Founder Mental Breakdowns Result From Cumulative Neglect, Not Isolated Triggers
Levi King · Leading Authentically: Levi King’s Journey from Entrepreneur to Fintech Innovator · Jun 4, 2025 · at 39:06
Levi King, co-founder and CEO of Nav, discusses executive burnout and the importance of proactively maintaining mental health.
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“That's like the 50 year old that bends over to pick up a pencil and their back goes out. It wasn't picking up the pencil. It was an accumulation of not taking care of your back. And she's like, you haven't done that for your mind. But those were some dark, dark times, and that's why I'm so open about it now, because I felt ashamed, like, I didn't ask for it, like, I'm not ashamed, I have a heart, a birth heart defect, I'm not ashamed, like, I didn't ask for that, and so that, that's the message I would give to my younger self, is figure out mental health, and get ahead of it, and don't take it for granted, because when it breaks, it'll put you in a dark spot, and it's a deep hole that's hard to dig out of, you can dig out of it, but it's Better to never fall in that hole to begin with.”
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