Being terrified but going ahead and doing what needs to be done, that’s courage. The one who feels no fear is a fool, and the one who let’s fear rule him is a coward. – Piers Anthony on ‘courage’.
Santander’s CEO Ana Botín (not in the picture :-)) meticulously organises her agenda, prioritises sleep, and plays the piano. She measures what she eats, how much sleeps and how much she exercises. Some of her friends find her disciplined way a bit boring. But she doesn’t think so; she is just very disciplined.
Senior jobs are 24/7. One of the biggest challenges of being a CEO, a leader, a person in charge of your own your own success and that of others, is taking care of yourself – consistently. Many CEO find this topic essential for discussion as well as daunting to describe.
It comes down to making daily choices about your personal well-being and effectiveness. It comes down discipline and self-management.
There are three dimension of personal effectiveness (McKinsey):
1. Managing time & energy (this post)
2. Deciding on how you want to lead
3. Maintaining perspective.
When it comes to managing time and energy, it’s practical to borrow dynamics of rest-motion from sports. For example, the key to bodybuilding is to fluctuate between energy expenditure and recovery; in tennis, best competitors use specific recovery ritual that dramatically lowers their heart rate by 20%; in golf, one of the most esteemed golfer of all time Jack Nicklaus once said that he has developed a ritual that allows him to “move from peaks of concentration into valleys of relaxation and back again as necessary”.
CEOs job will always be bigger than the CEO himself and some agree that the the longer your spend on a task the returns become diminished. For example, Kasper Rørsted CEO Adidas and former Henkel is a firm believer in creating time constraints with a strict modus operandi.
Research shows that majority of top CEOs:
1. Keep a tight but flexible schedule.
They plan ahead and keep track of meeting their goals, as well as build-in time for thinking and reflecting on important issues.
2. Compartmentalise, and ‘be’ in the moment.
They stay focused on the issue at hand without dragging the past or the future in it. They isolate the problem and deal with one thing at the time whether at work, or at home.
3. Manage energy.
Besides managing time, they also manage their energy expenditure by considering when are they at their best; What gives them energy, and what protracts from it; how do they prefer do recharge.
4. Use staff support.
They get someone such as chief of staff, to make sure their agenda is executed.
Getting promoted, communicating, building relationship, leading change while also traveling and working in different time zones; managing time and energy can feel like a roller coaster even to the best of the best.
As Former/President CEO Michael Fisher from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the longest serving CEO is the Cincinnati area, once said “Had I not taken care of myself and been consistent about it, there’s no way I could have made it ten years in this role.
So take care of yourself, if you want to make it.
Source: Dewar C, Keller S, Malhotra V (2019) CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders From The Rest. Scribner.
Image: Alamy, Simon Baker for Margin Call, 2011.