Mental Health Champions: Why & How Ian Hatton Of Totally Morpheus Is Helping To Champion Mental Wellness

An Interview With Michelle Tennant Nicholson

Breathwork is another incredible way of de-stressing. Shallow breaths trigger stress hormones in the body; deep breaths trigger helpful hormones, immediately relaxing us and changing our whole physiology.

As a part of our series about Mental Health Champions helping to promote mental wellness, I had the pleasure to interview Ian Hatton.

Ian Hatton is a conscious leadership expert, international keynote speaker and the founder of the bespoke leadership development provider Totally Morpheus. Since his successful career in corporate IT leadership, Ian has gone on to train and mentor thousands of leaders from top-ranking organizations in over 90 countries, served as president of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa Virtual Chapter, and been inducted into the Southern African Educators’ Hall of Fame for his work in conscious leadership. His mental wellbeing message is simple, unexpected and transformational to leaders and their teams: “My Number One Job Today is Me”.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I was born into working-class family at the height of South Africa’s restrictive apartheid era. When my dad relocated the family to the Netherlands for a work assignment for several years, my worldview quickly expanded. That had a profound impact on my life, leading me to ask questions about how leadership empowers from an early age. I haven’t stopped asking those questions since.

You are currently leading an initiative that is helping to promote mental wellness. Can you tell us a bit more specifically about what you are trying to address?

My mental wellness initiative for leaders is simple, but somewhat controversial. It is to help every leader remember and act on the statement: “My Number One Job Today Is Me.”

Many leaders resist this at first, feeling that it would be reckless not to make their teams their top priority. Until they discover how this approach helps them to better serve their people.

The fact is that taking care of everyone else first is not sustainable in the long run. A leader who loses their physical or mental health, motivation or just their mojo is of no value to their team or organization.

This is why, in my community of conscious leaders, “My Number One Job Today Is Me” has become a fundamental principle. The results benefit not only these leaders, but everyone in their teams.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

In 2011, life handed me the gift of complete burnout and loss. After years of struggling to build a business, I lost everything: my first business, my second marriage and my trusted spiritual community. To say that I was devastated is putting it mildly.

I granted myself 18 months of recovery that I now refer to as my Intensive Care Unit, or ICU time. I moved to the coast, set aside all my responsibilities and took the time to come to terms with things. The triple whammy of losses seemed insurmountable at the time.

One morning, watching the sun rise over the ocean, I had the realization that “My number one job today is me”. It suddenly became clear to me that putting myself last had not served me. Neither as a human being nor as a leader to my teams and organizations, as a partner or community member.

I have since made myself my number one job today, every day, and encouraged my leadership community to do the same.

Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?

So many of the people I work with tell me they think that knowledge solves problems. And of course, there’s an element of truth to that. But the reality is that we can accumulate endless knowledge, and never do anything with it.

My “Aha Moment” came from one of my great mentors, Ken Blanchard. After one of Ken’s keynote speeches, an audience member proudly announced that he had read a book on leadership every single week over the past year. Ken turned to him, saying: “I’ve never heard of anything more stupid in my life. Why not just read one book, but learn how to implement it? Learn how to do it and make it part of who you are?”

For me, this was the turning point . This realization that without action, all the theory in the world, my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and extensive training could not create the impact I wanted to have. The reason was that I hadn’t gone on the inner journey. My own dark night of the soul was what triggered me to go, hang on, I need to internalize. I need to work on ME. And that’s going to be a very, very simple thing: my number one job today is me. That was what turned it around for me.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

As I work with leaders who really want to make an impact on the world, I ask them a key question. What is missing between where they are and where they want to be? What is the gap? Time and again, this question sparks an epic adventure in mental wellbeing and leadership growth.

Some years ago, I asked this question to a brilliant young woman who had not had the opportunity for tertiary study. She promptly replied: “Confidence. I need more confidence!”

“So what are you going to do to gain confidence?” I asked.

She eagerly blurted out: “Get a qualification!”

I shook my head. “Wrong answer.”

That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with getting a qualification. But a qualification is no guarantee of confidence at all. Confidence is an inner job. A qualification is an external job. What this young woman really needed was to figure out what was blocking her confidence.

Had she made her number one job herself, every day, I asked? That was a revolutionary concept for her, and she adopted the philosophy: “My Number One Job Today Is Me.”

I’ve journeyed with her ever since, and the progress has been phenomenal. She has been emerging as a leader and establishing her real inner strength and credibility, finding her inner genius. As she prioritized herself, going on the inner journey, she discovered her natural genius — a gift people had always been telling her about. Spoiler alert: her natural genius came to her effortlessly, giving her an authority no qualification could.

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

Prior to my “Dark Night of the Soul” in 2011. I’d had a few mentors.. Somehow, in my darkest hour, they all just disappeared in some way or other way, for various reasons. When I later mentioned this to a group of trusted friends, one replied: “But where you are going, none of those men could take you because they’ve never been there before. What you are doing is so pioneering and so unique, that none of them can get you there.” At that point, my message and impact and success began to develop.

