The Liberty in Finding Balance

I have been lucky enough to learn a great deal in my 10 years as Chief Executive Officer of Russell Reynolds Associates, but the experiences I have had in my final year in the role were perhaps the most fulfilling of all. A standout for me was the time I spent sitting behind the mic as a co-host of our podcast, Redefiners . Now as I return to my role as a consultant advising clients full time again, I have found myself reassessing my own balance, and reflecting back to a recent podcast interview with Hintsa Performance CEO Annastiina Hintsa, when she talked a lot about healthy thinking and living for performance-driven managers, especially CEOs.

Hintsa shared a story of her father, who founded their coaching firm in Ethiopia with clients that included entrepreneurs, politicians, Olympic athletes and now top CEOs. Hintsa’s father is an orthopedic surgeon, and he was ushering Olympic runner Haile Gebrselassie into an operating room to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon ahead of the Athens Olympics. He was very nervous with so much at stake; the future of this runner’s ability to compete was in his hands. Before the operation got underway, Gebrselassie looked up at Dr. Hintsa and said, “Chill out. It’s just running.” The takeaway for an astounded Dr. Hintsa was that while running was the passion for this athlete, it was not his whole life. Running is not what defined him.

Holistic health and well-being are the foundation for a balanced life and better performance overall. Think about it; if you are a 20-hour work-day manager, your health will be compromised. If your health is compromised, you won’t be able to operate at the highest levels required for a CEO for very long. Likewise, if we channel our energy to the maneuvers of corporate blood sport that can dominate companies, that will consume our thinking rather than prioritizing the performance of the enterprise and well-being of employees.

For me, sleep and exercise have been central to finding balance. Even during a trip to Asia or Europe, I have found that a run or swim at any point during the day leads to better sleep at night. One of my older brothers has long said “Sleep is a weapon; it can be used for you or against you.” He was right. To me, sleep balances everything.

It is more important than ever to find that balance, with work, family and other passions. As leaders, we should want to inspire our teams to do the same, and it is our responsibility to set an example.

Have you ever driven a car when the tires were unbalanced? Taken a bicycle out for a ride only to find that the wheels are not properly balanced? Gone for a run with a strained foot or knee? Performance suffers and bad things happen for the long term without proper balance.

The metaphor holds especially true for the life of a CEO. The most successful CEOs have come to learn to work smarter, that having a more balanced life, leading collaborative teams and successfully delegating to the fully capable leaders around them is a far sounder plan than burning the candle on both ends and dragging others down along the way.

In other words, “Chill Out. It’s just running.”