“Out of Office”: Why Smart Leaders Vacation

Let’s get one thing straight: taking a break doesn’t mean you’ve broken stride. In fact, stepping away might be the smartest move you make all quarter.

As strategy consultants, policymakers, and high-octane professionals, we’re trained to operate at full throttle. Meetings, metrics, memos—rinse and repeat. But the truth is, constant productivity isn’t the same as sustainable progress. Eventually, even the sharpest minds start spinning their wheels if they never come up for air.

As author and educator Joyce Sunada put it:

“If you don’t take time for your wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness.”

Vacation Is a Power Move

Let’s reframe the narrative: Vacation is not a luxury. It’s fuel.

Research backs this up. A 2019 study from the American Psychological Association found that time away from work improves productivity, reduces burnout, and replenishes cognitive resources necessary for complex decision-making. Translation? Your brain needs the beach.

And let’s not ignore the emotional ROI. Whether it’s watching your kid chase waves, hiking somewhere with spotty cell service, or just sitting still long enough to hear your own thoughts—those moments refill the tank in ways no to-do list ever could.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes—including you.” — Anne Lamott

Big Ideas Don’t Come From Burnout

Ever notice how your best ideas don’t show up when you're staring at a spreadsheet? They strike in the shower, in a hammock, or mid-conversation over ice cream.

There’s a reason for that. Our brains solve complex problems best when we aren’t hyper-focused on them. That space—that mental whiteboard—only becomes available when we step away.

The next innovative campaign or clever workaround for a bureaucratic bottleneck? It's probably sitting in your subconscious, just waiting for a chance to breathe.

Even Congress Recesses (Just Saying)

If the U.S. Congress—arguably the most famously gridlocked body in the country—can schedule recess, then so can you. And unlike them, you won’t be making headlines for doing it.

Being intentional about rest is a leadership trait, not a liability. Modeling balance sets the tone for your team and keeps your strategic edge sharp.

Here’s Your Permission Slip

If you need someone to give you permission to pause, let this be it. Schedule the time. Turn on the out-of-office. Trust your systems. And remember: stepping away doesn’t mean letting go of your goals—it means protecting your ability to reach them.

The next-level solution, the breakthrough message, the brilliant pivot? They might just be waiting for you… poolside.

TL;DR?

Be as serious about your rest as you are about your results. The world doesn’t need a burned-out genius. It needs a well-rested one with vision.

Now go refill your cup—before it runs dry.

Flexibility is the key.

“You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.” ~ Marc Benioff

Most business owners today would cite inflation and rising costs as top issues in keeping their business afloat. Inflation, rising costs, and supply chain insecurity have created an environment in which a business owner must keep a tight reign on all expenses while simultaneously keeping products and services priced competitively. In this time of ever-shrinking margins (and with a need for a business to achieve profit in order to continue its existence), everyone is looking to pinch every penny.

This often means cutting back. After all, what happens when you are faced with new bill unexpectedly at home? You look at where you can tighten your belt, remove unnecessary expenses, and cobble together the funds to address the emergency as it emerges, right? Business owners necessarily have to do the same thing. And yet…this so often results in ever-increasing stress for short-handed and underpaid employees.

If we choose the layoff route, we’re left with less people we expect to do more. Less people doing more work means an overstressed team. Employees with higher levels of stress perform at lower levels, period.

If we choose to replace staff with lower paid employees, we’re left with a less qualified team. If we ask our staff to take a pay cut, we’re left with a team that feels underpaid and resentful.

Looking to cut costs through your staffing is almost always a terrible plan, by the way.

Instead, it’s time to strategize. It’s time to look at your strengths and weaknesses, think outside the box about the structure of your business. It’s time to get flexible.

Flexibility in business is vital; flexibility allows us to break silos, shuck negative trending, surprise our customers (in a good way), and most importantly: it helps us to build trust with our employees and assists in them feeling more valued. Just as stress lowers productivity, feeling valued and appreciated at work raises productivity.

Corporate America seems to be trending toward doing away with all of the remote positions created during the initial phases of the Covid-19 pandemic. What a curious thing! I mean, I understand that a great many employers fear that allowing employees to work remotely means employing a team to sit at home in their underwear eating chips and working no more than 30 minutes per day…FEAR.

FEAR: False. Expectations. About. Reality.

In reality, studies show time and again that those who work remotely typically outperform their sad colleagues who are forced to work in-person in similar jobs. This is not to say that every employee can succeed in a remote environment; it certainly requires self-motivation and a certain drive to stay focused when there’s laundry to do, and mail to look at, and a toilet to scrub, and, and, and…

Considering whether the benefits of a remote team would help to streamline costs is an act of flexibility that can certainly prove worth it, however. In a business that doesn’t need to maintain a physical presence the size of its entire workforce, an owner can save huge amounts of money in space and utility costs alone. And having a workplace that is flexible enough to offer its employees the flexibility they need to improve their quality of life, makes for unparalleled loyalty (and creative thinking!) in a team.

Some businesses do not allow for remote work. Where would your coffee shop be if all your baristas worked from home? The key for businesses such as this is ALSO flexibility. How can you make your employees feel valued? How can you prove to them that you care about their well-being and quality of life, even when they’re not clocked in? Perhaps this looks like flex-time. Perhaps it looks like creativity in schedule. Maybe it’s really about a sit-down with each employee to figure out together which parts of their job make them passionate and which aspects might be better delegated to someone else.

Flexibility is the key. Being flexible with your employees to increase their sense of value to the business and their passion for their work will pay off exponentially. Happy, relaxed employees will have higher productivity, and higher productivity means good things for your margins.

So do a little mental yoga, already. Get flexible.