We all know that CIO stands for "Career Is Over." The wag who coined that acronym was undoubtedly referring to the burnout factor that comes with the job and the consequent short tenure of the average CIO. I’m not talking about the difficulties inherent in systems design and development or data center operations but, rather, the misery of working unnoticed and unappreciated until something breaks down. That’s when the CIO must explain to senior executives that their company is being crippled by aging systems, why their equipment must be retrofitted and/or replaced, and why spending money on IT is a fact of life in the 21st century. And even if the executives can hear and understand the bad news, the CIO is still vulnerable to being axed when the problem can’t be solved fast enough or the technology can’t be aligned with corporate goals within an arbitrarily imposed budget.

That’s your world, and given its pressure-packed nature, you will likely suffer some considerable stress or experience burnout at some point in time. Thus, it is of paramount importance that you know the difference between the two.

Pouring Gasoline on a Fire

Everyone knows that working too hard is stressful and can lead to burnout. But CIOs in senior management positions may also suffer burnout if they’re doing nothing more than watching the divisions they built run themselves! I call this state of being bored witless "supernova burnout." Strange as it sounds to someone working to exhaustion, doing nothing—at least nothing intellectually challenging—can be as disruptive to your mental health as working 14 hours a day like a rented mule.

If you don’t know the difference between stress and burnout, the danger is that you may end up pouring gasoline on the fire. For example, interventions that are "just what the doctor ordered" for stress (rest and relaxation) can exacerbate feelings of burnout. The CIO who is suffering supernova burnout, a term I coined to describe those who’ve achieved success—say, by playing a critical role in the leadership of a company—needs new challenges. Sending him to a resort for three weeks of downtime is robbing him of what he needs: a healthy challenge. It is likely to drive him mad. On the other hand, the rented mule who’s working 14-hour days and has no control over what he does (he’s rented, you see) needs some R&R.

Good Stress and Bad

Stress is a word that is constantly misused. In engineering, stress refers to a force applied to a structure, a bridge or a material such as concrete or bone that causes change (strain, cracking or "failure") in the integrity of the material. This would suggest that psychological stress is a force lurking outside us, like fire, something that would have a uniformly adverse effect upon anyone who comes in contact with it.