“Keep walking. You’re fired!”

I had just left the doctor after being told that a mysterious skin pain on my side was likely stress-related. After the full suite of tests to rule out any of the big nerve-related disorders, my doctor finally asked if work was stressful. “Yes, very much, actually. My boss is a jerk and I’m fairly certain it’s clinical in his case,” I replied.

He said, “Mr. Lemson, I’m really wondering if you’re suffering from a stress-related injury here. The nervous system is vulnerable when we’re under stress.” He suggested that I consider some traditional relaxation techniques such as meditation and consider taking some time off. He said he would give me a note for work if I needed it. I told him I’d take him up on it if the boss wouldn’t give me the time off.

A coach that I was working at the time with had told me, "Sean, the next time your boss screams at you, go for a walk before responding." He explained that it would give me a chance to settle down and respond from the front of my brain rather than the amygdala. It didn’t take long for me to put both my coach’s technique and my doctor’s diagnosis to the test.

I walked into the office a few days later to find my boss berating one of my employees. He seemed to be accusing him of causing a bug. I listened for a moment, then calmly interjected that it would be impossible for his accusation to be true as this employee didn’t even have access to the part of the code that would have caused this problem. My boss looked right at me, pointed his finger at my face, and screamed, “You shut up!” It seemed like a great time to exercise. So I got up and announced that I would be going for a walk. He hollered after me, “Keep walking. You’re fired!”

That turned out to be one of the best days of my life. Just a few days later, my side pain vanished. That was well over a decade ago and this boss represented a pivotal moment in my life. A moment when I connected poor leadership to poor health and poor outcomes for the company (all of his talented staff left after I was let go – including another person suffering from a stress injury). I noticed that those most in need of power were the first to give it away through blaming others, and I also realized that not everyone “in charge” is built to be a leader of other humans.