crunch time – From sleep routines to silence and resilience habits, 23 leaders share how they protect health during high-pressure periods.
Crunch time is where leadership gets tested twice—once on results, and again on the body and mind driving those decisions.
The report. shared through a leadership well-being roundup. frames stress as a constant in executive life. but acknowledges that intensity can spike when companies push hardest.. In that moment. the message is simple: leaders who want to lead effectively have to protect their physical and mental health. because burnout can erode focus. concentration. and decision-making.
A recurring theme across the advice is that there’s no single “right” solution. Instead, well-being approaches can be built around a few broad buckets—exercise, sleep, and healthful eating—then tailored to the reality of each leader’s schedule, responsibilities, and personality.
One contributor. Victoria Repa of BetterMe. described moving away from a “work first. rest later” mindset after burnout began to affect concentration.. She adopted a daily “8-1-1” framework: eight hours of sleep. one hour of exercise. and one hour of mindfulness practice each day.. Her routine includes Pilates or yoga daily. plus tennis and golf during the week. along with meditation and mantras for 40 minutes daily and 10–15 minutes of Pranayama to support energy—habits she says help her stay focused. disciplined. calm. and consistent.
For Meredith Rosenberg of NU Advisory Partners, the discipline of running became a tool for both personal endurance and leadership.. Starting during the pandemic. she has run 12 marathons. including five of six World Majors. and most recently finished the Boston Marathon.. She emphasized that the most lasting lesson from the race wasn’t timing. but how supporting another runner reflected a bigger management principle: resilience during hard moments is not only individual—it is also collective.. If people believe they’re pushing alone, the ability to endure weakens, she suggested.
Other leaders also focused on protecting fundamentals when demands accelerate.. R.. Ethan Braden of Texas A&M University pointed to his “workout partner,” a 5:30 a.m.. routine. and argued that when schedules get hectic. the priority should still be the basics: even a shorter workout. a walk. more water. better sleep. and a few quiet minutes to reset.. In a hard season, he said more hours may be unavoidable—but self-destruction shouldn’t be part of the cost.
Larraine Segil of Exceptional Women Alliance Foundation offered a different lever: reducing daily input stressors.. She said she exercises twice a day for 40 minutes. eats lots of protein. and maintains a positive attitude. while also drawing a firm line on political coverage at work.. She avoids political or related news across outlets, though she still reads business news and watches the stock market.. She said she builds a workplace focused on positivity and shared goals by limiting political conversation. resulting in a calmer environment.
Several contributors tied physical health directly to performance and decision quality during high-stakes fundraising or execution periods.. Cameron Van Der Berg of Infravision described treating crunch time as a “performance phase,” not a survival phase.. During the company’s Series B fundraising. he said he intentionally removed sources of volatility by stopping alcohol for 75 days and exercising daily.. He reported that sleep and recovery improved. and that decision-making stayed sharp through a period filled with risk and uncertainty. adding that if the body falls apart. the company follows.
Phillip Haid of Public Inc.. outlined a two-part approach: gratitude and movement.. He said gratitude helps him remain grounded and keep calm and fortitude during stressful moments.. He also works out most days in the morning to clear his mind and reduce stress. and uses pickleball on weekends for a competitive social outlet. describing the activity as “zen” because it helps him focus on the game rather than ongoing pressure.
Tyler Perry of Mission North emphasized non-negotiables even during chaos: family time, exercise, and meditation.. He argued that when people claim they “don’t have time” for those practices. it often really means they don’t have the energy—so habits that restore energy become the foundation for staying steady when work feels relentless or the wider world feels heavy.. He said that adjustments might include waking earlier for exercise or fitting meditation on the train or between meetings. with the goal of keeping brain sharpness and stress levels in check.
Emily Kortlang of Yerba Madre focused on the mechanics of preventing stress from spiraling: perspective and structure.. Many businesses, she said, aren’t life-or-death, and reminding yourself of that can reduce unnecessary stress.. Her prescription includes prioritizing systems over willpower, aligning work and personal calendars, planning ahead, and removing everyday friction.. She also recommended building in movement through walking calls and coffee meetings. plus setting clear boundaries with a consistent weekly “shut-off” to protect performance and well-being—she offered an example of switching into family time at 3 p.m.. on Friday.
Chris Moore of FIRST described managing health the same way he managed preparation when running the Boston Marathon: discipline. pacing. and patience.. He stressed that habits built before pressure hits matter, including training, preparation, and community support.. He also said he listens to mind and body and makes small adjustments when needed so he can keep moving forward.
Kathy Crosby of Truth Initiative compared health habits during crunch time to a structured change effort. naming “structure. support. and realistic expectations” as key.. She protects morning time for quiet reflection and journaling alongside high-intensity exercise. describing the practices as a buffer between stress and reaction.. She said she leans on her team and anchors her decisions in purpose. adding that meaning becomes a renewable energy source—and that maintaining health is essential to sustain helping others.
