Attribute accurately. Own the result publicly.

One of the hardest parts of being a CEO is managing the emotional roller coaster. Good results make you feel ecstatic. Bad results make you question everything. It's exhausting.

And even worse, you can't wear the ups and downs on your sleeve. A crucial part of the CEO role is providing emotional stability to the team and the board.

So most CEOs suffer in silence. They put on a face for the outside world and feel entirely alone on the inside.

The most common solutions treat the symptoms. Some CEOs try to detach emotionally from results, which is impossible in the job. Some learn to suppress their emotions and go cold; there's no faster way to lose the team. Others accept that suffering is simply part of the role. It isn't.

There's a better way. And it's practicing correct attribution.

Every result is a mixture of three things. The actions you took. The causes and conditions around your actions. And randomness.

The skill is to correctly identify that blend for every major result.

Here's an example. A client of mine decided to overhaul his sales team. He was not getting the results the private equity firm expected, and had to make a change. So he hired new leadership, changed the org structure, and shifted job responsibilities.

The results were bad. The PE firm was apoplectic.

He came to me in a dark place. He was wondering whether he could do the job, and whether he should just quit. The team and board saw that he was morose, and they were questioning his leadership. It was snowballing. A bad stretch was turning into something worse.

When we looked at what had actually happened, the picture looked different. There were external factors, including an entire industry that had been in sharp decline. There were pieces of bad luck: right before the reorg, two of his best salespeople left for great offers elsewhere. And of course, he did make mistakes. Like every CEO does.

The result was still a failure. But the honest split was something like 25 percent him, 45 percent external conditions, and 30 percent randomness.

When he understood the true causes, his attitude changed. He realized that every result he achieved, good or bad, was not a referendum on him. That gave him the confidence to get back to work.

Attribution is never an excuse. A CEO must take accountability for all results, no matter their contribution. Attribution is for the CEO's own mind. It is not for anyone else.

When CEOs take the time to practice correct attribution, they usually find they have a smaller role in outcomes than they expected. The highs and lows even out. There is less to carry alone. And that allows them to find greater peace.

Attribute accurately. Own the result publicly. And accept that most things are not about you.