#14 - Social Media Postings, part 3 – postponed; Managing Stress
Part 3 of Social Media postings delayed to May 20th.
Some things are worth waiting for. Delayed gratification is sometimes increased gratification[1].
That’s a positive way of positioning the news that part 3 of the series of issues of Practical Counsel on Social Media postings is further postponed until next week, and will appear in issue #15 of Practical Counsel.
I explained in issue #13 that part 3 of this special series was delayed, and that the individual writing the rebuttal to part 2 had asked for some time to marshal his arguments.
What I couldn’t tell readers in issue #13 was the identity of that individual, which hadn’t yet been 100% confirmed.
Cue the big reveal. Well, not such a big reveal, as I have already shared the news via social media, via my LinkedIn page … perhaps appropriately (or inappropriately) enough, given the topic of the series.
But a big reveal nonetheless.
The guest contributor for part 3 is George Casey, Global Managing Partner of Shearman & Sterling, a proud Ukrainian, who has been tireless in his advocacy for Ukraine, posting prolifically on LinkedIn since Russia violated Ukraine’s sovereign integrity on Thursday 24th February.
As I just said, some things are well worth waiting for. And George Casey is certainly worth the wait.
It is, after all, an incredible honour that George has agreed to write for what is pretty much a new publication.
Given his profile as Global Managing Partner of an exceptional law firm[2], and given his prolific use of LinkedIn during the current war in Ukraine, there can be no better person to write on the topic of social media postings than George.
And as George is somewhat busy (that’s British understatement in case you were wondering) – juggling his role as Global Managing Partner of one of the world’s premier law firms with his role as advocate for his country of birth – I was happy to cut him some slack when he asked for some extra time to file his copy. He is running an 850 lawyer international firm, at the same time as managing a busy M & A practice and writing prolifically as (probably) his country’s most prominent lawyer advocate.
Delighted to cut some slack - but having nonetheless to write a couple of thousand words at short notice. All of which – I’m sure you’ll understand - has occasioned me a wee bit of stress.
But nothing like the stress that most GCs, CLOs and senior in house counsel deal with day in, day out; to say nothing of the far, far, incomparably greater stress being suffered by those in conflict zones, across the world.
Which made me think, how about taking the opportunity this week to touch on the huge topic of stress, which I will introduce in this issue, but revert to in subsequent issues of Practical Counsel.
So, no ‘Dear Jonathan’, this week.
Rather - straight into the topic of stress. And just to say that I’m hugely looking forward to George’s contribution next week – as, I am sure, are all of Practical Counsel’s readers.
Enjoy reading, and please comment and contribute to the debate by posting direct on Practical Counsel. Also, please write in with your unique people issues to me (practicalcounsel@substack.com) - I unequivocally undertake never to reveal your identity and will change key details of your situation so as to preserve your confidentiality and anonymity (unless you don’t want this). I also undertake to write to you personally with my own thoughts and comments on your situation and am always happy to follow up with a call on Zoom or similar.
Introducing the Topic of Stress
Stress is, quite literally, a killer. The American Institute of Stress reports that 120,000 people die every year as a direct result of work-related stress. Additionally, healthcare costs resulting from work-related stress total an average of $190 billion a year. Stress can directly impact heart rate and blood flow. Stress can trigger or cause unhealthy eating behaviours and the consumption of large quantities of alcohol, both of which can result in diabetes. There is a link between dementia and stress, and stress can affect cancer, albeit stress has not been proven to be a direct cause of cancer.
Stress is also one of the major causes of lost working days. The UK Health and Safety Executive estimated that stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 17.9 million lost working days in the period 2019 – 2020, the greatest single cause of lost working days.
Stress affects GCs, CLOs and senior in-house lawyers, as it does every group in the working population. Self-management of stress is a crucial tool to have in the armoury of tools of the successful in-house lawyer. While in-house was once seen as a less stressful option than private practice, senior in-house lawyers can work every bit as hard as their private practice counterparts, carry huge responsibility and be responsible for very large budgets, including those relating to external legal spend.
The purpose of this introduction to stress management is to outline at a high level what happens within your body when you experience stress – the so-called physiology of stress. And at a 30,000 foot level to give an overview of some of the key ways to self-manage stress.