Where I did discover I had serious gaps was in being a good businessperson. Despite having worked in a marketing role at Microsoft, I experienced some serious gaps in terms of running and developing my own consultancy. And so, nearly five years ago, I adopted my business mentors, CIrcle of Excellence founders Mike Handcock and Landi Jac. They have had a profound impact on my development as an entrepreneur and individual, and I honor their immeasurable contribution.

According to Mental Health America’s report, over 44 million Americans have a mental health condition. Yet there’s still a stigma about mental illness. Can you share a few reasons you think this is so?

The first reason that comes up for me is a very sort of Protestant work ethic. There’s this whole idea of, you’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to work hard, you can’t slack off, stiff upper lip, you know, all these kinds of things come into it. That comes from a previous era… and we all know how that worked out. We feel we are expected to be “fine”, no matter what inner turmoil we experience.

Another reason, especially in the workplace, is the fear that admitting to a mental health condition can jeopardize our professional credibility or even our livelihood. Even where employees are protected by laws and policies, they are cautious about making their struggles public for fear of the consequences.

Finally, I suspect that perhaps the greatest stigma about mental health is one we create for ourselves. Most of us are willing to accept a mental health issue in others. Yet we are terrified of admitting that we ourselves may be facing a mental health challenge. Worse yet, we resist seeking help, often until it is too late.

The worldwide quest to destigmatize mental health conditions is gradually making a difference. However, there is a great deal we can do, personally and collectively, to foster better mental health and wellbeing in our work and home lives.

In your experience, what should a) individuals b) society, and c) the government do to better support people suffering from mental illness?

I firmly believe that this is a leadership issue. For individuals and government, yes but also for business. Because if we don’t take care of our people, the work can’t be done. Our society actually fails. And so we need to be making mental health a priority. And it does start with self. And it starts with self leadership. From where I stand, prevention is the best cure. But where mental illness is a reality, support at each level can help.

On the individual level, I echo once again that our number one job is ourselves. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Taking care of our own wellbeing enables us to help those facing mental health issues.

As a society, when we foster an environment where it is safe to communicate openly, we eliminate many of the stressors that aggravate or lead to mental health issues. Opening up the dialogue around mental health and destigmatising mental illness makes a big difference, too.

Government is in the position to encourage better mental health through policies that foster better wellbeing for all citizens. For those who do suffer from mental health conditions, policies that secure their inclusion and security can go a long way. This ranges from legislation to protect those with mental health issues in the workplace, to providing appropriate facilities for recovery and care.

Business has a role to play, too, and I am happy to say that the most advanced international corporations I work with are increasingly paying attention to mental wellbeing. Not only do they consider it an ethical imperative. They have also run the numbers and seen that a happier workplace is a more profitable one.

Does supporting mental health sound unaffordable? The fact is that it is a bargain compared to the cost of a silent mental health epidemic that currently manifests insidiously as illness, burnout, high staff turnover and even more serious consequences. That is exactly why prevention is so vital, and leaders at each level need to address mental wellbeing from the outset.

What are your 5 strategies you use to promote your own well-being and mental wellness? Can you please give a story or example for each?

1. I make my work life easy and enjoyable by empowering each member of my teams to excel in their zone of genius.

I believe that we each have a natural zone of genius where we effortlessly excel. Why does this matter for mental health? It means every member of my team is happier and delivering better results when they work in their zone of genius. And THAT means my life as a leader (and community member, family member and partner) is easier. My mental health is better because stress is less… for everyone. And anyone can do this once they know how.

2. I nurture my physical and mental health with sound nutrition, moderate exercise and enough rest.

I’ve had a real journey with obesity that was, at times, physically and psychologically debilitating. The worst effect was the way it resulted in a downward spiral of fatigue, poor food and lifestyle choices and aggravated weight gain.

I clearly remember delivering training in the humid tropical heat of Singapore at the height of my obesity struggle. The long days left me drenched in perspiration and aching in the joints, collapsing into my room service dinner and waking up in a chair in front of the flickering television screen. I realized this was way no way to live, and no way to lead. Poor health was impacting my game, stifling my ability to deliver my message at the levels that I really wanted to.

Today I am much more aware of how good, natural nutrition, moderate activity and getting enough sleep all support my health and wellbeing. Rather than follow strict rules, I tune in and listen to my body’s needs. As it turns out, our bodies truly crave nourishing, fresh foods and wholesome activity. In leadership we often say that listening is a vital skill. Listening to our bodies is good practice for listening to our people as we grow as leaders.

3. I begin my day with my morning rituals: stretching, breathing, meditation and journaling. At least, usually.

Morning rituals, to me, are not so much about following a rule as about the principle that “My Number One Job Today Is Me.” It’s more about putting my true needs first than a rule.

