Mike Pelfini — 06 December 2025
Daily pressures cause many leaders to mistake speed for effectiveness. But if they slow down for reflection, they can make better decisions and reach deeper insights.
The age of the “caffeinated squirrel”
One of the myths of our time is that leaders must be in constant motion: Always “on,” moving rapidly from one decision to the next. In that state and those moments, the focus is on doing, when what is really needed is to focus first on simply being. Stop, or at least slow down, and take a momentary “leadership pause” to reflect. It may be the best choice leaders can make about how to best manage their attention.
CEOs now spend an average of 72% of their time in meetings, most of them lasting under an hour, write Rosalinde Torres and collaborators at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Between meetings are the constant demands of email, texts, and the like. One CEO described his job – only half-jokingly – as “answering 2,000 emails a day.”
Because of these pressures, many leaders mistake speed, energy, and intensity for “executive effectiveness,” writes Rahul Bhandari in the Harvard Business Review. Bhandari describes this leadership style as “over functioning” and states: “I’ve come to call these hyper-energized executives “caffeinated squirrels.”
The result can be a loss of strategic vision, unclear priorities, and wasted energy. Leaders and their organizations can also suffer from high levels of burn out, especially among high performers.
In this article, we examine the best ways to slow down for reflection to make better decisions, reach deeper insights, and balance the demands of always being “on.”
Why slow down for a leadership pause?
Some of the most successful leaders schedule time to slow down.
Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and renowned “Sage of Omaha,” is reported to spend five to six hours per day reading. Charlie Munger, the late vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once said of Buffett: “He has a lot of time to think…. You look at his schedule sometimes, and there’s a haircut. Tuesday: haircut day.”
Few can afford to slow down like Warren Buffett, but other leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, are known for carving out and protecting time for reflection and personal development.
By contrast, most CEOs spend just 15% of their time working alone and may only dedicate 30 minutes per day to personal development, write Martin Reeves and others in the Harvard Business Review. Moreover, many CEOs spend as little as 5% of each week in deep thought or reflection – a few hours at most.
Without being able to slow down for reflection, leaders can “overwhelm their teams with shifting priorities, reactive thinking, and intellectual whiplash,” writes Rahul Bhandari. These leaders may be unable to set goals and priorities or see projects through to completion.
As we discussed in an earlier article, while high speed work cultures may appear efficient from the outside, they carry substantial – often unrecognized – costs due to:
- Employee attrition,
- Lack of creativity,
- Lower productivity,
- A “fragile work culture.”
Another casualty of the relentless pace is the ability to take actions with the organization’s purpose in mind. Purpose driven organizations derive substantial benefits – a “purpose premium” – by keeping their actions and values aligned, including:
- Better employee retention and performance;
- Higher market value and return on equity;
- Better brand reputation; and,
- Stronger sales and revenue.
But in a high-pressure, high-velocity environment, leaders can’t slow down to make sure their organizations are living up to their vision, values, and purpose.
With AI accelerating the speed of life, it may be time for leaders to make a New Year’s resolution to include a leadership pause in their schedules.
How do you slow down for reflection?
The first thing to consider when planning a leadership pause is the quality of attention needed for deep reflection. In Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman describes two distinct systems in the brain:
System 1 thinking is fast and intuitive. It relies on shortcuts to arrive at “good enough” solutions to immediate problems. System 1 thinking is said to be the brain’s default mode.
System 2 thinking is slow, analytical, and takes more energy. System 2 is better for novel situations, close reasoning, and deep thought – but it must be deliberately engaged.
The System 1 and System 2 thinking modes are described as “critical thinking” and “reflective thinking” by the BCG authors. Citing research at the University of Southern California, they write: “[R]eflective thinking and critical thinking exist at opposite ends of a [binary] switch. When one is ‘on,’ the other is ‘off.’”
Because reflective thinking is slow, it can’t be done in short bursts. Leaders need to set aside “at least 90 minutes” on a regular basis, according to the BCG authors.
Here are two suggestions to develop a leadership pause:
- Schedule and protect a regular time for reflection. Leaders must schedule and jealously guard a regular time for reflection. Make sure the time is kept free from distractions.
According to a Harvard Business Review article, some leaders schedule daily blocks of between 90 minutes and two hours for reflection. Others schedule longer blocks of time weekly. Whatever the schedule, being consistent helps cultivate the right frame of mind each time.
- Develop a list of topics to guide reflection. Left to its own devices, the brain is likely to circle endlessly around immediate concerns. Break that pattern by developing a list of topics for reflection or study. Trust that using this time to deepen knowledge or learn new things will reap better results.
When looking for topics, ask big questions that look beyond the fiscal quarter or year. Ask what makes your organization unique, what it stands for, or what you want its legacy (and your own) to be.
Leaders may find it helpful to have a coach or dialog partner guide them through the process and refine their thinking. The role of the coach isn’t to make recommendations but to frame issues, challenge assumptions, and provide perspectives that can lead to deeper insights and better outcomes.
If you would like to learn more about how to slow down for a leadership pause, please contact us.
About ForeMeta
ForeMeta prepares leaders for breakthrough transformation. Founded by executive coach and Vistage Chair Dr. Mike Pelfini, ForeMeta focuses on the people who make the decisions—helping CEOs and leaders of small to mid-sized companies and nonprofits deepen their self-leadership, clarify their why, and expand their capacity to lead.
Through 1:1 executive coaching and thoughtfully facilitated peer groups, ForeMeta creates “greenhouse” environments where leaders explore mindset, heart set, and skill set so they can create new possibilities and more fulfilling results for themselves, their organizations, and their communities.
©Mike Pelfini 2025, all rights reserved.