Is CEOs Disease Really a Good Thing for Your Business or Career!

Is CEOs Disease Really a Good Thing for Your Business or Career! I was watching a great Ted Talk given my Cameron Herhold (former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK) last night which mentioned that many successful CEOs and Entrepreneurs have bi-polar disorder (manic depression).   In fact,   this phenomenon is so common that many business writers bloggers refer to it as CEOs disease.   This whole idea really surprised me, so I dug a little deeper to find out who has it and how theyve managed to accomplish so much despite their condition. An article by Richard Elsberry says that bi-polar disorder was common among some of the most creative people in history including: Ernest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Paul Gauguin, George Handel, Gustav Mahler, Cole Porter, and Winston Churchill. Other articles I found claim that Steve Jobs, Ted Turner,  Bill Liechtenstein, and all 3 founders of Netscape show signs or were properly diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Mr. Herhold suggests in one of his articles that Bipolar Disorder helps people run successful companies because, in their highest moments they dare to dream, and in their lowest moments they confront the most bleak and problematic parts of the company instead of avoiding them. Tim Ferriss (author of The Four Hour Work Week) writes about CEOs Disease on his blog in an article called, Harnessing Entrepreneurial Manic-Depression: Making the Rollercoaster Work for You.   He even showed a transition curve (shown above) and suggests actions to take (and not to take) while in different stages of the mania curve.   For example, if youre feeling manic dont do anything with the budget or money- you wont spend wisely.   If youre feeling down, make projections, plan the budget because youll be cautious.   If youre in a state of serious identity crisis, Tim recommends cleaning out cabinets or going for a walk- anything simple to get out of your rut. Does your boss or CEO seem to have some of the symptoms of Manic Depression/Bi-Polar disorder?   How do you deal with it?   Do you think Steve Jobs was bi-polar?   How do you think it helped him create so many products that changed peoples lives? Do you think the association of CEOs, creative geniuses and successful entrepreneurs will help lift the social stigma of manic depression and bi-polar disorder?