Madbury, N.H. — Feb. 1
More than a third of senior executives and managers have a high degree in stress tolerance, according to the results of on a new survey.
NFI Research measured the level of stress tolerance, one of 12 executive skills, in a global survey of 144 senior executives and managers.
Executive skills are brain functions or cognitive skills that neuroscientists have located in specific regions of the brain, primarily the frontal lobes.
These brain functions start to develop at birth, and they’re hard-wired into every person and fully developed by adulthood.
Stress tolerance is the ability to thrive in stressful situations and to cope with uncertainty, change and performance demands.
Every person has a set of 12 executive skills:
- Self-restraint
- Working memory
- Emotion control
- Focus
- Task initiation
- Planning/Prioritization
- Organization
- Time management
- Defining and achieving goals
- Flexibility
- Observation
- Stress Tolerance
Each person has two or three that are their strongest and two or three that are their weakest, and they are not dramatically changeable for life.
Slightly more than a third (35 percent) of executives and managers were high in stress tolerance, while only 4 percent were low in the skill.
The remainder, just more than half, had a medium level.
“A person high in stress tolerance would tend to view unexpected obstacles as interesting challenges to be overcome,” said Chuck Martin, said author and NFI Research CEO.
People high in stress tolerance would have a high tolerance for ambiguity and be emotionally steady in a crisis. They would be able to handle deadlines being moved up.
“I strive on the ability to make a difference in my field,” said one respondent who completed the stress tolerance questionnaire, part of the executive skills profile. “When the stress level rises in the room, it indicates the time to perform, if you want to make a difference.”
There are more senior executives (38 percent) high in the skill than managers (34 percent), and the same percentage (4 percent) of senior executives and managers are low in the skill.
