Health belongs in the way we think
about leadership.
Health Centic Leadership
Leadership performance depends partly on the health and capacity of the person doing the leading.
Health Centric Leadership brings that reality into leadership development - not as a wellbeing benefit, but as part of how leaders sustain energy, judgement, resilience and performance.
THE MISSING PIECE
We develop the leader.
But often ignore the human system doing the leading.
Organisations invest heavily in strategy, behaviours, communication and decision-making.
Far less attention is paid to the conditions that make those capabilities available when pressure is high.
Make good decisions under pressure.
JUDGEMENT
These capabilities are not separate from health. They are expressed through the physical and mental capacity of the leader.
FOCUS
Stay clear-headed amid constant demands.
REGULATION
Manage reactions, emotions and
stress.
PRESENCE
Listen, communicate and engage with others.
RESILIENCE
Recover, adapt and keep going.
2.6x
Higher likelihood of strong performance in leaders with good health.1
3.5x
More likely to report high resilience. 2
4.1
More likely to have engaged teams. 3
1 McKinsey Health intitute (2023)
2 Deloitte Human Capital trends (2024)
3 Gallup State of the Global Workplace (2023)
01
COGNITIVE CAPACITY
Sleep and stress matter to the mental functions leaders rely on.
Research links insufficient sleep with poorer sustained attention and executive functioning, while acute stress can impair working memory and cognitive flexibility.
02
A leader's state can show up in how they lead.
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR
Experimental research has found that sleep deprivation can reduce ratings of charismatic leadership.
Daily field research has also linked poorer leader sleep quality with more negative supervisory behaviour and lower engagement among their teams.
03
TEAM EXPERIENCE
Leadership behaviour does not stop with the leader.
Managers have substantial influence over employee engagement and the day-to-day experience of work. Large-scale research consistently identifies the manager as a major driver of team engagement.