Tony Schwartz, CEO of the Energy Project and one of America's most highly rated public speakers, sat down with Zaina Steityeh to discuss his new book and the outcomes of his two-day workshop here in Amman.
By the 16th hour of a two-day workshop, the assumption that a speaker would begin to lose the concentration and interaction of his audience would not be considered an unlikely one. However, standing among nearly 125 Jordanian professionals and businessmen, Tony Schwartz, CEO of the Energy Project and the fifth most popular speaker in the US, made it all seem a little too easy. Throughout the two-day workshop entitled "The Secret of Great Leadership: Managing Energy Not Time to Maximize Performance," organized by Optimiza Academy, Schwartz interwove dynamic lecturing with active case studies in his quest to convert time-management adherents to the benefits of managing energy for optimal performance.
Through the Energy Project and his most recent New York Times bestseller The Power of Full Engagement, Schwartz has made it his mission to understand the factors that make it possible for people to perform at their best, despite challenging circumstances. "The purpose of the Energy Project is to take account of the demands created by the new world system and to introduce into organizations, and on behalf of individuals, a way of working that allows them to bring true value to the table with them every day," Schwartz explained at a press conference.
The Energy Project's theory of optimal energy management goes against the grain of traditional theories of time management that have so far dominated the global economy. Schwartz contends that by skilfully managing their energy rather than their time, individuals and organizations alike can reap the benefits of a happier, healthier, more productive and more profitable workforce. Energy management is based on a renewable resource and, unlike finite time, is a cyclical rather than linear process. The traditional method of dealing with increased workloads and demands on workers is to simply compress, organize and prioritize activities to gain maximum efficiency. However, as Schwartz systematically pointed out, there comes a point when "there just isn't enough time."
Rather than perceiving employees as merely drones, the Energy Project encourages organizations to focus on how to get more out of people through engaging in corporate policies and practices that allow for "deep recovery periods" that must follow an intense spate of demand. In an article due to be published in the Harvard Business Review's October issue, Schwartz clarifies that "this is not simply something we are suggesting is likely to work, we have evidence that even in large, traditional companies such as Ernst and Young and Sony, instituting these practices does make a bottom-line difference."
Schwartz and his team at the Energy Project promise individuals this dynamic: less time, a higher quality of output and a higher quality of life. For individuals to perform optimally, they must draw on four sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. According to research, peak performers consistently use "high positive" adjectives to discuss their state of mind and wellbeing, as opposed to negative emotions that hinder an individual's creativity, problem solving and persistence, and thereby, productivity.
Nidal Bitar, director of Optimiza Academy, confirmed its intensions to work with the Energy Project and engage regional organizations in Schwartz's innovative program. "Optimiza continuously strives to explore, introduce and adopt new approaches to ensuring increased profitability and productivity within regional organizations," he added.
In an exclusive interview, Jordan Business gained further insight into Tony Schwartz's theories on optimal energy management and what he thought of his Jordanian audience.
JB: Mr. Schwartz, you are the CEO of an organization called the Energy Project. Can you shed some light on the aims and activities of the organization?
TS: The main aim of the Energy Project is to transform the way organizations derive value from their people and the way they invest in them. We believe the way people are working isn't working! The reason for that is that the world has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, fuelled mostly by two things. Firstly, the rapid advances in technology and the radical changes in communication have had an effect on the number of ways that people are connected as well as on the level of demands that are placed on them. Secondly, the global economy has meant that everything is interconnected and so people feel as if they need to be working multiple time zones if they are in an industry that is in any way connected to the global economy. These factors have created an unprecedented demand level on individuals, with little corresponding change in how people are expected to handle the demand, i.e. work more hours. The model is that employees are computers, where computers can run multiple programs simultaneously at high speed. Yet, this is not the way human beings are designed.
JB: How did your interest in this matter come about? Was it prompted by a high-stress, deadline-driven career in journalism?
TS: That's an interesting question and I haven't thought about it before. I have been absolutely influenced by my own experience. In 1988, I wrote an article called "Acceleration Syndrome" for Vanity Fair, which got a lot of attention at the time. It was based on the idea that people were becoming addicted to the speed of their own lives and their own adrenaline. I had an interest in the effects of living at a very accelerated pace long before the pace of life got this accelerated! That article came out just as I had finished co-authoring a book with Donald Trump, so I was watching the living example of somebody addicted to his own adrenaline. Also, I had a tendency to live that way myself. My natural inclination was to live too fast, do too much and get caught up in the speed of my own life. So, physician heal thyself!
