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About Adam

 
Adam is a Partner and Vice President -  Data Science based in our Sydney office. Adam was recently highlighted on Involve’s Enable Role Model List, which recognizes individuals who are using their personal experiences of disability, neurodiversity or mental health to advance  inclusion for others in the workplace. We connected with Adam to hear about his mental health journey and how he works to make other BCGers experiencing similar difficulties feel less alone.
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I am a Partner who founded BCG’s advanced analytics team in Asia Pacific – but this isn’t really about that. Several years ago, one morning in June, I decided that I couldn’t go to work. I had been awake since before 5am and was vomiting from stress for a few hours. This had become the norm. I had been struggling for a while, becoming increasingly fearful of the world, and withdrawn from it, every day. But on that day in June, I called the Partner on my case, explained the situation, then went for a walk in the park with my wife.


I had let work become by far the most important thing in my life, both doing it and thinking about it more and more of the time. I was successful, but I ignored the growing symptoms of a looming problem. It was only at my lowest, when I felt that I couldn’t continue working, that I sought and accepted professional help. I went to a psychologist that was recommended to me by HR who had worked with BCGers before. And what a difference it made. I learned to enjoy my life again, I worked less hard, and I ‘switched off’ each day and at weekends without feeling any guilt. I was able to bounce back and later advance to the highest levels in the organization. I have been stressed since then, but I know what to do about it now.


I resolved to try to make it easier for others in similar situations by making my personal, private story of mental illness a very public example. I now speak frequently about it within BCG, using my own name and openly sharing details of my experience. I don’t shirk the embarrassing details such as vomiting from anxiety every morning or feeling the fear and stigma of having a formal mental health diagnosis. These are not the kinds of messages we normally hear from Partners in professional services firms. This allows me to share a credible message that mental health problems and anxiety from work do not rule out success in your career.     

 

Most recently, I took the first post-Covid opportunity to speak in-person to our entire Australian workforce of 600 people about mental health awareness in the workplace. Afterwards, many people took the time to seek me out and talk to me individually, from all parts and levels of BCG. Many expressed relief and thanks for the raw, public acknowledgement of an experience which they too had shared. One comment from a new joiner really stuck out to me: “When I saw this, I realized this company was the right place for me.”  


While this public storytelling has proved valuable – it’s not enough. Mental illness is generally a miserable personal experience, and I frequently talk confidentially one-on-one with people experiencing mental health troubles. My ultimate goal is to help people who are struggling feel less alone and give them hope that they too can get through this.  

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AUTHOR
Adam Whybrew (He/him) Partner and Director, Data Science

Sydney, Australia

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