How’s that 70-Hour Week Working for You?

CEOs and business owners who learn about CEO peer advisory groups like Catapult Groups acknowledge that there’s value in sharing experiences and learning from one another, but they frequently balk at the one-day-a-month peer group meeting schedule. In this interview, Brad Mishlove, CEO of Catapult Groups, addresses the time-objection issue.

I’m putting in 60 or 70 hours’ work on my business every week. I can’t afford to take a whole day off of my business to attend a Catapult Group meeting.

Brad Mishlove: If you find yourself working this many hours on your business each week, my first question is: How’s that working for you? Chances are, there’s a lot that’s slipping through your fingers due to such a frenetic schedule—things like the strategic future of your business, your family and home life, and those “personal interests” you once enjoyed spending time on.

If you’re working 60 or 70 hours a week now, chances are you’re not able to spend any time working on your business, rather than in it. You’re too focused on day-to-day operational challenges to think about where you want the business to be one, two or five years from now. Too many CEOs learn the hard way that if you don’t have a strategic vision, your business can’t grow.

Don’t all successful CEOs and business owners put in a lot of extra time to keep the business moving forward?

I’d answer that by turning the question around: Can you imagine what your life would be like if you could accomplish your workload in 40 or even 30 hours a week? Putting in 70 hours a week probably means you don’t have the right people in place to handle what you’re doing by yourself now, or if you do have good people on board, they’re not organized around a common strategy.

What’s so important about a Catapult Group meeting that you need a whole day a month for it?

Catapult Group members are CEOs, business leaders, managing partners and other high-level executives who meet in groups of 12 members, each from non-competing industries and all with the same commitment—to share their knowledge and experience, and to give (and get) valuable feedback on critical business issues.

Catapult Group members have discovered that what they learned from their fellow CEOs, from the Group Leader and visiting expert speakers, frees them to plug in the gaps in their processes and procedures so they don’t have to be in the office all day and night. They’ve learned about how to more efficiently delegate tasks to their key reports, which also lessens their workload.

So you’re saying that by taking one day each month to attend Catapult Group meetings, I’ll actually end up working fewer hours, not more?

Virtually all of our members had the same time-objection at first. Through participation in peer group advisory sessions and speaker workshops, as well as one-on-one counseling with their Catapult Group Leader, they have become much more effective and efficient.

When a CEO works 70 hours a week or more, it’s clear something is broken. Your business should be able to function without your constant presence. And keep in mind, when the time comes to sell the business, potential buyers will be discouraged if they believe that, without your day-to-day involvement, the business will fall apart. No one wants to take on that kind of risk.

If you can’t carve 10-12 days per year out of your calendar for the purpose of working on the business rather than in it, you have no business at all. You simply have a job, and a very demanding one at that!

If you’re ready to ready to join other CEOs, managers and senior-level executives in a confidential group setting—where you’ll be challenged and rewarded like never before in your professional life—we invite you to learn more about becoming a Catapult Group member today.