LIAM CHRISMER

our days are jammed. One meeting bleeds into the next. You walk out of a contentious budget review straight into a product design session, followed immediately by a sensitive 1-on-1 with your CFO. On your calendar, these meetings are neatly separated by a thin gray line. But cognitively, they bleed into one another. We've all watched our laptops slow to a crawl because we have too many browser tabs open. Your brain works exactly the same way. You routinely march into critical

This is the seventh and final installment in a seven-part blog series exploring the lessons of James Hollis' Living an Examined Life through the lens of CEO Mental Fitness. Hollis is a Jungian analyst, not a business guru. His work may be the most important leadership reading you'll ever do. He explores the hidden drivers of human behavior: the unconscious patterns, inherited expectations, and adaptive strategies formed long before you ever sat in the corner office. Over 21 L

This is the sixth in a seven-part blog series exploring the lessons of James Hollis' Living an Examined Life through the lens of CEO Mental Fitness. Hollis is a Jungian analyst, not a business guru. His work may be the most important leadership reading you'll ever do. He explores the hidden drivers of human behavior: the unconscious patterns, inherited expectations, and adaptive strategies formed long before you ever sat in the corner office. Over 21 LinkedIn posts, I explore

Don't Worry. Be Happy. Chapter 13 Remember that catchy little song? This Happiness thing is a bugger. That elusive nirvana we're all in search of. Afterall, it's in the Constitution. Our dear friend James Hollis, my favorite psychoanalyst, says we're slapping at the wrong pinata. Most of us were sold on the myth that if we did our homework, worked hard, and ate our vegetables, we would wind up happy. Then we learned that the things that make us happy, leave us hungry for more

"I Wish to Be Seen, to Be Valued, to Be Someone..." Chapter 10 OMG. Those are the words of James Hollis. We all carry wounds to our self-esteem. For some, those wounds are paralyzing. For others, they become fuel. C.G. Jung observed that behind the wound is often the genius of the person. Another OMG. That genius is the gift inside us, warts and all. We are not here to be perfect. We are here to be ourselves. James Hollis puts it this way: "Some people's lives express themsel

Where Are You Stuck? Chapter 7 We're all stuck somewhere. Maybe it's that last 15 pounds. Maybe it's that one department that just can't seem to pull it together. Maybe it's that habit, relationship, or leadership pattern that just... won't... budge. It's not what you think it is. It's a ruse. James Hollis says the problem isn't the surface issue. It's what's underneath it. "Under each stuck place there is a wire, so to speak, that reaches down into the archaic field and acti

This is the second in a seven-part blog series exploring the lessons of James Hollis' Living an Examined Life through the lens of CEO Mental Fitness. Hollis is a Jungian analyst, not a business guru. His work may be the most important leadership reading you'll ever do. He explores the hidden drivers of human behavior: the unconscious patterns, inherited expectations, and adaptive strategies formed long before you ever sat in the corner office. Over 21 LinkedIn posts, I explor

CEO Mental Fitness Series: James Hollis' Living an Examined Life (Part 1 of 7) This is the first in a seven-part blog series exploring the lessons of James Hollis' Living an Examined Life through the lens of CEO Mental Fitness. Hollis is a Jungian analyst, not a business guru. His work may be the most important leadership reading you'll ever do. He explores the hidden drivers of human behavior: the unconscious patterns, inherited expectations, and adaptive strategies formed l

Bob used to be the fastest decision-maker in the room. The one who could look at a messy situation, cut through the noise, and call it. He thought that was what leadership was about. Then something shifted. It wasn't dramatic. There was no single moment where he lost confidence. But he wasn’t as certain as he used to be. It had become more difficult to make those quick-draw decisions. So, he hesitated. He started asking for more data before committing, pushing decisions to t

Gallup just released their 2026 State of the Global Workplace It’s a lot. 251 pages. More charts than a founder’s dream deck on crack. No CEO is going to read it. You know what they say about how to eat an elephant. You don’t. Here are a few morsels relevant to CEOs. First, overall, it’s not bad. The workplace is holding. Especially in the US and Canada. Surprisingly, manager engagement is down. From 40% engaged in 2022 to 36% in 2025. Here’s the nugget for the enlightened C