The health hazards of the senior executive.

The health of a senior executive is essentially a matter for some concern, partly because of the direct effects on the executive himself but also, and probably chiefly, because of the indirect effects on the people under his control. It is not implied that the decisions of a healthy executive are necessarily better than those of an unhealthy one, for there is no correlation, to my knowledge, between health and wisdom or health and moral values, but it does seem reasonable to assume that an executive will produce his best work if he is not bedevilled by sickness and that his mind will be better able to deal with the problems of his work if it is not being obsessed with real or imaginary troubles of his own. Arising from these considerations we may ask ourselves how the daily life of the executive varies from the healthy norm (if there is such a standard) and what forms of illness are most frequently recurring with his type. From the purely biological viewpoint his habits are almost directly opposed to those of a normal healthy animal. He is taken from place to place in a car and sits comparatively motionless throughout his working day. He eats and drinks and smokes far more than any man should and, if it is part of his business to be sociable and to mix pleasantly with people, he may find it very difficult to cut down on these things. The only really active component in his make-up is his brain and this part of his anatomy is responsible both for controlling the functions of his body and the operation of his business. If the brain is having a very difficult time in dealing with the problems of his business it will not be surprising, at any rate to the layman, if it falls a little short of perfection in the way it handles his body. The type of executive I had in mind when compiling these notes is the comparatively quiet, conscientious, painstaking man who makes it his business and almost his religion to ensure that the enterprise for which he is responsible shall not fail, that the people engaged in the enterprise shall live happy, creative lives, and that all those who have placed their confidence in his leadership shall never regret it. The modem tendencies towards large-scale organizations , joint consultation, and worker participation …