Fuentes Friday Edition #0043

This past week, I had some tough conversations with a few CEOs and sales leaders about their personal struggles during the holidays. Not only were they dealing with the holidays and the issues they bring, but they all have the end of the fiscal year coming up, too.

They wanted to be there for their teams but also were dealing with some emotion-laden issues. I know the feeling. When my mother was sick, I also had a team that was counting on me. While all of them understood what I was going through, the fact of the matter was that there were things that I needed to do that they just could not. That is often the case for founders, CEOs, and leaders.

I am not sure if what I did was right, but it worked for my team and me. So, take the following with a grain of salt.

The first thing I did was let my team know that I was going to be available fewer hours during the day but would make it clear on my calendar when I wasn’t available. The second thing I did was block my calendar off to ensure I had enough time with my mother but that I was not disconnected for so long that my team would get anxious waiting for a reply. I would block off at most 2.5-hour chunks.

The third thing I did was tell them that if something was critical, urgent, or needed my feedback, they needed to write it in the subject line (actually, a great best practice in general). I then let them know that when I was in work mode, I was in work mode. They didn’t need to ask how I was doing, and I would not get offended if we just got right to it in meetings. In fact, I appreciated it.

My mother was in the hospital for nine months, so my team had to deal with this for a long time. They did a great job. I would like to think that part of it was that I also understood the assignment.

Yes, my family was going through a lot, and there was a lot of stress. But my team needed me, too. So, I compartmentalized work and personal during those nine months. As the founder of Maestro, I did not have the luxury of just focusing on my personal stuff. That is the reality of being a founder during the early stages of a company.

If you, like some of the people I spoke to this past week, just need to vent and have someone hear you out, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I know it can be tough, and it is even tougher if you don’t feel like you have someone to talk to.