The Power of Stepping Away: Why Strategic Absence Makes You a Better Leader
The Lie We Tell Ourselves About Time Away
Let me ask you something: when was the last time you truly stepped away? Not working remotely, not sneaking in emails by the pool, but actually unplugging. No inbox, no client calls, no Slack pings. For most leaders I coach, the answer is either “too long ago” or “never.”
And it’s no wonder. We’ve built a culture around three lies about stepping away from our firms, our practices, and our teams:
1. Time away is lost time.
2. There’s no ROI when I’m not working.
3. Being gone damages my image—with my team, my clients, or the court.
All three are stories we tell ourselves. And like most stories of resistance, they’re simply not true.
Time Away Is Not Lost—It’s an Investment
Bill Gates famously took “Think Weeks” starting back in the 1980s. Twice a year, he’d disappear with a stack of technical papers and books—no visitors, no interruptions. Out of those weeks came ideas that changed industries: Internet Explorer, the tablet PC.
If Gates could step away while running Microsoft, what makes us believe we can’t? The truth is that stepping away isn’t time wasted. It’s time invested.
I do this every year myself. For four years running, I’ve checked into a quiet hotel in Ketchum, Idaho—gateway to Sun Valley and the White Cloud Mountains—for my annual planning weekend. No clients, no coaching calls, just me and the whiteboard of my mind. Every time, I walk away with clarity worth far more than the two days I “lost.”
Invitation to act: Think back to your last vacation, sabbatical, or even a quiet afternoon away. What clarity did you gain? What did your team learn while you were gone?
Time Away Generates ROI You Can’t Create in the Trenches
Time away isn’t an expense. It’s a return-generating investment. Let’s talk about what that ROI looks like.
1. Strategic Clarity
When you’re in the weeds, you’re reacting. You’re coping. At best, you’re operating at what I call Level 3 energy: getting things done, but settling for “good enough.” When you step back, you rise into higher levels of Energy Leadership—clarity, creativity, vision. You stop asking what’s next and start asking why is this next?
2. Innovation
We humans are lazy in a very specific way: once something takes away our pain, we stop improving it. That’s why most firms run on duct-taped systems. Stepping away gives you the space to ask: is this system really the best, or just the one we stopped questioning? That’s how true innovation is born.
3. Delegation and Team Growth
When you’re out of the office, your team has no choice but to grow. They learn to rely on themselves, not on you. They learn resilience. They learn to make decisions. That’s how you stop being the bottleneck in your own business.
4. Organizational Resilience
When things don’t go as planned—and they never do—your team figures it out. They fall, they get back up, they adapt. That’s called resilience, and it’s worth more to your firm’s long-term health than your being on every single call.
Invitation to act: Identify one tangible ROI your firm could realize if you stepped out of the weeds for just seven days. Sit with this. Don’t dismiss it as a throwaway question.
Time Away Fuels Evolution—Yours and Your Firm’s
Let’s be honest: the biggest fear isn’t about clients, courts, or colleagues. The biggest fear is loss of control. The voice of the solo practitioner in your head whispers: If I’m not there, it will all fall apart.
That’s not leadership—it’s insecurity. And it’s holding you back.
Other fears creep in, too:
Guilt: What will my team think if I step away?
Perception of disengagement: Will they believe I don’t care?
Painful re-entry: Will the Monday after vacation undo all the rest I gained?
Here’s the truth: if you delegate properly, your team will thank you. They’ll be relieved not to lean on you for everything. And the Monday “re-entry” dread? That disappears when you plan with intention—set someone to filter your inbox, leave clear delegation notes, and make sure your team knows what “mission-critical” truly means.
Invitation to act: Write one sentence you could use to gain buy-in—from your team and yourself—for stepping away. Mine is: I will be better, and this organization will be better, when I come back.
Permission to Lead Differently
At the end of the day, stepping away is not indulgence. It’s not time wasted. It’s a leader’s responsibility.
Time away is an investment.
ROI is unlocked by your absence.
Evolution requires space.
When you give yourself permission to unplug, you give yourself permission to lead differently. You stop playing at the level of the day-to-day lawyer, and you step fully into the role of a strategic leader.
Vacations are good and necessary. But I’m not just talking about vacation. I’m talking about strategic absence—those intentional, structured periods when you step away to think differently. To see differently. To lead differently.
Your Next Step
If you’re a law firm founder or managing partner, you know the lies that keep you chained to your desk. You know the fear of stepping away. And if you’re honest, you also know that the very future of your firm depends on your ability to evolve beyond them.
If you’re ready to make that evolution—if you’re ready to reclaim time as your most valuable asset—I’d love to talk. Reach out, and let’s schedule a strategy session. I’ll ask you five questions that will quite literally change your life. You’ll walk away with insights that will shift how you see yourself, your team, and your firm.
Because the power of stepping away isn’t just about you. It’s about the kind of leader you become—and the kind of firm you leave behind.
