On Work-Life Balance

By Tony Schwartz

Management theorists have long sought to identify precisely what makes some people flourish under pressure and others fold.… The problem with most approaches: they deal with people only from the neck up, connecting high performance with cognitive capacity.

We argue that a successful approach to sustained high performance must consider the person as a whole. Executives are, in effect, "corporate athletes". If they are to perform at high levels over the long haul, they must train in the systematic, multilevel way that athletes do.

The integrated theory of performance management addresses the body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit through a model that we call the performance pyramid. At its foundation is physical well-being.

Above that rest emotional health, mental acuity and, finally, a spiritual purpose. Each level influences the others, and all must be addressed together to avoid compromising performance. Rigorous exercise can produce a sense of emotional well-being, clearing the way for peak mental performance.

Rituals that promote oscillation — the rhythmic expenditure and recovery of energy — link the levels of the pyramid and lead to the ideal performance state. We offer case studies of executives who have thus raised professional performance and improved the quality of their lives.

From "The Making of a Corporate Athlete"