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> Managing Pace
We can all reach back into our childhoods for the early lessons we’ve learned. When I was a boy my business experience was limited to managing a paper route. My uncle, who was a successful corporate executive, offered me some words of advice about business: “One of the most important things in business is managing pace. Think of business the way a marathon runner thinks of a big race. You have to know when to back off and when to push it. It doesn’t matter if you are leading at the beginning if you run out of steam at the end”.
Most successful senior executives understand how difficult pace is to manage. Most of us have been raised with a work ethic that rewards the hard working driver who puts in 15 hour days. However, it is only logical that running the engine at full throttle all the time isn’t healthy, or possible. Something will break eventually and the consequences can range from bad business results to serious health problems.
If you aren’t managing your own pace, it is almost certain that your people are feeling it. Common sense should prevail and it must start with you. Ask yourself these questions periodically. Do you wake up in the morning energized and positive about the day ahead? Are you smiling or frowning most of the time? How about your health? Have you been getting sick a lot or just not feeling good? Do you generally lift the spirits and enthusiasm of your people or simply raise their anxieties?
As a senior leader, the best barometer of how your people are feeling is you. If you are burned out, they probably are too, and you need to make some changes. Obviously, taking care of your physical health is important. But don’t forget that the mind and body are connected. Whatever you enjoy doing that provides relaxation and fun, build time in for it. Your people will appreciate it.
If this sounds too difficult to do or even naïve, you may want to consider my uncle’s wise words. Managing pace greatly increases your chance of crossing the finish line first.
Tim Stratman
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