Incite Change

Don't Keep it a Secret with Nick Jonsson

Nick Jonsson · January 24, 2023

Executive Coach · Author · TEDX Speaker · Leadership · Wellness · Life Coachin

Interview with Nick Jonsson

Don't Keep it a Secret with Nick Jonsson

Podcast: Incite Change

January 24, 2023

Today with us on the Incite Change Podcast, Coach Mauro sits down with Nick Jonsson. Like many senior executives, he overcame the debilitating loneliness that many leaders face without a peer group who understands their unique challenges. Through his recovery, he was able to go…

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Key topicsWhy Success Makes Leaders Lonely-and Why That’s an Organizational RiskIsolation at the top isn’t a character flaw; it’s a leading indicator of burnout, secrecy, and bad decisions that can cascade through a company. Nick Jonsson-ranked the world’s #1 thought leader on Executive Loneliness and author of _Executive Loneliness_-turns a taboo into a leadership imperative. Drawing on lived recovery, global research, and years coaching senior executives, he reframes loneliness as a system problem that demands a system fix. His 5 Steps to Holistic Leadership™-Surrender, Connection, Purpose, Goals, Discipline-give leaders a practical, stigma-free playbook to move from silent strain to sustainable performance. Nick’s approach is disarmingly candid and deeply actionable: how to build psychologically safe peer forums, measure connection like any other KPI, and replace performative toughness with habits that boost engagement, retention, and decision quality. It’s the conversation leaders avoid-delivered by someone who’s been there, and knows how to get them out. Performance & Biohacking for Business LeadersDrawing from his experience as a top 2% Ironman athlete, Nick shares how leaders can optimize their energy, focus, and recovery through biohacking strategies. He connects physical conditioning, mental clarity, and executive performance, offering practical steps for leaders to sustain peak performance without burnout. What a Top 2% Ironman Athlete Does Differently on Low-Energy DaysNick Jonsson races Ironman in the top 2% of the field and spent more than two decades running businesses and teams across Asia before burnout and addiction stopped him. He argues that most executives treat a flat day as a discipline problem and push through it, when endurance sport treats it as data and changes the plan. He walks through what he actually does when the energy is not there: how he reads the signal, what he cuts first, how sleep, food and training get adjusted rather than abandoned, and why recovery is scheduled before it is needed. He points to his own record, from rebuilding after hospitalisation to hosting more than 300 episodes of The Limitless Podcast while training and coaching. Listeners leave with a practical way to handle their worst days instead of losing a week to them.View all topics →

About Nick Jonsson

#1 Global Thought Leader on Executive Loneliness, International Bestselling Author and TEDx Speaker

900+ EGN Southeast Asia membersTop 2% Ironman athletes worldwide2026 GHP Most Empowering Mental Health Leadership Advocate#28 worldwide Global Gurus Top 30 Coaching Professionals

Nick Jonsson is widely recognized as the world's leading authority on Executive Loneliness. His pioneering work has earned him a dedicated Executive Loneliness Wikipedia page and international recognition, establishing him as one of the world's most respected voices on leadership, vulnerability, mental wellbeing, and authentic connection.

Ranked #28 in the world among the Global Gurus Top 30 Coaching Professionals, Nick is a TEDx speaker, international bestselling author of Executive Loneliness, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Certified Master Coach (CMC), qualified Counsellor and Psychotherapist, facilitator, and certified Team Psychological Safety practitioner.

For more than two decades, Nick held senior international leadership roles, leading businesses and high-performing teams across Asia. From the outside, his career reflected success. Privately, however, he struggled with burnout, alcohol addiction, and overwhelming loneliness - experiences that ultimately became the turning point of his life.

Rather than allowing those challenges to define him, Nick rebuilt his life through recovery, vulnerability, discipline, and purpose. Today, every keynote, workshop, coaching engagement, and counselling conversation is grounded in both professional expertise and lived experience.

Nick works globally with executives, leadership teams, founders, and organizations through keynote speaking, executive coaching, counselling and psychotherapy, leadership facilitation, and Team Psychological Safety training.

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About this episode

Today with us on the Incite Change Podcast, Coach Mauro sits down withNick Jonsson.

Like many senior executives, he overcame the debilitating loneliness that many leaders face without a peer group who understands their unique challenges. Through his recovery, he was able to go from depression to ironman.

Now, 5 years into his recovery, he shares with us his journey which started back in Sweden where he worked as a construction worker but due to a motorcycle accident could no longer work in his field but decided to return and finish his high school education at the age of 21.

While rebuilding his life, he began to realize how many leaders and entrepreneurs need peers who can relate to their challenges and play a supportive role both professionally and socially. He began to speak up about mental health issues in the workplace and the nourishing role of meaningful relationships.

Today, as a global thought leader on the subject of mental well-being, his passion is to help professionals live happier, healthier more successful lives through meaningful connections to one another.

As Founder and Managing Director of Executives’ Global Network (EGN) Singapore, Indonesia & Malaysia, Asia’s largest executive peer networking organization, and #1 international bestselling author, of Executive Loneliness.

Episode Timestamps

● [01:15] Nick Jonsson

● [07:22] Step 1: Taking Stock

● [08:46] Step 2: Asking for Help

● [11:42] Step 3: Get Healthy

● [13:41] Step 4: Nurturing Healthy Relationships

● [20:58] Step 5: Finding your Purpose

● [26:18] Regaining your Health

● [31:29] Taking the First Steps

● [36:23] Improving Breathing

● [39:17] What is Executive Loneliness?

● [42:22] Building Resiliency