Sales culture can make exhaustion feel like a badge of honour, as if crawling into January depleted somehow proves commitment. But the truth most leaders don’t say out loud is simple: you can’t lead from empty.
This brand new session from Volker Ballueder reframes rest and recovery as a leadership strategy, not “self-care fluff”. Because depleted leaders don’t lead, they survive: poorer decisions, shorter tempers, reactive thinking, half-hearted coaching, and zero space for vision.
Key Takeaways from Volker Ballueder:
- Rest is a performance tool – Not a luxury or reward. When you’re rested, you make better decisions, regulate emotions, and lead with clarity instead of panic.
- Capacity is a leadership asset – Your team isn’t inspired by how busy you are; they’re influenced by how present you are. Protecting energy creates patience, better coaching, and more sustainable momentum.
- Model the standard and remove the guilt – If you never switch off, they won’t either. Set boundaries openly, create “pockets of space” (walks without your phone, short breathing breaks, meeting-free time), and block recovery time in your diary, without apology.
About Volker Ballueder:
Volker Ballueder is a seasoned leadership coach with over two decades of commercial experience across SaaS, tech, and high-growth scale-ups. Having led teams through acquisitions, restructures, rapid expansion, and the pressure of board-level decision-making, he brings a rare blend of strategic clarity and emotional intelligence to every engagement.
He works with founders, CEOs, CROs, and senior leadership teams who are navigating growth, tension, or change. His approach is direct yet supportive, cutting through noise, surfacing the real issues, and guiding leaders towards sharper decisions, stronger culture, and sustainable performance.
His background spans executive coaching, psychotherapy, NLP, and mindfulness, giving him the tools to address both the strategic and human sides of leadership. Volker’s clients include leaders from global brands such as PepsiCo, Sky, JCDecaux, Boots, and DHL, alongside ambitious scale-ups facing real-world pressure.
