved. Given that job-related stress arises from an imbalance between the demands of the job and the resources available to do it ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2017) and since executive job demands are “qualitatively different” from job demands at other levels of the organization ( Hambrick et al., 2005a, p. One could debate how applicable these studies, based on entry-level to mid-level managers often working in government or the military, may be to the corporate executive suite, but such debates would take our focus away from the fact that, when it does occur, CEO stress has far-reaching consequences for the company’s results ( Hambrick et al., 2005a Siren et al., 2018) and for the quality of their leadership ( Hambrick et al., 2005b Sprague et al., 2011 Wirtz et al., 2017). Moreover, several studies show that managers’ mental health is not worse than that of non-managers ( Ganster, 2005 Skakon et al., 2011 Sherman et al., 2012 Li et al., 2018). Why should we care? As public opinion has it, CEOs get handsomely rewarded for any inconvenience their jobs may present. Although rare compared to the usual, carefully scripted self-portrayals of CEOs as energetic and in control ( Gray and Densten, 2007 Pollach and Kerbler, 2011), confessions like these remind us that the leaders of the corporate world do sometimes become overwhelmed by the demands of their job. In a 2018 interview, Elon Musk was on the brink of tears while describing the “excruciating personal toll” of leading Tesla ( Gelles, 2018, p. When Jeff Kindler, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pfizer, abruptly resigned in 2011, he blamed the “24/7 struggle” to meet the high and conflicting demands of his many stakeholders ( Lemer, 2011, p. This work contributes to research on leader personal resources and leader effectiveness, executive job demands, as well as to the leisure-based recovery literature. Novel insights are brought into the ways in which CEOs believe their passionate non-work pursuit supports not only coping with the strain of the top job but also optimal functioning in it, as well as into how they perceive the demands of the CEO role. This study is based on 16 interviews with “serious leisurite” CEOs of Fortune 500, S&P 500, or comparable organizations. Serious leisure is increasingly practiced by the population at large as well as by top leaders. This study shines light on this hardly explored subject by focusing on CEOs of major US companies and their “serious leisure,” the goal-oriented pursuit of a non-work passion. How chief executive officers (CEOs) use their leisure to help respond to the demands of their job is important for themselves, their employees, and their organizations. ![]() School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ![]()
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