The H2 Leadership Podcast

You're not behind. You're just running too fast.

Most leaders think the answer to overwhelm is speed—more efficiency, tighter schedules, faster execution. But what if the real problem isn't that you're doing too little? What if it's that you're running at an unsustainable pace that's hurting you, your family, your work, and your team?

In this final episode of our Five Spheres of an H2 Leader series, we're tackling pace, how fast you're running, why you're running that fast, and what it's costing you.

Most leaders execute from anxiety and shame, not focus and clarity. They're running FROM something instead of running TO something. And when you run too fast for too long, everything suffers—your health, your relationships, your creativity, and your team's culture.

Alan breaks down the difference between personal activation (how fast you're running) and communal activation (how fast you're driving your team to run). And he introduces the concept that changes everything: effectiveness over efficiency.

What You'll Learn:

• Why most leaders execute from anxiety and shame instead of focus and clarity—and how to shift from running FROM something to running TO something
• Personal activation vs. communal activation: how your pace directly impacts everyone around you (whether you realize it or not)
• The efficiency trap: why focusing on "doing all the things as fast as possible" kills creativity, presence, and quality
• Peter Drucker's definition of effectiveness: doing the right things well—not all the things quickly
• How to identify if you're running at a sustainable pace: the 1-10 self-assessment and why most leaders overestimate their capacity
• Four things that suffer when you run too fast: your health (cardiac issues, stress, sleep), those you love (presence, connection), your work (creativity, quality, enjoyment), and your team (culture, morale, burnout)
• The seasonal awareness principle: why some sprint seasons are okay—but only if you know they're seasons with a beginning and an end
• Why hurry is literally killing you: the science on how chronic rushing impacts everything from heart health to weight to sleep quality
• The communal cost of your pace: how your speed becomes your team's speed—and why your anxiety cascades down the org chart
• Sabbath as the killer app: one day a week where you get to just be human, not a leader—and why this weekly rhythm recalibrates your entire pace
• The scarcity mentality test: if you find yourself saying "there's never enough time to ___," you're running from scarcity, not toward clarity
• How to move from efficiency (doing all things fast) to effectiveness (doing the right things well)
• Why you're probably not behind: the lie that you need to run faster, and the truth that you need to run smarter
• The Right Side Up Journal: a 10-minute daily practice to focus your day, prioritize what matters, and remember that your son's basketball game tonight is more important than your task list

Key Insight:

You have way more influence than you think. The people around you are watching how you run, feeling your anxiety, and absorbing your pace. When you slow down, you give your team permission to breathe. When you focus on effectiveness over efficiency, you create space for creativity, presence, and quality. When you Sabbath weekly, you remind yourself—and your team—that the world runs just fine without you grinding 24/7.

Reflection Questions:

• How sustainable is the pace you're running at right now? (1-10)
• What would your family say about your pace?
• What would your team say about the pace you're setting?
• Are you running FROM something (anxiety, shame, scarcity) or TO something (purpose, clarity, mission)?
• What are the 3-4 right things you should be doing right now—and are you doing them well, or just fast?

Series Context:

This is the fifth and final episode in our Five Spheres of an H2 Leader series. The five spheres are:

1. Influence - How you wield your relational and positional power
2. Health - How you live integrated and aligned to values and needs
3. Self-Awareness - How your emotions, assets, and liabilities impact others
4. Design - How you maximize your talents and abilities
5. Pace - How you move and drive others to move

If you haven't listened to the full series, go back and start with Episode 1. These five spheres work together as a tapestry—below-the-surface aspects of leadership that won't show up on scorecards or P&L statements, but deeply affect you, your family, your team, and your organization.

Resources Mentioned:

• Right Side Up Journal (available on Amazon) - 10-minute daily planning tool, 90-day process, 4th edition coming soon
• Peter Drucker's work on effectiveness vs. efficiency

The Five Spheres Recap:

This series has been about things below the surface—aspects of leadership that don't show up on websites or win columns, but shape everything. The higher you are on the org chart, the more these spheres impact the people around you.

We've covered influence (your power), health (your integration), self-awareness (your emotional impact), design (your unique wiring), and now pace (your speed and sustainability).

These aren't destinations. You don't arrive and get a trophy. You're in direction of becoming a healthy, high-impact leader. And that's the journey we're on together.

Want More?

We believe you are designed by a Designer who invites you to co-design your life with Him. If you don't believe that, you'll just get pulled along by your life—by social media, email, news cycles, and other people's urgency. But we believe it's intelligent, personal, and purposeful. You are invited to collaborate in your own life.

For coaching, consulting, and resources to help you lead as a Healthy + High Impact leader, visit h2leadership.com.