- Leadership and Wellness:
Thinking of Your Body as a BusinessCarol J. Scott, MD, MSEd, FACEPLife as a leader can be a daunting task. Late nights, demanding boards and rabble-rousing shareholders can test even those with the strongest resolve. While maintaining positive revenue growth and avoiding regulatory issues are critical for strong profits, many leaders forget that their ability to lead is directly tied to their own health and wellbeingWorld-renown leaders like Steve Jobs turned Apple from a small Microsoft rival into the highest valued company in the world. However, Jobs’ early death at 56 didn’t just rob him of his life; it robbed his company and the world of one of the greatest innovators in recent history. The death of Jobs cost Apple billions in lost revenue and growth. The iPhone, iPad and iPhone all originated from a three-pound mass of brain cells in the head of a black turtleneck-clad man.
True CEOs understand that leadership ability is directly tied to health. Leadership involves more than an understanding of earnings reports, market forces and human resources. An individual’s unique physiology can have a direct impact on leadership traits like extraversion, introversion, motivation, confidence and drive. While CEOs may feel that they are in tune with their companies, it’s also important for them to be in tune with their bodies.For example, emotional regulation in the human body is driven by the complex interplay of endorphins, blood glucose, neurotransmitters and other biomarkers. If any of these factors fall out of alignment, it may be difficult to succeed.
This same concept holds true for your personal health. As a conscious, living person, you have ultimate control over your life decisions. Like a CEO, you do not not need to worry about all the processes that take place in your body – these take place on a cellular level. Even while we sleep, billions of "worker cells" help regulate metabolism, protein folding, muscle regeneration, detoxification, respiration and thousands of other processes.
While these invisible employees work tirelessly to keep your body in good health, it's up to you to ensure that your subordinates have the right resources and environment for success. The human body is an incredible piece of machinery. If every blood vessel and artery in the body were placed end to end, the result would stretch over 60,000 miles.
Like a vehicle, the human body literally burns food to generate energy through reduction-oxidation reactions. While incredible, the human body is also very frail. Over time, a poor wellness management can cause this intricate system to break down. High-calorie, saturated fat-ridden diets can coat thousands of miles of blood vessels with waxy plaque deposits.
Excessive sodium and obesity can place this plumbing system under higher strain and pressure levels, increasing the risk of aneurysm-causing leaks. Facing an onslaught of poor nutrition and other unhealthy habits, the replication machinery inside cells can break down, allowing cells to reproduce out of control. If left unchecked, this malignant cellular growth can cause cancer.
Turning your talents inward will allow you to manage your personal health and wellness like a Fortune 500 company. Unlike many people, true leaders already have the drive and focus that allow them to achieve external goals.
By receiving comprehensive coaching on how these talents can be turned inwards, it’s possible to achieve the zenith of self-empowerment. By becoming your own WellnessCEO™ — by managing your personal health like a business — you can leverage your innate abilities to achieve optimal whole-life wellness. It’s not about having an outside expert analyze your current health, give advice, prescribe solutions or recommend goals.
Sheer will on its own can’t be used to battle the mind-numbing effect of low blood sugar, serotonin linked depression or fatigue caused by a GABA-related disorder. While one of the most complex computers in the known universe, the human brain can still succumb to weaknesses in the body that supports it. Successful companies are bastions of efficiency. Facing an onslaught of challenging regulatory requirements, fierce competition and evolving market forces, a well-honed business must examine itself and adapt to thrive in an ever-changing world.
Like a business, the human body must also self-regulate and adapt in response to changing environments. People, like businesses, face threats that can come from the outside or from within. Instead of tough market competition, a lagging consumer base or onerous government regulations and taxes, individuals may face infectious pathogens like cancer-causing viruses, difficult-to treat bacterial infections, dangerous environmental toxins, and much more. Internal factors can have a lasting impact on the viability of a company. A poor CEO and a weak Board of Directors can sink a highly-successful company very quickly. When bad leadership trickles down through the ranks at a company, both employees and consumers may suffer.
While expert approaches are appropriate in a coaching relationship at times, Carol’s master coaching program focuses on helping clients grow into becoming the experts of their own well-being. The coaching system encourages personal responsibility, deep thinking, self-discovery and self-efficacy. The process is grounded on aligning personal goals and values with improving well-being using evidence-based mental, physical and emotional strategies in the areas of fitness, nutrition, health risk, weight management, stress management and life satisfaction. Carol will assist you in finding very personal answers and create your own possibilities through engaging hearts and mind in a nonjudgmental process inclusive of provocative questions and reflections. That said, Dr. Carol Scott is merely a catalyst that helps you reach your goals through self-empowerment. Client-originated visions and plans are the ones that stick.
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