JB: In your most recent book, The Power of Full Engagement, you stated that human beings are complex energy systems and that to perform well, we must draw on four sources of energy. How would you define these four levels? Was it not difficult to arrive at such discrete definitions?
TS: All four dimensions are interconnected, so you are right in saying that. We used the categories that had been around for thousands of years. We stand on the shoulders of some great thinkers, from Aristotle to other philosophical thinkers.
All have recognized that there were key dimensions in people's lives that influence how they operate in the world. This also matches up with most of the insights of 20th century development psychology.
The first level of growth in any human being is physical, and it is thus the platform on which everything rests. The effect of physical energy on performance came out of the work we had done with athletes where, as expected, physical energy is of prime importance. We then began to see that those in high performance occupations displayed the same demand on physical energy.
The next piece of the puzzle is emotional energy. It became clear to us that if you intentionally cultivate 'high positive energy,' performance increased, whilst negative energy states such as anger, anxiety or depression adversely affected optimal performance.
JB: What about the other two energy categories?
TS: The next category is the mental or cognitive level, where the single most important thing is to be able to focus your energy on one thing at a time. This is very important right now because attention is under siege, mainly due to technology. We need to reintroduce people to the types of thinking that they need to cultivate to get any type of task effectively accomplished.
Spiritual energy is defined as the source of energy that, despite what people believe in, is the energy derived from the human spirit and from aligning what you deeply believe in with how you behave, and that you have a sense of meaning and significance with what you are doing in your life. We want to help people cultivate a source of energy that allows people to be more of what they are capable of being.
JB: It's not uncommon to hear the expression that "some people strive on adrenaline." Isn't it true that stress can actually be beneficial to a person's output?
TS: Undoubtedly, stress can be a motivator for people to perform better. There is simply no question that it can push people to perform to meet a deadline, for example. However, stress is merely an initial source of 'fuel' that cannot serve you very well for very long. The problem in this world has very little to do with stress. To the contrary, stress is the only way we can grow. What is needed is intermittent stress followed by deep recovery. The growth piece of the puzzle occurs in recovery, but stress is always the inducer of growth.
JB: Many people find it hard to "just let go" even after work is over. One of your main tenets is to create a "transition ritual between work and home." What active practices can people adopt to successfully unwind and "shut off?"
TS: As I had mentioned, in order for individuals to grow, they need periods of recovery which, when email, mobiles and BlackBerries are available all the time, makes it very difficult to have a difference between "on" and "off," so people are most usually "on." A transition ritual can be anything from listening to music, exercising or simply thinking about what you are planning to do that evening.
One of the most successful rituals we have had people build is to use their cell phones and call a loved one on their way home and to use the opportunity to connect emotionally and to change from work to something more personal.
JB: Employers who are, as of yet, unconvinced can pose problems for their employees who wish to adopt this new style of working. Can this be overcome?
TS: We no longer will work with an organization that does not make a commitment to supporting the work we are doing with the individuals in the form of policies, practices and cultural messages. We don't go into a company unless the CEO and senior team go through our work first, and are willing to think through the organizational work method and adapt accordingly. If there is not organizational support, you are radically diminishing the likelihood that an individual will succeed, as individuals are deeply influenced by their environment. People with a stronger desire to learn and change can still succeed even if their organizations are not sympathetic. It's harder, but not impossible.
JB: How responsive did you find your Jordanian audience to be?
TS: What I was struck by in the Jordanian audience who went through two days with me was their intense curiosity to learn and experiment with new techniques. The second experience was that they were very willing to interact and engage around the key issues. In an American audience, when I attempt to get feedback from the audience, they are uncomfortable as they are afraid of being wrong. It felt to me like a thirst within a group of people who really wanted to find a way of coping with a universal set of issues of demand and overload.
Tony Schwartz co-authored the worldwide bestseller The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump and his recent book, The Power of Full Engagement has been translated into 24 languages, including Arabic.
© Jordan Business 2007
