 As we headed into the holiday season, I encouraged the CEOs, presidents and owners I work and interact with to make time to rest and recharge.
2020 was a strange and especially stressful year for many of us. And I think we can all benefit from making self-care a higher priority as we start off the new year. This will benefit us certainly, and also our leadership teams, companies and communities. One excellent resource is a book I use with CEOs that represents, what I believe, is the missing link for CEOs of mid-sized growth companies. Written by my colleague, senior Gravitas Impact coach, Kevin Lawrence in Vancouver BC, Your Oxygen Mask First is a breakthrough in the art of leadership, self-management AND self-care. We can find dozens of fantastic books and tools to learn the nuts and bolts of growing a successful company. And there are a few methodologies, like our Scaling Up method and 7 Attributes of Agile Growth, that bring many of those essential tools together to make them more accessible for mid-size companies. However, the missing link is the CEO factor: the leader themselves and their skills for taking care of themselves first, so they can take better care of their people and their business. Your Oxygen Mask First makes clear that it’s a myth that CEOs can build successful companies sustainably by putting everyone else first. In truth, this leads to burn-out and tragedy. It’s a dirty secret we need to talk about. Kevin wrote Your Oxygen Mask First based on the experiences and tools he gained over 20 years as a coach and advisor. The book covers the 17 habits Kevin has tried and tested for leaders to lead well AND take care of themselves, so they have a great company AND a great life. I highly recommend it to any CEO, president or executive leader. Book: 231 pgs, 3h46m audio. Find the book, ebook and audible book here. Are you ready to grow a great top team, company and life? Try our complimentary Growth Fitness Self-Assessment to find out where you, your leadership team and company shine and where you could improve in order to grow, improve profitability, consistency and your quality of life.  2020 will go down in the history books...the world’s history books, and our own business and personal history books. We navigated a pandemic, an early lockdown, a reopening, a summer season where we made the most of being outdoors, the anxiety of kids going back to school, a partial lockdown, and now a uniquely isolated holiday season...all while readjusting every few weeks to the evolving requirements of staying safe and keeping others safe. It’s been tough on your family, on your leaders and your staff. And, let’s face it, it’s been tough on us as owners and CEOs as well. Prolonged, intense, invisible stress All that stress flowing through our bodies for extended periods of time - hours, days, sometimes weeks on end - is hard on the body. We may not realize it. We may be numb to it. That’s by design. When we’re in a state of intense stress, our body fills us with the chemicals needed to keep going and fight the battle - adrenaline and cortisol. This can also numb our emotions and our body sensations. So we don’t even know what toll it’s taking until we slow down. For some of us, myself included, slowing down is hard. So we maybe haven’t yet actually felt how we’re doing. Here’s the rub. We can’t keep it up over the long haul. Our bodies only have a limited amount of adrenaline to draw from. As we use it up, it contributes to aging. We lose energy and our ability to respond in challenging situations. There’s a name for this: Adrenal Fatigue...also called exhaustion. And here’s the thing. The battle isn’t over. 2021 won’t be magically better Obviously, we all want to continue to move our businesses forward, improve, grow, and build something great. But this pandemic also isn’t over. Yes, a vaccine is starting to be distributed in Canada. Yet, the process and the uncertainties that go along with it means there’s still a long road ahead until we’re out of the woods. McKinsey & Company’s latest report of their ongoing meta-study forecasts that “the United States will most likely reach an epidemiological end to the pandemic (herd immunity) in Q3 or Q4 2021”. There’s no real reason Canada should expect it any sooner. There will be more challenges, more evolving restrictions to adjust to, and the continuing need to manage the risk of COVID-19 in our workplaces and homes. This means demand uncertainty, supply-chain variability and internal operational risks will continue for some time. So, while we may be happily turning the page on a tough year, the brutal facts are that 2021 is likely to be pretty challenging as well. We have to recharge! This holiday season is that time to slow down, feel how we’re actually doing, and give those adrenal glands a break to restore their proper function. We may be disappointed that we won’t get to see extended family or friends over the Christmas break. But there’s a silver lining. That gives us the space to get some time to ourselves. The best cure for fatigue...sleep! And lots of it. Naps. Quiet time. Long baths or dips in the hot tub. Leisurely walks. Or just sitting still. This is hard for us A types. But it’s essential. Our bodies, minds, resilience, effectiveness and strategic thinking depend on it… not to mention our families, businesses and communities. This means putting everything off that isn’t absolutely necessary, including odd jobs around the house, personal research or getting our finances in order. And what’s really necessary over the holidays? Certainly, we’ll have family time, give gifts and connect with loved ones via video calls. But the work at the office will still be there when we get back after New Year’s Day. It’s not going anywhere. We won’t misplace it or forget what there is to do. Let’s take this time between Christmas and New Year’s to put ourselves first, so we can be at our best for 2021. Happy holidays to all my clients, colleagues, friends and acquaintances. And above all, Merry Recharging! Are you ready to grow a great top team, company and life?
Try our Growth Fitness Self-Assessment to find out where you, your leadership team and company shine and where you could improve in order to grow, improve profitability, consistency and your quality of life.  ‘‘My goal was to distill my life’s work on great companies into a single ‘map'.’’ Jim Collins BE EQUIPPED WITH THE ROADMAP TO GREATNESS HEAR FROM GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADER, JIM COLLINS As a part of the Wellspring Growth Systems network, you can save $50 on tickets. Register here. See best-selling author of Good to Great, JIM COLLINS at his live global virtual event: Jim Collins - The Roadmap To Greatness on Wednesday 17 February 2021 All New Findings & World-Changing Insights Coinciding with the release of his new book, BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0). business leaders and their teams will be among the first to receive Jim Collins’ highly anticipated business-changing framework, “The Map”. A one-page framework, The Map distills 30 years of Jim’s revolutionary Good to Great® concepts into a single roadmap to build an extraordinary organisation; one that sustains high performance, leads and shapes its industry and remains great for generations. SECURE YOUR 'FRONT ROW' SEAT IN THIS IMMERSIVE EVENT One of only five business authors in history to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide, Jim has authored six best-selling books, but his appearances are rare. This live virtual event provides direct access to Jim for 2.5 hours of deep learning, allowing time for Q & A on how Jim’s extraordinary guide to business success can be implemented into your company in 2021. YOU WILL LEARN: Drawing on three decades of rigorous research, Jim will equip you with:
Align your leadership team with the most significant thought leader of our time. YOU'LL LOVE THE INNOVATIVE VIRTUAL VENUE Jim Collins will present live in real-time via The Growth Faculty's bespoke virtual venue. Developed for Jim’s Good to Great® event this year, over 4000 business leaders rated the virtual venue experience as 9.5/10. TAKE A SNEAK PEEK HERE PAST DELEGATES OF JIM COLLINS SAID...
TAKE YOUR BUSINESS FROM GOOD TO GREAT.  STANDARD RATE: $295 | OUR NETWORK: $245 Wednesday 17 February 2021, 10am to 1pm CST |
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