Four years ago, I made the decision to step out on my own and share my skills as an association and technology strategist. I had spent years watching associations and non-profits struggle to align their business operations with their technology. Systems didn’t talk to each other. Data couldn’t be trusted. Leadership teams were making decisions with incomplete information. I knew there was a better way, and that belief is how Strategico Consultants was born.
Anyone who has ever started a business understands what comes next. For the first several years, the business consumes you. There are early mornings and late nights. There’s constant pressure to prove yourself, to win work, to deliver excellence. It requires understanding friends, family, and life partners who accept that you’re building something that demands almost everything you have.
After four years of running myself (physically and mentally) into the ground, an opportunity came up to travel to Asia for six weeks. And I took it!
Stepping away from the day-to-day operations of the business gave me something I hadn’t had in years: space. Space to think. Space to breathe. Space to reflect on what’s next for Strategico and, more importantly, what kind of leader I want to be moving forward.
Here are three lessons I’m bringing back with me.
1. Health Is the First Foundation
Recently, I started reading The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett. Early in the book, he outlines what he calls the nine laws for building the “Self.” One principle, in particular, hit me hard: always prioritize your “first foundation.”
That foundation is health.
Over the past four years, I stepped back from more than just downtime. I stepped back from the gym. From consistent nutrition. From sleep. From the disciplines that keep both body and mind steady.
Like many founders, I justified it. “This is temporary.” “I’ll get back to it.” “The business needs me right now.” But here’s the reality: my family has a history of heart attacks in their late 40s. If I continue down the path of 16-hour days, poor eating habits, and no physical outlet, I know exactly where that road leads.
And beyond the physical toll, there’s the mental strain. Decision fatigue. Emotional exhaustion. The quiet burnout that creeps in when you’re constantly “on.”
Without my physical and mental health, I’m no good to my team. I’m no good to our clients. I’m no good to the community we serve.
As CEOs and executives, we often treat health as negotiable, something we’ll address once the next milestone is hit. But the business doesn’t need a depleted leader who is always reacting. It needs a clear, grounded, energized one.
As I return, my first commitment is simple: health is not optional. It is strategic.
2. Not Everything Is a Fire
Before this trip, my days were filled with what felt like constant fires.
Some were real (sales challenges, delivery issues, complex client situations). But many weren’t. I had simply trained myself to believe that everything crossing my desk required immediate attention.
When your calendar is overbooked and your mind is constantly racing, urgency becomes your default setting.
Six weeks away gave me perspective. Most of what I was treating as urgent could wait. Some of it should have been delegated. And some of it didn’t matter nearly as much as I thought it did in the moment.
The truth is this: I had unintentionally positioned myself as the company’s firefighter.
That may work in year one. It does not scale in year five.
As organizations grow, the CEO’s role must evolve from problem-solver to strategic architect. That requires discipline. It requires saying no. It requires trusting others to handle issues without inserting yourself into every conversation.
When everything is a fire, nothing is strategic.
My second commitment is to vet what truly deserves my attention, delegate aggressively, and protect space for long-term thinking. Because if the CEO is constantly fighting small fires, who is designing the fireproof building?
3. My Team Is More Than Capable
Over the past four years, Strategico has grown from a team of one to more than ten consultants. In the past year, we’ve also built a senior leadership team, including a Chief Revenue Officer and a Chief Operating Officer.
Intellectually, I knew we had built a strong team.
Emotionally, I still felt responsible for everything.
During my six weeks away, real issues surfaced. Project scope discussions. Sales opportunities that needed quick turnaround. Operational decisions that required clarity.
And something interesting happened.
The delivery team handled client scope conversations with professionalism and depth. The sales team listened carefully to prospects, refined proposals, and closed new business. On the operations side, payroll ran. Projects progressed. Nothing fell apart.
In fact, in many cases, I wasn’t needed at all.
For a founder, that realization is both humbling and liberating.
We hire talented people for a reason. We talk about empowerment. We encourage ownership. But until we step aside, we don’t fully know whether we’ve built a team or built dependence.
This trip showed me we’ve built a team.
My third commitment is clear: get out of the teams way. Provide vision. Set direction. Remove obstacles. But trust the people I hired to do what they were hired to do.
The Bigger Lesson
Stepping away didn’t weaken the business, it strengthened it.
It clarified that leadership is not about constant presence; it’s about intentional impact. It reminded me that health is the first foundation of sustainable success. It showed me that not every issue deserves executive attention. And it reinforced that when you build the right team, you don’t have to carry everything yourself.
For those of you leading organizations (especially founders and CEOs) I’d offer this question:
If you stepped away for six weeks, what would you learn?