However, when Mycoskie sold a 50% share of the company, valued at $625 million<\/a>, to Bain Capital in 2014 and stepped back from his leadership role to become the company\u2019s \u201cChief Shoe Giver,\u201d he learned that entrepreneurial success only gets you so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI lost a lot of my clear meaning and purpose,\u201d Mycoskie tells Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the last decade, Mycoskie has dealt with periods of depression and loneliness, mainly due to how tightly he had tethered his identity to the brand he once helmed. In a 2016 op-ed<\/a> in the Harvard Business Review, Mycoskie wrote that he began feeling \u201cdisillusioned\u201d despite immense success. \u201cI had lost my connection to many of the executives who were running daily operations. What had once been my reason for being now felt like a job.\u201d At the time, he had taken a sabbatical to think about his next steps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He concluded the op-ed optimistic about his goal to expand Toms to a roastery business, donating water to those in need with every coffee bag sold, but his loneliness and depression persisted.<\/p>\n Mycoskie\u2019s loneliness also stems from being somewhat of a nomad. Having recently settled down in the Bay Area with his family, he says he doesn\u2019t have the close friendships he desires.\u00a0<\/p>\n His feelings of disconnection finally propelled Mycosckie, who, in March of this year, learned from a friend about a three-day all-men\u2019s retreat in Austin, Texas, hosted by Junto<\/a>, a community for men to improve their mental health. He signed up and packed his bags.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was introduced to other men, many entrepreneurs like himself. Mycoskie participated in exercises around emotional intelligence, relational leadership, and personal integrity\u2014Junto\u2019s three pillars of nonviolent communication. Facilitators talked with the men about how to have difficult conversations, especially with a partner, how to observe versus judge, talk about feelings rather than turn to anger, and how to articulate needs and requests. \u201cThat was something I had never heard of,\u201d Mycoskie says. \u201cWe each brought up an example in our life where [conflict] would happen. It gave us a real model that we can use both in work and leadership, with coworkers, employees, and boards of directors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Finding connections and community may have been more beneficial for Mycoskie than that sabbatical from work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat caused me to go is just kind of feeling a little bit stuck and a little bit in a rut,\u201d he says. The retreat didn\u2019t focus on men\u2019s physical strengths or professional resum\u00e9s: They spoke of their challenges, not their titles. \u201cWe were asked not to talk at all about what we do,\u201d he says. That was a really powerful thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mycoskie\u2019s experience is not <\/a>an isolated one. Everyone, no matter their gender identity and title, can face loneliness, and underrepresented employees experience far more barriers to the corner office. However, male leaders say they feel disconnected and face immense pressure to represent the stereotypical, emotionless tough guy.<\/p>\n Andrew Horn founded Junto in 2017 after noticing a critical need for connection among men, which has become more apparent amid the broader loneliness epidemic<\/a>\u201440% of men say they never talk about their mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n Retreats are becoming one way to fill in the gap as more men are open to finding spaces to connect and be emotionally vulnerable\u2014many for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n After hosting his first event with eight men in New York City, Horn saw the transformative power of feeling connected and aimed to help men show up authentically in the spaces they live, work, and serve in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was just a level of realness that came out of it,\u201d he tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cFrom that first moment, I felt so clear that there was something special about this type of space where men could come together to be completely transparent.\u201d<\/p>\nLoneliness in the corner office\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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