Why do leaders often fail to FUEL how they lead?

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: YOU ARE A GENETIC ENGINEER!

When my colleague, Dr. Mike Roizen, M.D., blurted these words during a recent conversation, his enthusiasm was contagious. As emeritus Chief Wellness Officer of The Cleveland Clinic and longevity expert, he reminded me that while 25-30% of how genes affect our health and wellbeing is based on heredity, the rest is shaped by how we live and work. Our thoughts, beliefs about stress, relationships, and everyday habits not only form our experiences, effectiveness, and ability to adapt and evolve; they are among vital epigenetic inputs affecting the expression of our genes .?

If these percentages are even close to realistic, that means 70-75% of your gene expression can be actively influenced by your lifestyle. When your grandma, ya-ya, or abuela said “eat your greens!” and “don’t go to bed mad!”, we now know she was speaking truth on a molecular level. You have more power than you may realize to live and lead from a foundation of health and wellbeing.

THEN WHY DO LEADERS OFTEN FAIL TO FUEL HOW THEY LEAD?

When examining leaders’ wellbeing and stress resilience, my team at Wisdom Works repeatedly finds basic wellness behaviors lacking. For instance, our recent work using the Be Well Lead Well Pulse? assessment with 200+ healthcare leaders showed that only 9% intentionally used FUEL (one of six key wellbeing dimensions we measure) to productively manage their stress and energy, optimize their cognitive and task performance, maximize their physiological and psychological health, and thrive in life overall. That’s a whopping 91% of leaders who aren’t actively using FUEL as part of their leadership toolkit.

This would be a poor enough statistic if it only impacted the leader individually. Not so! As a leader, your attitudes, energy, and behaviors have a direct effect on the stress levels and performance of the people you touch, plus you’re the linchpin for cultivating a life-enhancing work culture that’s essential to the total employee experience . Failing to FUEL well is a lost opportunity for you and your team—and likely your relationships at home.

What do I mean by FUEL? I mean the proactive and strategic use of how you eat, move, rest, and breathe to thrive in your life and leadership. Many leaders consider these behaviors an afterthought, something they’ll get to when life finally slows down. They’re unable to capitalize on FUEL for a sustained and balanced source of physical, mental, and emotional energy—an indispensable leadership asset.

Simply put: Learning to use FUEL purposefully is one of the six essential shifts you can make to amplify thriving in your team and organization, starting with yourself.

Here are additional resources you’ll find interesting…

• The new book, The Great Age Reboot , views longevity as an enormous disrupter. The authors envision a future where 90 is the new 40 due to life-prolonging medical breakthroughs and wellness lifestyles, and they believe living longer will have profound implications for societies and economies—and the workforce energizing your company.
• Healthy FUEL behaviors are a significant factor in leaders’ abilities to lead from an inspiring vision and purpose, as well as experience wellbeing and flow at work. Learn more when you check out our study, Leader Fuel Predicts Flow at Work , published in the Management Research Review with co-author Dr. Don Gardner, management professor from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

HERE’S WHAT ELSE I’M EXPLORING: INNOVATIVE FUEL PRACTICES YOU CAN USE NOW

Cultures around the world have long known that eating well, getting plenty of physical activity throughout the day, enjoying high quality sleep, and breathing mindfully contribute to physiological and psychological vitality. Wise leaders have a personalized FUEL strategy that’s part of their daily routine, and they coach their teams to do the same.

How are leaders using FUEL to enhance their leadership?

Here are four innovative, zero-cost FUEL practices to test for yourself:

1. EATING FOR FUEL. Use your gut to regulate your emotions: When Naomi, a beverage company executive I coached, complained of brain fog, anxiety, and reactiveness, we both knew these were signals of her experiencing too much stress. One of her strategies for boosting her cognitive and emotional wellbeing was to nurture a healthier gut microbiome. Why? Because recent evidence points to the gut microbiome as a key player in mental and physical health. Plus, gut microbiome diversity is linked to important personal leadership qualities, such as an openness and enjoyment of trying new things , emotional regulation, and higher levels of wisdom, compassion and social support . Eating a plant-forward diet, along with fermented foods (e.g., yogurt, kimchi, kombucha) and whole grains, are among vital methods to build a thriving microbiome in your gut. What EATING FOR FUEL strategies can you adopt today to regulate your emotions through your gut?
2. MOVING FOR FUEL. Lead an inclusive walk: Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs may have made walking meetings trendy years ago, but today they’re here to stay. Walking improves cognitive, physical, and emotional vigor and mood, boosts creativity by 81-100%, breaks down barriers of hierarchy, and builds openness and trust between people. A 2022 meta-study in The Lancet also reports that raising the step count from 3,000 to 7,000 per day reduces mortality risk by 50% for people over 50. Hold your next team meeting by strolling—that is, walking or rolling—together and gain fresh perspectives from each other as well as your surroundings. If you’re working remotely, do an audio-only walking meeting . Or, take a personal, 10-minute awe walk to use MOVING FOR FUEL to restore yourself.
3. RESTING FOR FUEL. Enjoy non-sleep deep rest: Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai swears by it. NSDR, such as yoga nidra or self-hypnosis, is a method of mental focus, done usually for 10-20 minutes, which you can incorporate into your day to relax, reduce reactivity and anxiety, ease pain, and gain clarity and calm. (I personally use a NSDR protocol in the early afternoon to reset my energy for the remainder of my day.) Because of its link to neuroplasticity, you can use NSDR immediately following a bout of learning to embody a new skill more rapidly. Dive into the science of NSDR in this interview with Stanford neurobiologist Andrew Huberman on The Tim Ferriss Show, and experiment with this RESTING FOR FUEL practice for yourself.
4. BREATHING FOR FUEL. Energize your leadership with breath: You come into this world with an inhalation and leave it with an exhalation. In between these two incredible moments, breath is one of the most potent wellbeing leadership tools you have. Controlled breathing, often known as yogic breath or mindful breathing, can reduce chronic pain, lessen insomnia, and positively affect your immune system ; plus, it helps you regulate your emotions, diminish impulsivity, counter gene expression changes that cause stress , and keeps your brain sharp. BREATHING FOR FUEL is simply a gateway to better leadership. Try out these breath practices to find out for yourself—or better yet, bring a breath practice into your next meeting to support the wellbeing of your team.

The Be Well Lead Well Pulse? assessment system includes a collection of close to 100 macro- and micro-practices, like those offered above, to enrich your capacity to thrive and amplify thriving within your team and organization. Contact us to work with a Be Well Lead Well Pulse? Certified practitioner in your world region, and learn more about our programs for getting certified to use Be Well Lead Well Pulse? wherever you lead.

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