Heather Stone was running an outdoor products company when the pandemic hit. Resorts shuttered. Campgrounds closed. Supply chains vanished.
What kept her afloat wasn’t a strategy deck. It was people.
“Our inner circle,” Stone says. “We were trying to keep this company from falling apart, and the only way we could keep our own heads above water was from the support of these people.”
Most CEOs get this instinctively. But the reality is worse than “lonely at the top.” It’s dangerous.
More than half of senior executives report feeling isolated. The American Medical Association ties that isolation to a 29% increased risk of heart attack and a 32% increased risk of stroke. Some medical experts have half-jokingly suggested doctors should prescribe friendships.
For CEOs, that’s not a joke. It’s a business imperative.
Isolation doesn’t just affect your health. It affects your judgment. When you’re making every call alone, you lose access to the pushback, the pattern recognition, and the diverse thinking that only come from people who’ve been where you are.
The question isn’t whether you need an inner circle. You do. The question is whether the one you have is actually working.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll unpack what a strong CEO inner circle looks like — from building a C-suite you trust to finding the truth-tellers who challenge your blind spots.
It starts with admitting what most leaders already know: you can’t do this alone. Let’s talk.
[category Leadership] 
