LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP AND LIFE
On a crisp October morning, when the sky is flawlessly blue and serves as a backdrop for radiant autumn colors, two young boys play with cardboard boxes in an apple orchard, laughing, skipping, jumping, and running with delight. How rewarding to see this rare image of “kids” doing “kid things” instead of being holed up on a couch in some obscure corner of the house playing video games or texting on the phone.
Many aspects of our modern world, disguised as benevolence, impede our struggles to maintain good health and well-being. Delicious food and drink are plentiful, convenient, and cheap. An abundance of fast-food restaurants serve oodles of processed and tasty foods laden with fats, sugars, and salts — all so very addictive.
Making this calamity of enticement toward overconsumption of bad foods worse, we don’t even have to exert any effort to obtain them. DoorDash or Uber Eats will do that for us. And what’s more, we don’t even have to talk to anyone. It’s almost like magic.
Adding this treachery to human health and well-being is a hodgepodge of entertainment through mass media and streaming services delivered to our homes as we relax on the couch, bed, or easy chair. We never need to make any physical effort to leave home to view top-notch adventure, comedy, and drama. In fact, automation of just about anything reduces our physical work. We now have robots that clean our homes and pools.
Finally, in this infinite state of quasi-Utopia, if we don’t feel well or want to slim down, we just take pills (chemicals), and if we can’t sleep because we aren’t tired from all the relaxation, we take more pills.
Our raison d’etre in the 21st century is to exert less effort to reap greater benefits and experience easier, more pleasurable lives.
CONSEQUENCES OF LEISURE LIVES
All this leisure has consequences. It supports lifestyles that have resulted in a massive epidemic of obesity, the gateway to many chronic diseases. Medical literature reports the adult obesity rate in the United States to be more than 40%. Not far behind are children, with some reports declaring a 20% increase in obesity. (These kids aren’t playing outside!) This means chronic diseases are here to stay.
Combine this societal way of life with the significant mental health challenges that physicians face from the nature of our high-stress workload. Burnout, depression, and alcoholism may abound, making our profession at risk for shortened life and health span, poor work performance, and subpar leadership.
Surely this endangers and erodes the integrity of our profession. So, how can we stay effective as doctors and leaders, considering these challenges to our health? The answer is within our control.
PROMOTING OUR WELL-BEING
Well-being, according to one AI description, is a complex and multifaceted state of being that encompasses a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and social health, as well as overall life satisfaction.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to be in the very best state of well-being so that we may perform at a top level. Our patients rely on doctors to be at peak performance. To put it bluntly, it is truly a matter of life and death.
Being fit is a key component of well-being. It should become a way of life — a habit, a daily routine, just like brushing your teeth, eating, or sleeping. Over many years, I’ve developed a range of physical and mental routines through exercise, reading, studying, and physical labor to help keep my mind focused and sharp, and my body agile and capable.
These tools have helped me maintain a good attitude and sense of well-being. It has led me to believe that an important line item in every leader’s job description should be to stay in top physical and mental condition. Like professional athletes and military personnel, doctors and leaders should always be in the best possible physical and psychological condition.
Consequences of Poor Well-Being
History documents many leaders with substandard physical and mental health. Kennedy, Wilson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt were deemed great presidents, but all had well-known health maladies. It makes you wonder what wondrous things they could have accomplished if they had been healthy.
Bill O’Reilly’s book Killing England offers a good example of how devastating poor health can be to an entire nation. The book spotlights King George III during England’s war effort against the colonists’ quest for independence. During the height of the war, the king began to exhibit mental health symptoms, including disjointed thought processes and flight of ideas. His behavior eventually led to violent and manic episodes, resulting in confinement to a straitjacket.
King George’s declining health led to a disorganized, fragmented effort that was doomed. The war was in shambles, and the greatest army in the world suffered defeat at the hands of untrained and poorly armed farmers and peasants.
History attributed the king’s behavior to hereditary porphyria and arsenic poisoning. Ironically, the arsenic was used as a sort of insecticide powder on his ceremonial wigs, as well as to treat his mental condition.
How Do We Acquire Well-Being?
Many aspects of health are uncontrollable. An old Yiddish quote I often hear is “Man plans, God laughs.” This saying fits well here, as many ill-health conditions cannot be helped, such as injuries, genetic disorders, some mental illnesses, and cancers.
But we are also masters of our own fate to a point, and should take responsibility for our own well-being. A good way to start your own fitness program is to design it around your schedule and health level. As it evolves and becomes a routine and habit, you can adjust.
