The Man Who Will Benefit the Most

This is not just about executives’ expanding waistlines. No, this is about the decline of the executive. Perhaps most concerning is that the rate of this decline is accelerating.

If you want to get anywhere fast, the first thing you need to do is hire a coach. You need to have somebody who will challenge you and keep you aligned as you move toward your destination. Early in my career, success and exciting opportunities arrived quickly, but years later I became frustrated as my upward trajectory began to level out. Disillusioned with my lack of progress, I hired a coach who welcomed me with a simple question: “Who benefits the most from your skills and expertise?”

Looking back over the years I had spent coaching, a pattern began to emerge. My most successful clients were overweight male executives. Most of them were married with children. Most of them were in their forties, that age when it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up. When I met these overweight executives for the first time, many of them would speak about “getting by”. But really, they had reached something of a breaking point. Their children had reached the age when they could outrun Dad, their mates’ ribbing was cutting a little deeper than it once did, and the nagging from their wife or family was no longer just frequent — it was never-ending.

Although they might be rewarded with the lifestyle that is a testament to their professional success, this is not the dream lifestyle to which so many young executives aspire. The naivety of youth leads the young executive to assume that all will remain much the same as it has been. The young believe that their health will always be there for them. They feel invincible. They feel bulletproof.

These feelings have eroded under the weight of increasing responsibility of an executive role. They are in a state of physical decline and the rate of decline is increasing. To stop this downturn the executive must realise that being overweight is a problem — a problem that they must solve. They are used to facing these kinds of problems at work. When the executive views the problem with their weight with the same importance as a work problem they will see they are uniquely placed to succeed.

Executive possess all the elements that, when combined, create success. They have all of the resources and knowledge, and they’ve got the track records to prove it. These track records show that they know how to identify and solves problems before they become catastrophic. They understand cause and effect, but for whatever reason they have been slow to apply this knowledge to their physical health.

When it comes to their physical health there are four problems that stand between them and their dream lifestyle. These four problems I will share with you tomorrow.