The CEO of Brooks, supported by Warren Buffett, Brooks says that the best job makes him “crazy” 20% of the time – but a mantra of mind keeps him healthy

And although the work can be delivered with an angle office and a comfortable salary, the CEO of the Brooks Running shoe company, Dan Sheridan, has a message for aspiring business leaders Gen Z: the work is not so glamorous.

“Brooks is not perfect – no organization is,” said Sheridan Fortune‘s Leadership then Podcast last month. “We have our warts and bruises and things like that … 80% of the time I like what I do.”

The CEO admits that for about 20% of the time, his work is filled with “things that drive you crazy and things that you cannot solve”.

As a company belonging to Berkshire Hathaway of billionaire Warren Buffett, the pressure for Sheridan succeeds is high. The pressure is lit and sometimes difficult days make him want to abandon. However, he says that the most important thing he can do as a leader is to keep a cool head, reassess and move on.

“I think that as leaders, you must be optimistic. You must have a winning attitude,” said Sheridan.

“Otherwise, no one will follow you. Your customers will not follow you. Your employees will not follow you, and your owners will probably scratch their heads and say, what happens here? ”

The power of a positive attitude

Although Sheridan reveals that finding the right balance between optimism and realism is difficult, he says that it is critical for leaders.

“One of the things I think a lot in my role is to keep my head above the clouds to see the future, but remaining quite anchored in dirt and mud to find out what’s going on,” he added.

He is not the first to shout on the importance of positivity: the other business leaders say that it is the very line that can help the aspirants to stand out from the crowd.

The head of Cisco Uk Sarah Walker calls the attitude the trait n ° 1 with a green flag that she is looking for in hiring and promotions-he prevails over what could be on your CV.

“You cannot teach positive attitudes, commitment and energy,” she said Fortune.

The CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, even admitted that “an embarrassing quantity of the way you do, especially in their twenties, has to do with attitude”.

Even Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella said he believed in a state of mind focused on personal growth because “if you take two people, one of them is a learning and the other is an know-how, all this will always start with less innate capacities.”

The leaders who climbed – to the point of jumping – the company scale

Sheridan was appointed CEO of Brooks in April 2024 and has since led the company to rapid growth. Its second quarter figure, published last week, announced an increase in world income of 19% on the other.

But this moment was a moment which was 27 years in the manufacture of Sheridan; In fact, it is the only company he called to the house for his entire career, from 1998, when he started his career in sales of accounts and marketing.

Over the years, Sheridan has accelerated in the ranks by climbing the promotion train every two to three years before becoming COO in 2019 – and shortly after winning the leading position.

But he is not alone in his success related to the stay in the earth in a company, instead of the favorite method of Gen Z to jump.

The CEO of the Nike racing shoe company, Elliot Hill, climbed on the scale for more than 30 years, of the trainee of clothing for clothing to chef Honcho. The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, and the CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon, have similar stories about winning a few dollars of a few dollars until the best corner office of the same company.