Hala Hanna of MIT Solve offered a psychological reframing approach: stress is information, not an enemy.. She described treating it as actionable data pointing to a deeper problem. which can strengthen agency and improve decision-making under pressure.. She also described compartmentalization as leadership discipline during personal crises. noting that her home country of Lebanon is under attack and that her family faces risk.. She argued that a leader’s psychology shapes organizational psychology and said she relies on a high-trust team where vulnerability is possible—acknowledge reality. share context. and then keep executing with emotional honesty and operational steadiness.
Regan Parker of ShiftKey said his work comes in waves and can spike quickly.. When lighter days appear. he uses them for recovery—getting outside and connecting to something bigger than the company or the problem being solved.. He anchors himself with breathwork, meditation, and writing, framing steadiness and calm as key to navigating heavy stakes more effectively.. The idea, he said, is choosing intensity and adrenaline when it’s needed rather than letting it run unchecked.
Adam Thatcher of Grace Farms described a company-wide leadership stance: providing flexibility and time for well-being moments rather than being responsible for generating well-being itself.. The report said the organization emphasizes that caring for oneself and for family is the foundation of flourishing. and that leaders can support it by creating opportunities to do so.
Ben Wintner of Michael Graves Design addressed how to prevent crunch time from stretching endlessly.. He said his non-negotiables are sleep, movement, and protected quiet time, and that if those slip, everything else follows.. He runs 3–8 miles most days and described switching to a standing desk as a physical benefit.. He also emphasized tight prioritization so crunch doesn’t sprawl, arguing that short bursts work better than prolonged “charrettes.”
Barbara Bouza of CannonDesign focused on humility and learning. saying taking piano lessons can be a grounding reminder as a leader.. She described how the mindset to learn creates space for curiosity and accomplishment even during crunch time.. With technology enabling learning by listening and downloading songs. she said an effective skill under pressure is the ability to listen.
Tami Rosen, an executive and board member, argued that leaders should model the behavior they want to see.. If a team works around the clock, she said leaders should create small but real recovery moments.. She shared an example: asking each team member to pick one night a week to leave early for dinner or a personal appointment. then helping protect that non-negotiable.. She also encouraged focused sprints with clear pauses. using resets such as short walks. stepping away between meetings. or taking an hour off—because she said permission matters. and when leaders create it. people actually use it.
James Greenfield of Koto highlighted a practice that often gets overlooked: silence.. He said while sleep, diet, and exercise are well known, silence has had the biggest impact for him.. He runs without headphones and keeps his phone in his pocket while taking a coffee break. arguing that if a person’s head stays filled with podcasts or other people’s thinking. they aren’t processing themselves.. For him, silence is where things settle.
Chris Kay of 72andSunny connected personal health habits to organizational culture.. He framed the CEO role partly as chief energy officer for company culture and talent. arguing that a leader’s posture and energy set the tone.. He described finding space to let his mind wander and play. spending time with close relationships as a “non-CEO” reminder. and “getting in the water” wherever possible to forget everything else.
Kellie Lauth of MindSpark described directing energy with discipline.. She said she protects movement, quiet, and space to think clearly before reacting.. She also returns to “what’s my purpose. ” reconnecting to educators. students. and communities behind the work when pace is high.. That perspective, she said, helps separate what feels urgent from what is truly important.
Neil Barrie of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand described having sanity anchors that keep him steady: running or cycling for 20+ minutes four times a week. working on a failed rockstar electro-indie side hustle every Saturday. and using on-demand counseling sessions with his wife Rachel.. The message was that structure and support can be built both inside and outside professional life.
Balkrishan “BK” Kalra of Genpact emphasized how resilience is built through preparation.. He said running keeps him sane and that the hard miles don’t break you if you’ve done the work.. In his view. when pressure is treated as a threat. performance tanks; when pressure is treated as a privilege. focus sharpens and execution improves.. He argued that you don’t discover resilience at the moment you need it—you build it before.
Lindsey Witmer Collins of WLCM Software Studio and Scribbly Books added a realistic counterpoint to perfectionism during work sprints.. She warned that if someone likes to do everything perfectly. crunch time can become harder because small tasks turn into unnecessary suffering.. Instead. she urged staying focused on what matters most for headspace. allowing less important time-consuming efforts—like making homemade meals or keeping the house perfectly clean—to slide temporarily.. Her guidance was to be imperfect in some areas to protect performance in the ones that matter now.
Neil Cawse of Geotab concluded with a straightforward routine framed around consistency: creatine, eight hours of sleep a night, and regular exercise including paddleball, pickleball, and squash.
Taken together. these practices sketch a pattern that business leaders can recognize: crunch time isn’t only about managing workloads. it’s about managing input—sleep. movement. attention. and the mental framing that shapes how uncertainty is processed.. The report’s leaders suggest that when those inputs are protected. decision-making and team behavior become more stable. even as expectations remain high.
crunch time health leadership wellbeing mental health routines exercise and sleep stress management executive habits