We know that stress levels are high today. Karen Dillon and Rob Cross found that it’s not only because of your macrostressors like a job loss, death, or illness. Karen tells Kevin that there is more microstress due to our connectivity. These are the little stressors that accumulate and lead to significant negative impacts on our mental and physical well-being. Karen shares some language we can use to describe microstress and how we can reduce their effects.

Key Points

• Karen defines microstress. She shares the connection between microstress and burnout. 
• She categorizes types of microstressors and examples to mitigate the impact. These include Microstressors that 1. Drain our capacity to get things done. 2. Deplete our emotional reserves. 3. Challenge our identity.

Meet Karen

• Name: Karen Dillon
• Her Story: Karen is the co-author, with Rob Cross, of her latest book, The Mircrostress Effect- How Little Things Pile up and Create Big Problems – and What to Do About It. She is a former editor of Harvard Business Review; Karen is also a current member of the faculty of Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute.
• Worth Mentioning: Karen is the co-author of three books with Clayton Christensen, including the New York Times best-seller, How Will You Measure Your Life? She is also co-author of the Wall Street Journal business best-seller Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice and The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty (Thinkers50 finalist, Breakthrough Idea, 2019).
• https://www.karendillon.net/
• https://twitter.com/KarDillon

Book Recommendations

• The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It by Rob Cross & Karen Dillon
• Getting Along How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) by Amy Gallo

Related Episodes

• Leadership Resilience with Ama Marston
• Beyond Collaboration Overload with Rob Cross
• Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone with Amy Gallo