I first saw reference to this study in the Toronto Globe and Mail, where the article ran under this headline: "Even tougher than a divorce? Climbing the ladder, a survey finds."  Now wire services have picked up the issue and it's getting lots of play.  Here's how the Globe and Mail put it.

"'Congratulations' seems like the natural response when someone gets promoted to boss. But a study has found that, for some, taking on a leadership position at work tops divorce, bereavement and relocation as life's most stressful event.  The study, conducted last year by global human resources consulting firm DDI, asked 385 Americans in front-line operational and strategic roles about their experiences when they first moved to supervisory and executive positions. Nearly one in five of respondents - 19 per cent - rated their promotion as the biggest life challenge they had faced, ahead of personal stresses, such as coping with the death of a loved one (14.8 per cent), collapse of a marriage (11.4 per cent), the upheaval of moving (9.9 per cent), and managing teenagers (8.6 per cent). Management consultant Edmond Mellina, president of Transitus Inc., said he was surprised by the results."

Unlike Mr. Mellina, I'm not all that surprised.  Granted, this does sound a little like those surveys that find that people fear public speaking more than death, but that doesn't diminish the difficulty of moving from being an individual contributor to being a boss.  Here's why it's so tough.

Your role changes. Suddenly you're one of the dumb bosses you've complained about. You have met the enemy and he is you.

Your support group changes. You might have to supervise people you used to work with. Some of them used to be your friends. Some may still be. In the meantime, your peer group has shifted to people you hardly know.

The things that used to work are now a recipe for failure. You used to have power. If you wanted a better evaluation, all you had to do was work harder or smarter. But now you've got to achieve things through your team. Continuing to work the way that made you successful will only drag the team, and you, down.

You were probably promoted for the wrong reasons. Most companies do a lousy job of promoting people. You were probably promoted because you were a good worker that people liked. It's a good bet nobody evaluated whether you like to help others succeed, whether you were willing to be accountable for the actions of others, whether you can make decisions or whether you're comfortable confronting people about behavior and performance.

You probably accepted for the wrong reasons. Most companies don't have an "individual contributor track." You probably saw management as the only way to increased salary and prestige. You were probably right.

The transition takes longer than you think. You're probably thinking you'll get the hang of this boss thing in a couple of weeks.  But my research says the transition period is going to be twelve to eighteen months.

You aren't likely to get help. Very few new bosses get training in how to be a boss. The training that is offered is mostly in form-filling and other administrivia.  There's also not likely to be any formalized support for you when you're back on your new job. 

You know, maybe getting promoted is harder than divorce.

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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

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