Axiom #4: Reentry

This summer my wife and I visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the highlight of our vacation. The experience is incredible. I was able to ride a space shuttle simulator, which an astronaut there, said was very realistic. We visited the control room for the Saturn moon shots. That in itself was a pretty emotional experience considering the history that was contained in that room. I also stood underneath a Saturn moon rocket. It is so immense you cannot fully describe it. The bottom of the rocket itself has five main propulsion points. Each one has a circumference larger than a full grown man. The circumference of the rocket itself is even larger than that, and the length is hard to describe. To think that this thing actually got off the ground boggles the mind.

Being the age I am, I recall sitting in elementary, junior high, and high school when the astronauts would return to earth. They would put several classes together and wheel a black and white TV in the room and we would watch with baited breath as the rockets cleared reentry and then landed in the Pacific Ocean. In those early years, after arriving back on earth, the men (no women flew at that time) would be in isolation for a period of time. I do not recall how long exactly, but I remember they could not be with their wives or children until a “decontamination period” had expired and they were medically cleared. Things have indeed changed.

This morning I am preparing to leave to fly home. I will stop by my office simply because it is directly on my route home. I will then take the weekend to be at home and assist my daughter and son-in-law with their packing in preparation for a move into their new home. Monday I will return to my office and head into a full work week.

My work schedule next week, at least early on, is light. That is intentional. I planned it that way. I always plan it that way. I call it “reentry.” After I out of the office for a period of time, be it vacation or conference, I do not go back in a full steam of meetings. I used to. I was superman. I could handle it. And I did . . . albeit, at a price.

The temptation is to do just the opposite of what I did. After all you have been gone, so you have to hit it hard. You have to set up lots of work meetings so you can get lots of work done. Do you?

Over the years, I have learned that the first couple of days back to work everyone will want a piece of you. There will be questions they have held back until you retuned. Mail will be on your desk. Email will need attended (even if you have tried to keep up). All of this will wear on you if you set up to many meetings.

After a time away from the office, I think reentry for a leader means he or she must leave the first couple of days as open as possible. They need to be available for those they lead while they are catching up on the administration that comes with the sitting in the leader’s chair.

I tell my staff exactly that. I tell them what I am doing and why. I encourage them to likewise plan their reentry when they have been off work. Health is a multifaceted thing. It takes balance. Now, at 55 years of age I have learned that phone booths, or revolving doors, will not put a cape on my back.