High performance requires leaders to stay physically and psychologically fit, and many CEOs have to function under a soul crushing schedules. You don’t have to be a CEO to take care of yourself, but the fact is the more driven you are the harder it can get to prioritise your well-being.
It’s important to realise, that there is much more to high performance in business than just cognition.
Loehr and Schwartz (2001) developed The High Performance Pyramid already two decades ago addressing the problem with most approaches that were dealing with people only from the neck up. They taught that high performance in corporate environments isn’t just about the cognitive capacity, but a person as a whole including the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. A successful approach to high performance must pull all of those elements together.
How do some of the most successful CEOs in the world pull all of those elements together?
What does it take to oversee hundreds of employees globally, and create billions in revenue?
This is what we know.
Ana Botin (in the picture), Executive Chairman of the Santander Group, meticulously organises her agenda, prioritises her sleep and plays piano. She measures how much she eats, sleeps and how much she exercises. Some of her friends call her a little boring, but she disagrees, she calls herself: disciplined.
Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics explains that she recovers by getting the fundamentals right – eat right, sleep right and exercise; because executives are like athletes, corporate athletes.
Michael Fisher, a now retired CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital (non-profit) once said:
“Had I not taken care of myself and been consistent about it, there is no way I could have made it all these years in a role.”
What can you do to improve your performance and well-being, starting today?
Studies from neuroscience and psychology recommend developing discipline around fundamentals such as sleep, exercise and a short meditation.
Let’s look at each in turn.
SLEEP OPTIMISATION
Get optimal sleep at least 80% of the time. Sleep has been shown to relate to cognitive performance, physical performance, hormone out put etc. There is no tool that allows the cover-up of chronic sleep deprivation and lets you stay focused. At best you can get away with a couples of nights of bad sleep (Huberman, 2022).
EXERCISE
Choose cardio and/or resistance training of your choice. Majority of studies on brain health, longevity and performance focus on these type of exercises. You can opt for cardiovascular exercise that can be shorter in duration and higher in intensity, or longer in duration and lower in intensity. Resistance training is best performed using the gym equipment or by lifting weights. Generally, all forms of exercise are beneficial for your (brain) health (Huberman, 2022).
SHORT MEDITATION
Try a short form of meditation, by focusing on breathing. Just a 13 minutes meditation performed for 8 weeks significantly increases people’s focus and concentration abilities (Dr. Wendy Suzuki, Prof. of Psychology and Neuroscience at NYU ). (Note: this type of meditation interferes with sleep and is best avoided 4 hours before sleep) (Huberman, 2022).
Image:
Ana Patricia Botín, Presentation of results of the Banco Santander group, Madrid, 2016.
Sources:
CEO Excellence, Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, (2023). McKinsey.
Focus Toolkit: Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration | Huberman Lab Podcast #88. YouTube.