How to gain an unfair advantage in business

Illustraion by Rachel Revilla

As I mention often, the global pandemic has brought about a new economic order with a very uneven distribution of winners and losers. To come out as a winner and stay on top, you need to be able to make the right decisions, especially strategic ones, if you own a business or if you occupy a top leadership position.

The world’s most successful business leaders know that keeping their personal balance is not an option or some fluffy concept but the basis for their long-term success. The more balanced you are, the better your decisions will be. Once you lose your personal balance, you are more prone to make fundamental errors in your decisions that could cost your business a lot of money or even lead to its downfall.

You are just two steps away

Most businesses are just one or two key decisions away from breakthrough success or failure. In this context, it is fundamental for every business leader to understand what balance means to him or her and how to best use that knowledge to optimize their decision-making and to solve complex problems.

In my role as founder and CEO of The Tom Oliver Group and as a coach to Fortune 500 CEOs, I have been blessed to interact with many of the world’s most famous business leaders. What I have learned is that most, if not all, high achievers prioritize their work-life balance as a key foundation for professional success:

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, completely disconnects while he is on vacation. According to him, this rule, together with longer vacations, not only helps him relax but also guides him to new inspirations and insights.

The COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, always makes sure to leave the office by 5:30 p.m. to be home for family dinner by 6 p.m. This is a rule she has successfully followed since her earlier career at Google.

During President Barack Obama’s presidency, the most important thing outside of his work was to spend enough quality time with his family. He made sure never to miss their family dinners, even if he had to go back to work afterwards. He also worked out every morning and tried to do some sports over the weekends, mostly basketball and golf, to get out of the “bubble.”

If Barack Obama could manage to achieve balance despite his extremely busy schedule, there is no reason why we cannot.

Make it personal

There is no one-size fits all approach. You have to decide what balance means to you and then guard it religiously.

Every year in November, a friend of mine, the German owner of one of the fastest-growing new insurance companies, pre-plans several one-week vacations distributed evenly throughout his entire next year.

One of my clients is the CEO and owner of a large family business in Asia with well over 100 million customers across different countries. He took a similar approach to the one of my friend, but it had the opposite effect.

I was meeting with him after one of his vacations and a week of grueling powerpoint presentations at the office. His energy was already completely drained after that one week back at the office as if he had not been on vacation at all.

What was he missing? He did not realize that the approach of scheduling several week-long vacations throughout the year did not work for him. We then developed a plan together that would ensure he would have “mini vacations” built into his regular schedule. This included a game of golf or just disconnecting from the office for a few hours every Wednesday afternoon, for example.

Extreme work ethic

If we look at some global business leaders who display extreme work ethic, we can see that balance is highly personal and unique to each individual.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is known for working 20 hours per day and 120 hours per week. This is not only a principle he follows but believes is necessary to be successful.

Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer has been called “the hardest working CEO in Silicon Valley, bar none” by the former Yahoo director Max Levchin. She is known to work 130 hours per week on average, regularly pulling off “all-nighters” and sometimes even working from her hospital bed. She has been quoted as saying “companies don’t just happen; they happen because of really hard work.”

What counts is that you derive inspiration from others but find out what minimum balance really means to you. Then, be ruthless about making it the foundation of your schedule.

All famous business leaders have defined their minimum balance and constantly verify if it still works for them or readjust it if it needs changing. The key ingredients of your personal balance must be so clear to you that I could wake you up at 2 a.m. and you would be able to recite to me that list.

Minimum balanceWhen you ask very busy executives or business owners to define their ideal balance, it becomes a long list nearly impossible to execute. Consequently, they abandon balance altogether, return to “super busy mode,” lose their balance during major business challenges and make incorrect decisions.

To achieve anything close to an “ideal balance” is unrealistic if you’re starting, running or growing a successful business or if you are a business owner who is still very involved in day-to-day operations.

Defining and keeping to your “minimum balance” will ensure that you will be making the right decisions.

The horse stance

We can learn a lot about balance through martial arts and Kung Fu. The “horse stance” refers to the positioning of your legs and lower body. It derives from the position of a person’s body while riding a horse i.e. with knees bent and a straight back to lower its center of gravity.

If you keep firmly grounded in a horse stance, your opponent may throw several blows, kicks and punches at you, but you will still remain firm and not lose balance.

When your personal life is balanced, you will be able to access the full potential of your skills, talents and intuitions. This will enable you to quickly respond to all professional challenges and opportunities with focus. The biggest opportunities for your business might be right in front of you, but in order not to miss them, your mind needs to be well-balanced.

Solutions and next steps

A lot of business leaders find it challenging to define their “minimum balance” if they have never given it much thought. If you find yourself in this position, the following exercise will be highly beneficial:

Make two lists. On the first, brainstorm and list all elements that would help you maintain ideal balance in your life. Do not just list the usual “I need a summer vacation every year” but also include smaller elements that would allow you to keep your balance during a regular work week.

After you are finished with that long list, cut it down to just a handful of items that you absolutely cannot do without. This will be your second list, the one that defines your “minimum balance.”

Reevaluate it on a constant basis and adjust it as needed. Make this list the foundation of your daily schedule. INQ

Tom Oliver, a “global management guru” (Bloomberg), is the chair of The Tom Oliver Group, the trusted advisor and counselor to many of the world’s most influential family businesses, medium-sized enterprises, market leaders and global conglomerates. For more information and inquiries: www.TomOliverGroup.com or email

[email protected].