Leadership Perspectives

How important is sleep?

Marie Peeler

  Recently a client asked me how important I thought sleep was.  I didn’t hesitate before I said “Critically important” with some vehemence.  The context of the conversation was leadership, leadership performance, and showing up emotionally centered and resilient in the face of challenge. My answer didn’t surprise him.  I think he was simply looking for […]

Overwhelming workload

Coping with overwhelm? Keep learning.

Ever watch what happens as the workload keeps building, complexity keeps increasing, and leaders try to cope by working harder and faster? Work hours extend and anxiety levels rise, but productivity does not necessarily increase as leaders frantically attempt to simply keep up. Hard work is not a bad thing. Sometimes we need to work […]

Want to be more productive? Spend more time sleeping.

An article last week in the Wall Street Journal focused on the effect of adequate sleep – and sleep deprivation – on work performance.  Pointing out famous short-sleepers, such as the late Margaret Thatcher, who famously operated on far less than the often recommended eight hours sleep per night, the article makes the case that […]

Not getting anything done? Are you focused on Progress or Maintenance?

A client recently told me that the most important distinction I had shared with her was my notion of “Progress versus Maintenance.”  The concept is simple and it is one that I started working on very early in my career and adult life when I noticed how easy it was to get bogged down with […]

Priorities are a funny thing

I’ve noticed a funny thing.  Whenever I have a trip planned, whether for business or pleasure, I always start a few days or weeks in advance (depending on how far in advance the trip is planned) listing and trying to chip away at the things that I need to do before I leave. Listing the […]

Multitasking: A less effective way to cope

Stress is inevitable.  Deadlines, decisions, presentations, staff issues, the economy, and much more conspire to make leadership a stressful endeavor.  Fortunately, we can choose how to deal with stressful circumstances.  Unfortunately, leaders often choose multitasking. Multitasking, the logical choice.  When overburdened leaders feel stressed out, the first coping mechanism to kick in is multitasking.  The […]

Coping With Information Overload

Sheer volume of information is one of the greatest stressors that leaders face.   Just like the ringing of a telephone sets off the urge to answer it, the arrival of yet another magazine, electronic newsletter, or social media notification reinforces the obligation to keep up on the information that comes our way. The problem is […]

Leaders under fire and National Stress Awareness month

Whether you call it stress, overwhelm, or some other name, I constantly hear from leaders that they are pulled in too many directions, expected to multitask relentlessly, and have significantly more input and information coming in than they can ever effectively process.  In short, they live their lives as though they are constantly under fire. […]