A lawyer-like caveat. I am neither a clinical psychologist nor a doctor – if you are experiencing serious stress take proper professional advice.
With regard to the physiology of stress, a significant proportion of readers will be familiar with many of the points I am about to make. But a very high proportion will not understand the key elements of the physiology of stress, so those who do, please bear with me, or skip as you wish.
We have evolved as human beings from roots as hominids (i.e. primates). Some of the ways we are wired now are indeed rooted in our evolutionary past, and not entirely fit for purpose for our lives now, as largely sedentary keyboard warriors or deskbound professionals. Stress is a key example of this truth.
As hunters or hunter gatherers it was very important for us to run away fast if attacked by a wild animal or someone unfriendly waving a flint tipped spear or similar. The body developed a mechanism to turbo charge our flight – adrenaline. The adrenaline response – the so-called ‘fight or flight’ mechanism is a bit like the turbo charger in a souped-up car. Adrenaline is a shot of fuel that turbo charges you either to fight the animal or human adversary – or to run as fast as your legs will carry you.
The adrenaline response is thus hugely important in a hunter-gatherer society. But less finely tuned when the source of stress is an impending work deadline, the perceived risk of being fired for messing up on a piece of work – or the need to rush out an issue of Practical Counsel at short notice.
In crude terms what happens in the original evolutionary context is that the shot of adrenaline causes the individual to fight vigorously, or to hot foot it from the scene of danger. The adrenaline is processed healthily. Job done, no harm.
Here is what happens physiologically when a stressor is perceived: it stimulates signals in the brain, the brain sends signals to the adrenal glands, and adrenaline is released. The release of adrenaline activates specific physiological reactions, intended to prepare the body to respond to the perceived stressor or threat. These responses include (the description here is taken from the DermaNZ website):
· Stimulation of the liver to break down glycogen to glucose (to provide quick energy to the body)
· Relaxation of the smooth muscles in the lungs and respiratory tract to enhance inspiration and lung capacity
· Stimulation of the beta-adrenergic receptors in the myocardium to increase cardiac contractility and heart rate
· Contraction of the arteries in the skin to divert blood flow
Ever been unclear why you start breathing in a different way when under stress? Ever wondered why your heart races? Ever wondered why you sometimes feel nauseous when stressed? These symptoms are all explained by the above description (or consequences of one or more of the above responses).
Many readers will have experienced panic attacks where they feel unable to breathe, or maybe think they are going into cardiac arrest. Again, entirely explained by the above – what is happening to you is that your body has produced huge quantities of adrenaline in response to a perceived stressor. Your body has not found a way to process that adrenaline healthily or to reduce the quantity of adrenaline being produced. You experience the extremely unpleasant symptoms of what is called a panic attack.
A really good understanding of the physiology of stress is itself one of the keys to learning how to self-manage stress. Once you realise that the experienced symptoms of stress are physiological, you can start to work out ways to manage your stress.
In working with my clients I have found a model developed by the British Psychologist Professor Stephen Palmer to be very helpful – the SPACE model.
The letters of SPACE stand for the following:
· S for Social Context - is there anything in the social context that is a cause of stress? Can you change the social context in any way to reduce your stress levels?
Practical Example – if you are working with a colleague or internal client who is really stressing you out, would it be helpful to make an excuse and take a bit of a time out to let your stress levels go down a bit?
· P is for Physiology - can you do anything to tackle or manage your physiological symptoms?
Practical examples include yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, exercise more generally. I am sure we will be talking about these in future issues of Practical Counsel.
· A is for Actions – review your actions. Is there anything you can change in your actions that might help your stress levels?
Practical example - on reflection you notice that you start talking fast when you are stressed; you see other people looking a bit confused; this makes you feel more stressed, and your stress levels rise still higher. Action – work on consciously slowing down your rate of speaking; learn not to react to people looking confused as this only increases your stress levels.
· C is for Cognitions - To be honest, this one merits a whole piece on its own. The key thing here is whether you have cognitions, i.e. thoughts, that are unhelpful, and themselves stressors. Can you do anything to modify those thoughts, or replace them with more helpful thoughts?
