Do Wellness and Leadership Mix?

As Managers, Leaders and Entrepreneurs we sometimes think about the needs of our people and employees more often than we think about our own needs. 

We think about others’ capabilities to produce and ability to get along with the team. We also think about their ability to cope with their responsibilities, their ability to deal with stress, and grow. We may even think about an employee’s longevity. When we term this with an organizational “name” we call it Talent Management.

Talent Management and Health are not all that different.

When we turn these same questions back toward ourselves, the name we give it changes to Personal Health. Just for the moment, let’s put thoughts about our employees to the side. Take a moment and think about yourself as a Leader. Does your own ability to cope and grow right now make you feel stimulated, excited, and alive? Or, do you feel slightly tired and maybe you need to recharge? You might even feel really tired or nothing at all.

Any of these - or whatever the feeling may be - is a reflection of not only your energy level but also your wellbeing, i.e. health. While this isn’t Earth shattering information, it can be a good reminder that the mind-body senses are feeding you information about your current state-of-being and health at any given moment.

What does it matter?

After coaching many corporate leaders and entrepreneurs over the last couple of decades, I’ve noticed that most of them (men and women) hold a belief that to be successful, to lead well, and produce much they have to give up their health. Of course, they don’t necessarily think of it in this very direct way. The idea takes the form of some of these statements I hear frequently.

“I travel a lot, so I have a hard time eating well.”

“I won’t be able to exercise much until this ________ is done.”

“I intended to start _______, once that project was over, but of course something came up right behind it.”

“I can’t think about it now, because ______.”

In other words, I’ll work on it later. This is how you lose your health, little by little, or perhaps suddenly and all at once. These types of messages tell the body and mind that You are not as important as work, employees, clients, bosses or the Board - or whatever It may be. The message your mind-body learns is that you only deserve to feel vital and energized for short periods of time, like in between work steps and career leaps. The Self, called You, learns that health is recreation and not a resource. Recreation happens when work is done. Leaders are rarely finished with work. 

Understand that Health is a resource.

Health is a concept for the high level functionality of your body, brain, mental and emotional capacities. When someone is functioning highly and astutely on all of these levels, health has a second name. Vitality.  When it all comes together, it’s the experience of feeling truly alive with all of your senses and capacities. All systems are a “Go”.

Vitality is the highest human state when your whole body, brain, mental and emotional capacities are ready and willing to serve you. It’s the highest human state giving you immediate access to draw on all of your talents, capabilities, knowledge, energy, wisdom, patience, resiliency, hope – all necessary qualities - to navigate, lead and achieve.

When we’re talking about Talent Management and Personal Health, they intersect at the point where both are growing, together. Science calls that a symbiotic relationship. Organizations receive industry awards for it, called “Great Place to Work”, and employees just call it a “joy to go to work”.

A healthy business with healthy leaders has deep resources to increase powerful impact in the community, markets and the globe.

Personal Leadership is a necessity.

Stay with me for just another moment. When you take care of the needs of the organization, clients and employees are you being a Leader? When you work to ensure that they are all growing in the right direction do you call that Leadership, as well? And at times, as a leader, do you draw on outside resources to help your team achieve that next goal, milestone or initiative?

Let me ask, then, does it make sense to remember that you are your own Personal Leader? And as the Leader, you have the authority and where-with-all to seek any assistance needed to prioritize, grow and improve your own health as a personal resource – remembering you are a vital resource for your team, organization, family and community. 

A decision to develop more mastery as your own Personal Leader and building the courage to treat yourself as a vital resource can be very motivating towards prioritizing and investing time, attention and energy into becoming even more highly functional, highly creative, and a more effective Leader.

Does wellness and leadership mix? The two are separate and inseparable, different and still be the same. It’s a symbiotic relationship.  

Written by Miki Jo Resto, Vice President & Senior Consultant VPI Strategies & Bright Talent, Inc- Miki Jo is a Business Leader who increases company value in the market place through Talent Strategy and Organizational Development. As a Senior Advisor and Consultant, she partners with business owners and executives to create and strategize competitive advantage through leveraging human capital, organizational talent, and organizational development. She directs and leads major initiatives, with change and implementation strategy, across the global organization. Miki Jo’s Bachelor’s Degree is Marketing Communications, from Colorado State University, and she attended Antioch University as an M.A. student in Organizational Psychology. She holds certifications that range across organizational resources and leadership assessment, strategic action planning, team conflict assessment and management, and leadership coaching.

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