A helpful blog from the Center for Creative Leadership(1) teaches senior executives worldwide how to eat and exercise better so they can be fit to lead. The center espouses that good health contributes to good brain function, sustained energy output, and physical resiliency. They identify four interdependent pillars of good health.(2)
Eat a nutrient-rich, health-promoting diet. Eat a filet mignon (delicious and low calorie) instead of prime rib (fattening and high calorie)!
Get adequate, quality sleep. Seven to eight hours a day of straight sleep instead of interrupted sleep is best. Reduce your alcohol intake, get rid of some of those pharmaceuticals you are taking, and do something productive, fulfilling, and fun to tire yourself out.
Engage in regular physical activity. Do something physical at least daily. Make it a habit. Even a few sit-ups count! Maintain records so you can compete with yourself.
Avoid turning pressure into stress. Learn to meditate, do daily breathing exercises, and stay calm. Try to just let bad things go.
An important concept about these four pillars is that they are interdependent. For example, without adequate sleep, your exercise routine may suffer because you are too tired. Being too exhausted can affect your appetite, leading to poor food choices, such as binge eating.
The four pillars emphasize that sleep and rest are the cornerstones. There are many reasons people have difficulty with sleep, such as excessive worrying, a lack of exercise, and too much alcohol. A simple strategy for better sleep is to go to bed earlier and at about the same time every night, taking advantage of the melatonin spikes that commonly occur between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Sleep before midnight provides the deepest, most restorative sleep.
Poor sleep habits can disrupt our internal mechanisms of satiation: ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite, rises, and leptin, a hormone that helps suppress appetite, falls. This increases the likelihood of overeating junk or calorie-rich foods, which, in turn, can hurt your sleep.
The four pillars must work in concert with one another, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. For instance, if we neglect one, then the rest will not proceed properly. Take care of one, and this will improve your ability to take care of others.
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
As a CEO for 40 years and in leadership positions for 43 years, I place high importance on staying fit and maintaining my well-being. I conduct weekly anthropometric measurements of my weight, waist, hips, chest, biceps, and quadriceps. This gives me great feedback about my health maintenance. I also check my vital signs, including blood pressure, every few days.
I turn in early and rise early, at just about the same time every day. I get six to seven hours of continuous sleep most nights and have not used an alarm clock for more than 30 years!
I work out every morning, starting with breathing exercises, then stretching, and then calisthenics. I usually get a round of Tai Chi and Bojitsu into my routine, too. I run three days a week (four to eight miles) and do weight training three days a week. I make sure to have one rest day every week.
Although I began running in my teens, it’s never too late to start an exercise routine. I recently read a story about Sister Marion Irvine, a nun who, at 48, was overweight and addicted to cigarettes when she decided to try jogging. Sister Marion ended up walking half of a two-mile jog on that first outing. She kept at it and soon became known as the “Running Nun.” By age 54, she became good enough to qualify for the 1984 Olympic marathon trials! So…later is better than never.
Remember that well-being encompasses not only what you put out as exercise, but also what you take into your body. Dieting is an important part of well-being maintenance. I eat in moderation, focusing on a low-carb diet. I do splurge occasionally, with a cocktail and sweets. It’s part of my well-being efforts (review the definition of well-being).
I have made it a part of my life to reduce my stress load through exercise and meditation. I believe my fitness level has enabled me to participate in wonderful physical activities such as mountain climbing (Kilimanjaro, Fuji, Elbrus, Rainier, plus 10 other large mountains) and competitive road racing. I even jumped out of an airplane once to skydive and dove deep into the ocean once to scuba dive.
I have acquired a great set of medals and a dresser full of colorful t-shirts to commemorate these awesome events!
At 70, I have never had a chronic disease and can outlast many colleagues younger than me in mental and physical challenges. I’m not bragging; it’s just a result of a lifetime commitment to a fitness and disciplinary regimen. After all, no leader wants to emulate King George’s health habits!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
To be an effective leader, keep yourself fit and healthy. It is your responsibility as a doctor and leader. Create a fitness plan for yourself. Check your blood pressure and heart rate often. Keep an eye on your weight and exercise regularly, sleep well, eat right, and reduce your stress load. And…go play in an apple orchard! You’ll live long and prosper! More importantly, you will have well-being!
References
Center for Creative Leadership. Health and Wellbeing. https://www.ccl.org/categories/health-wellbeing/ .
McDowell-Larson S. The Good Health and Leadership Connection. Center for Creative Leadership blog. July 10, 2023. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/4-components-good-health-enhance-leadership/ .