Practical example – when you do public speaking you worry about what people are thinking of you. You are worried that you are going to lose your words, or dry up. You think what you are saying is being badly received. You think people don’t rate you as a presenter. Believe me, if this resonates, you are not alone. Besides having many of these thoughts myself, individuals I coach often relay these, or very similar, personal cognitions to me.
The difficult work is not just to identify the cognitions, but to work at challenging them, modifying them and replacing them. A topic for another issue of Practical Counsel.
· E is for Emotions – What emotions do you experience when stressed? These could be fear, frustration, panic … and many others. A certain level of stress can be helpful, a bit of a useful stimulus like having a coffee – and this can be experienced in the form of enjoyable emotions (think adrenaline high … and, more negatively, adrenaline junkie). Can you work on any of these emotions, doing so in a way that will reduce your stress levels?
Practical example - when I present to my Board I feel terrified. I also experience physical symptoms (dry mouth, sweating). Recognising my fear as unhelpful – and dysfunctional – I spent time before the presentation meditating on feeling comfortable in front of the Board, visioning a good outcome where Board members smile at me or where they listen intently to my presentation – as indeed they often do. This gets me feeling good before the meeting and I’ve learned over time to sustain these emotions during the meeting itself.
Here is a visual representation of the SPACE model:
The key thing to note above and beyond what I have already said is the arrows in the above schematic. They indicate that everything is interconnected in the model and that, for example, cognitions can impact emotions and physiology, but equally, for example, physiology can impact on cognitions.
A lot to take in here and my own stress levels are high in light of my impending deadline for filing. So I am going to conclude on that point, and pick up this topic again in a future issue of Practical Counsel.
As always, I encourage members of the Practical Counsel community to write in to me at practicalcounsel@substack.com with your people problems and issues that are currently concerning you, or that come up for you regularly. And, as always, I will anonymise your observations / issues and preserve confidentiality and write to you individually in response to any scenario that I use in this newsletter.
Best wishes
Jonathan
Practical Takeaways
1. Part 3 of the 3 part series on social media postings out next week – issue #15 of Practical Counsel.
2. Stress – left unmanaged – can be dangerous. Aside from being unpleasant it can cause serious health problems, or worse.
3. Stress is amenable to self-management. But if you are experiencing seriously troubling levels of stress go see a professional – either a doctor or a psychologist or similar.
4. Understanding the physiology of stress is a key weapon in the armoury that will help you self-manage your stress.
5. Other key components of stress are captured in the SPACE model summarised in the body of this article – they are social content, actions, cognitions and emotions.
And now ….
Contribute to the debate and write in with your comments and observations. Also write to Jonathan with any other people issues you face as an in-house lawyer.
Jonathan can be reached by email at practicalcounsel@substack.com
A note for you picky lawyers; and a plea for tolerance
I am a British lawyer by background and went to both school and University in the UK. So my English is British English. I have taken a conscious decision to write this newsletter in British English, but to try to avoid phrases that aren’t common outside the UK. Sometimes, though, I’ll use a phrase that isn’t commonly used outside the UK, without realising that it is a Britishism. I also endeavour to use the vernacular spellings of my contributors (e.g. to use US spellings for a US contributor), but won’t always get this right.
My plea is for you to tolerate the British spellings and grammar and the occasional Britishism. And to focus on the substance of the newsletter rather than the occasional (to you) annoying turn of phrase, bit of grammar or unorthodox spelling, or the occasional inconsistency in spelling as between, for example, UK and US ‘standard’ spellings.
Thank you and best wishes,
Jonathan Middleburgh
[1] In the famous so-called Stanford Marshmallow experiment (conducted by the psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University) children were given a choice between a one small but immediate reward and two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. Follow up studies claimed to show that children who delayed gratification experienced better life outcomes than children who claimed the immediate reward. The study is an iconic one (and has been highly influential in fields such as behavioural economics), although more recent studies have cast doubt on the veracity of conclusions drawn from it.
[2] Not my words. The quote is from the Legal 500 - https://www.legal500.com/firms/50895-shearman-sterling-llp/9114-london-england/