Jim Loehr

Energy, Not Time, is the Fundamental Currency of High Performance in Business

Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of performance and the most precious gift we have to give. Productivity, as well as health and happiness, are grounded in the skillful management of energy. To be fully engaged means to be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and fully aligned with the company’s mission. Each individual represents a cell of potential energy in the larger corporate body. Great leaders begin by effectively managing their own energy. Great leadership is marked by the capacity to mobilize, focus, invest, channel and renew organizational energy in the service of the corporate mission. Just as individuals have a pulse, so too does the corporate body. The skilled management of energy fuels a strong and vibrant pulse and a fully engaged workforce.

The Pulse of High Performance: Life is a Series of Sprints, Not a Marathon

The conventional wisdom is that the best way to manage the endless demands of our work lives is to assume the mentality of a marathoner, conserving energy in order to stay the course over many years without burning out. In fact, sustained high performance requires the mentality of a sprinter – fully engaging for clearly defined periods of time and then strategically recovering. To live like a sprinter is to break work down into a series of manageable intervals – fully engaging and then fully recovering. This principle is called oscillation and it creates a powerful pulse that drives greater efficiency, improved health and happiness, and sustained high performance.

The Power of Full Engagement®

Nearly 75 percent of American workers are disengaged, according to data collected by the Gallup Organization. To be fully engaged, one must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with the mission of the organization. Drawing on 25 years of experience working with world-class athletes and other elite performers, this presentation describes a unique science-based system for driving full engagement, grounded in the management of personal energy, and the development of highly precise performance rituals.

The Making of a Corporate Athlete®

As demand accelerates, many executives lack the capacity to sustain high performance – especially under pressure. The creators of the Corporate Athlete performance model, described in a January 2001 Harvard Business Review article “The Making of a Corporate Athlete’”, argue that in order for executives to achieve sustained high performance, they must learn to train in the same systematic ways that elite athletes do. This requires drawing on four separate but interconnected sources of energy to achieve sustained high performance. This presentation outlines the multidimensional training strategies adopted by executives and managers at more than two dozen Fortune 100 companies.

The Fully Engaged Leader

The most important dynamic of leadership is the ability to ignite, focus, and sustain people’s energy in the service of a mission. The fully engaged leader must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned with the corporate mission. Each of these capacities are necessary, none is sufficient by itself. The fully engaged leader learns to draw on all four sources of energy and to consciously cultivate them throughout the organization. Doing so requires leaders to be committed to training in the same way elite athletes do to expand capacity both individually and organizationally.

Testimonials

Please contact us for reviews on this speaker.