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Maintaining
our vitality
by Margot Cairnes
My hair's gone grey - that which
hasn't fallen out - and I'm tired, physically and
emotionally worn out," James was telling me. He did look
a lot older than his years. He'd been suffering bad
migraines, numbness in his limbs and back pains. He was
also a self-made millionaire, having built up a small
family company into one of the most successful privately
owned businesses in the country. A series of family
feuds and tragedies had however taken their toll on his
health and his emotional and spiritual wellbeing. He had
great plans for taking the business further, even
doubling its profits in the next few years, but he was
worried whether his health would allow him to go the
distance.
His story was familiar: "I've never been more exhausted
in my life," the director of a major multinational had
told me the week before. "The rate of change, the size
of the issues and the complexity - I just never seem to
stop, I'm hardly ever home, and when I am I just sit in
front of TV and veg out. All my colleagues and senior
managers are in the same state but nobody talks about
it, nobody wants to own up in case they are seen as
being weak."
Both these men had done intensive leadership courses at
leading institutions like Harvard, but issues of
sustainable peak performance had never been discussed.
It's almost as if in business the human being behind the
role is immaterial, of no consequence. 70-hour weeks
filled with constant activity, meeting demands, and
managing challenging issues and vexing relationships
without time for reflection, renewal and self-sustenance
can only lead to human wastage. This is of little
concern to corporations which increasingly treat people
as disposable goods. Those who wear out are simply
replaced with newer, fitter versions. In many
corporations you can't find anyone but board members who
are over 50. This isn't age discrimination but sound
business sense - if people have given their all they
have little left to contribute.
Increasingly we are told that we have to manage our own
careers, not expect mother corporation to look after us,
act as if we are our own bosses. In the one-person
corporation we are all our own product, we sell our
time, our ideas, our energy and our skills. It therefore
makes great strategic sense to ensure that we spend a
good deal of time on quality control and product
maintenance. This means that a key factor of strategic
success for any of us is that we ensure we are
physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally alive
at all times. None of us would knowingly travel in an
aeroplane that was not regularly serviced and well
maintained, and yet most of us fly through life without
investing sufficient time or energy in the key sources
of our livelihood (our spirit, mind, emotions and body).
If walking in nature, night fishing or listening to
music uplift your spirit, they are strategically vital
activities - much more important for sustainable
performance than spending that extra hour at the office.
Likewise working on your personal relationships with
family and friends is an investment in your ongoing
emotional wellbeing. We have all seen the fall in
productivity that happens after a divorce and yet we so
rarely translate that into spending quality time with
the people we love and working through issues to
strengthen those relationships that support and nurture
our humanity.
In my experience the people who put the time into their
ongoing mental and physical health and nurture their
spiritual and emotional growth not only outperform the
competition today but continue doing so for longer. They
have found the secret of sustainable peak performance.
Copyright
ã Margot
Cairnes
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