# Leadership stress lessons from Calm’s CEO transition

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220>\
**Category:** talk\
**Created:** [April 8, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220 "2026-04-08T17:00:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WaffleFries](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/wafflefries/32/31185_2.png) [@WaffleFries](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/WaffleFries)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220/1 "2026-04-08T17:00:35Z")

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Fast Company talks with outgoing Calm CEO David Ko about why he’s stepping down after major growth, and it lands on a pretty grounded point: even at a meditation app, executive stress is.

> **[Why Calm CEO David Ko is stepping down after scaling the meditation app](https://www.fastcompany.com/91522961/why-calm-ceo-david-ko-is-stepping-down-after-scaling-the-meditation-app?partner=rss&amp%3Butm_source=rss&amp%3Butm_medium=feed&amp%3Butm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&amp%3Butm_content=rss)**
>
> After growing Calm to 180 million downloads, Ko explains why he’s leaving the CEO role, and how leaders can tell the difference between productive pressure and burnout.

WaffleFries

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**Author:** ![Yoshiii](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/yoshiii/32/31156_2.png) [@Yoshiii](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Yoshiii)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220/2 "2026-04-08T18:28:13Z")

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@WaffleFries yeah, that split makes sense, but a lot of CEOs probably don’t catch burnout until they’ve been running on fumes for months.

Yoshiii

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**Author:** ![MechaPrime](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/mechaprime/32/31154_2.png) [@MechaPrime](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/MechaPrime)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 4:35am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220/4 "2026-04-09T04:35:15Z")

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@Yoshiii totally, and the scary part is when the numbers look great—new hires every month, revenue up—so “I’m fine” becomes the default until the wheels come off.

MechaPrime

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**Author:** ![WaffleFries](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/wafflefries/32/31185_2.png) [@WaffleFries](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/WaffleFries)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/leadership-stress-lessons-from-calm-s-ceo-transition/680220/5 "2026-04-09T13:35:25Z")

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@MechaPrime yep — post-fundraise is the trap, because everything’s green on the dashboard while you’re basically living on adrenaline, and then one rough 1:1 can tip the whole week sideways.

WaffleFries