Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again: How an Exhausted, Worn-Out and Overworked CEO Regained Her Passion for Work

Collecting shells on the beach wasn't part of Denice Kronau's mindset when she began to work her way up the corporate ladder to achieve lofty professional heights. In Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again: How an Exhausted, Worn-Out and Overworked CEO Regained Her Passion for Work, Kronau writes of the burn-out that confronted her at the top of a stellar career.

Job burnout was unforeseen as Denice was building her career - but twenty-three years later, Denice found herself walking (actually running) away from her position as CEO of Siemen's Shared Services, a multimillion international company and - with no plan in mind -- heading to Nantucket Island.

Mixed emotions and doubts began to plague Denice almost immediately and rather than feeling more relaxed while lounging in her beach chair, she became more despondent. An emotional crisis came when she sat at a local diner and a stranger asked her what she did. Her answer, "Nothing," struck her like a bolt of lightening and for the first time in her life, Denice felt like nothing.

A couple of weeks later, a colleague of her husband's emailed her - the beginning of a correspondence and friendship that was to plant the seeds of Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again. Kronau began to see where she went wrong with old patterns of behavior. Kronau began to see why she was exhausted and burned out. She paints a clear picture of what can happen to all of us if we fail to develop a balanced lifestyle and shows us how to regain lost passion.

Did you know that there are early warning signals that let you know if you're losing your passion for work? Author, Denise Kronau knows those signals first hand, but it took quite a lot of thought and some desperate moments for her to realize what they are. In Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again: How an Exhausted, Worn-Out and Overworked CEO Regained Her Passion for Work, Kronau remembers how fun it was when work was exciting and rewarding - and, how she walked away when it became overwhelming.

Denise Kronau left a twenty-three year career and a position as CEO for Sieman's Shared Services and headed for a beach chair on Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. With the help of a new friend, Mike Phelps, Denise began to search for the energy and passion she once had for any task that was given to her and explore the reasons why she no longer had it.

Kronau knows the warning signs of burnout. They include feeling exhausted, rather than energized at the end of a project, task or trip, welcoming sick time just to get some time off from work and feeling angry when work interferes with your "off time." There are more - and Kronau explains them in a way anyone who works hard can relate to. But Denise also provides answers on how to renew and restore yourself and finally revive your passion for work.

Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again comes to us at a time when many of us are working longer hours and liking it less, afraid of losing our jobs and the proverbial paycheck.

The answer, as Kronau teaches us, may not be dropping out but building on our life's lessons, beliefs and values to rejuvenate ourselves and enjoy what we do.

You may recognize some of your friends and colleagues in Denice Kronau's book, Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again.

White collar, blue collar, women, men and all cultures can identify with Kronau's tale of job burnout and fear of leaving a job and taking a step backwards in career and pay.

As the daughter of a New York State Policeman and a homemaker/artist mother, Denice was instilled with honorable work ethics and a belief that nothing was impossible to her if she worked hard. Kronau put herself through college and at 21 years of age, obtained her first "real" job at Philip Morris (now Altria). She put the same fervor in other positions with companies such as Kraft and her current position of CFO at Siemen's Healthcare Diagnostics, one of the largest medical diagnostics businesses in the world.

Denice Kronau has traveled to many countries, including Australia, South Africa and most European countries and she lived abroad in London, Munich, Paris and other areas of the globe. Everywhere she traveled, Denice noted the lack of balance in work and lifestyle - it doesn't happen only in the United States.

After escaping from her job and the city to a beach chair on Nantucket Island, Kronau began to listen to her heart. As a result, Boardroom to Beach Chair and Back Again was born. She's now back at work - better than ever and changed in attitude - determined to stick to her belief that her best is good enough.

A few years ago, I was totally burnt out from my job as a CEO of a $100 million multinational company. I walked away from it with no plans for the future. I did not realize that this had a much bigger impact on me than no more paychecks. I went from being a CEO to being nothing because if I wasn't working, then how could I explain who I was? I learned, the hard way, that I could only define myself by what I did for work. Realizing this was like getting punched in the stomach: swift, painful and it took my breath away.

When I left my job and moved to Nantucket in the summer of 2006, I replaced my typical work day with a very different routine: wake up, check the weather, go to breakfast and then to the beach if the weather was nice.

My stomach punch came very unexpectedly. One morning I climbed onto the stool at the counter in my favorite breakfast place and ordered my usual: poached eggs, whole-wheat toast and crispy bacon.

"Good morning," said the man next to me as I sat down.
"Good morning," I answered while nodding yes to the waitress, who poured me a cup of coffee.
"Beautiful day," my breakfast buddy added.
"Yes it is, we're lucky this summer," I replied.
"You on vacation?" he asked.
"Nope, I live here."
"Geez, that must be great. What do you do?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yup, nothing," I repeated.
"You don't work?"
"Nope."
"Wow, I would love to do nothing." At that point, he turned back to his wife and added politely, "enjoy your breakfast."
"You too," I said.

I sat there, reeling. I felt ashamed that when asked what I did, the only thing I had to offer was "nothing." I didn't have the words to explain my situation, so I gave the easy answer. I had gone from being a CEO to being "nothing," because I had no job to define myself by. This answer made me feel like nothing.

That evening, I went for a drive on my Vespa scooter and let my mind wander. As the wind and bugs bounced off of my bare face and arms, I asked myself, "What if who I was, wasn't what I did? How would people describe me? How would I describe myself?" I could always be my husband's wife or my parents' daughter or my brothers' sister, but this is not the Middle Ages. How did work become the only way I could define myself?

I spent a lot of time over the next days thinking about this and about how I wanted to answer this question in the future. I knew I did not want to answer "nothing" in conjunction with who I was, ever again. Eventually I found the answers I was searching for and when I went back to work six months later, I knew I would never define myself solely by my job title again.

I now describe who I am by what makes me happy. When I do this, I smile more and I am more "me." I accept that what I do is a big part of who I am, but not because of the title, but because of all of the factors that go into it-what I've achieved, how hard I've worked, the sacrifices I've made and because the work itself reflects what I'm good at-and I'm OK with this. Now when I'm asked about my work, I no longer say, "I'm a CEO." Instead I say: "I lead a team that shares a mission, vision and set of values and because of this, I have the best job in our company." Compare the two statements. I am sure you know a lot more about me from the second one.