The busiest leaders share this surprising weakness

The constant race on the work treadmill doesn’t just steal your time. It systematically decays every relationship you have. During a recent keynote, I asked leaders in the room a simple question: “How many of you have cancelled plans with someone you care about, family, friends, a partner, because something came up at work?” Nearly every hand went up. Then I asked: “How many of you have done it more than once this month?” Most hands stayed up. There were a few nervous laughs. Recognition ripples through the room. These aren’t disengaged leaders. They’re high performers who genuinely believe they’ll make it up later. They won’t. And here’s what most don’t realize: the same pattern playing out at home is playing out at work too. The same leader who cancels on their partner because “something came up” is also skipping the coffee with a new peer, postponing the visit to a colleague’s office, replacing a rea