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Today’s bonus episode of Agile Business Athlete is a little different. This is an episode of The Agenda that I appeared on recently where I discussed my background, what companies need to think about, and the importance of wellbeing within companies.
Around 10 years ago I was a super stressed executive struggling with my mental and physical health. As an account director for various marketing companies, I loved the prestige and salary that came along with it, but I felt inauthentic. I felt like Sisyphus rolling the boulder over and over.
It seemed like a quick decision to suddenly leave my job and pursue something more in line with my values, but it was 10 years in the making. Over time, I created the Agile Business Athlete approach, applying athletic preparation and recovery principles to business. Predict, prepare, perform, recover are at the core of this approach.
Many leaders expect themselves to perform at Wimbledon levels all year round, but it simply isn’t sustainable. You need to make time to recover mentally and physically. You have to give yourself permission to recover and work slivers of it into your day. Even the most time-pressed executives can build in moments of recovery.
How can whole organizations support this wellbeing? It’s about creating a culture of wellbeing. Leaders need to show and lead by example. The pandemic has had a huge effect on mental health, and businesses need to understand and recognize the ebb and flow of work and life.
Making small changes over time will make a huge difference. Making incremental shifts on different behaviours is key to embedding wellbeing. The time is now to make these changes. The world has drastically changed in a short amount of time and it’s imperative that companies catch up.