For me, it starts with stretching. And what I’ve realized is that when I, if I miss the stretching, then next time I do it, I can’t stretch as far.

Breathwork is another incredible way of de-stressing. Shallow breaths trigger stress hormones in the body; deep breaths trigger helpful hormones, immediately relaxing us and changing our whole physiology.

And then there is some meditation and some journaling. Some days I do more meditation, and some days I’ll spend more time journaling. For me, it’s just about connecting with self. What I have discovered is that it’s right there that my day suddenly falls into place. I start to suddenly have a new energy, a new vibrance, a new clarity, when I’m so much more aware of what I desire of the day. It all becomes so clear. It’s basically a self-awareness or self-connection exercise. And then comes the clarity. I don’t know how many times one of my journal entries has turned into a new presentation or book chapter or event. There is just such great leadership insight and influence and ways of doing things that come out of this practice.

4. I connect with my team, my community of leaders, my inner circle of friends, my family and my partner through meaningful conversations and activities.

Connection is my number one value, but I have come to realize that it’s not just me. If we look at mental health issues that are happening at the moment, it’s because so many people feel isolated. For mental wellbeing, we want to be combating isolation, we want to be providing, making sure that people feel connected.

For me, this means intentionally spending time with my team members in my business, my clients in my conscious leadership community and my online followers. Since most of our communication is online, I make a point of facilitating meaningful discussion and activity to foster a real connection — virtually. We connect deeply with online check-ins where we share our personal trials and triumphs, and the whole community shares in this support. I bring the same approach to my wider communities through the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA) and Global Storytelling Circles. In my personal life, valued conversations with my close friends often take place around nature walks, DIY activities and wholesome, leisurely meals. As to my partner, one of our deep connection activities is what we call “eye time”, a life-changing practice of simply gazing into each other’s eyes with no distractions at the end of the day.

5. I prioritize rest and play.

There is a lot of pressure on leaders to get things done, and it is tempting to think this means longer, harder working hours. In fact, we can do our best work, and be better leaders, when we get enough rest and time away from work to fully recharge.

I know myself well enough to yield to my body’s need to sleep at least eight hours per night. Although I love my work, and often do it for fun, I am sure to schedule a weekly day off. This is one of the practices that I find to have the best results for my productivity and mental health. I also love to have fun, and I celebrate the mental health benefits this brings!

I make a point of bringing fun into my work, my training sessions and my teams. But in my free time, I also delight in the joy of simple games, especially when they involve outdoor activity. One of my recent rediscoveries was the pleasure of throwing and catching a frisbee with friends. It’s amazing how a bit of fun can melt away stress, get us laughing and release tension to recharge our mental health.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a mental health champion?

healed. This monthly gathering of intimate strangers has been an incredible resource for all of us to become The one that stands out immediately for me is the work of Brené Brown. When people ask me about leadership books, normally one of the top two or three that I will ever recommend is her Dare to Lead, because it brings together so many of those thoughts in all of her other books, but specifically with the leadership slant.

Marcus Buckingham’s assessments and books offer powerful direction that can enable better mental health at work and beyond. His latest, Love And Work, is probably another one that I would put right up at the top there because it also really plays into this idea of empowering people to thrive through their strengths.

The third is Global Storytelling Circles, a community that I co-facilitate with my colleague Michelle Clarke. This monthly international storytelling event has become a massive mental health boost for its participants around the world. What we’ve realised is that this has become a healing community, that our mental health issues are diminished as we tell our stories. As we listen to each other’s stories, both the listener and the teller are more resilient.

If you could tell other people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

To make a positive impact, you will need to step and take your rightful place as a leader. What I call a conscious leader. Conscious leadership is an approach to leadership where we take care of our globe, our societies, our people, our teams, and very importantly, ourselves. That’s the starting point for making a difference. And so engaging in positive mental health by starting with self and making your number one job, yourself, can have a ripple effect through all of society. It can raise up a new kind of leader that will be able to do things differently. The telling thing is that as we start to take care of ourselves automatically, we’re starting to have a bigger impact on everybody else, on the world and our society. That’s the legacy that we want to leave, and it always starts with self.

How can our readers follow you online?

Find me on your favourite social media platforms with the handle @totallymorpheus, or follow me directly on LinkedIn. To explore how conscious leadership can benefit you and your team, check out my YouTube channel at @totallymorpheus. And to boost your mental health by connecting with my conscious leadership community, join the free monthly Morpheus Intelligence Updates. Or simply drop in on my website at totallymorpheus.com to learn more.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!

About the Interviewer: Inspired by the father of PR, Edward Bernays (who was also Sigmund Freud’s nephew), Michelle Tennant Nicholson researches marketing, mental injury, and what it takes for optimal human development. An award-winning writer and publicist, she’s seen PR transition from typewriters to Twitter. Michelle co-founded WasabiPublicity.com.