I have lived most of my life around men who are affluent and have experienced varying degrees of business success. These last nine years, as director of the Center for Executive Leadership, I have occupied the position of teacher, coach, and counselor to many of them. In the process of doing my job, they have confirmed a truth that I knew deep down to be true—an essential part of the mystique of business success is to present a corporate happy face by projecting an image of strength and competence to the outside world. As a result, many men feel a huge pressure to maintain the image that they are bulletproof, that they can handle any problem, any struggle, at any and all times.  

However, I have discovered that in any man’s life, true success cannot be sustained over any extended period of time by denying the existence of internal struggles. Deeply personal issues such as identity, fear, discontentment, and depression are issues all men must deal with at some time in their lives, but generally they are at a loss as to what they should do about them.